Running is still fun for Meggan Franks.
From 5-Kilometer races to half marathons to marathons, Franks enjoys the high she gets from pushing herself and competing. Even after completing a career as a cross country runner and a track and field athlete at Mississippi State in 2006, Franks has found a way to keep running as an integral part of her life. It doesn’t matter that work, teaching, family life, and motherhood sometimes make finding time to run challenging because Franks’ competitive fire still drives her to find time to run.
Franks showed that the desire last week when she finished first in the fifth-annual Viking Half Marathon and 5K in Greenwood. She hopes to duplicate that performance Saturday morning when she competes in the third-annual Columbus Pilgrimage Half Marathon and 5K.
“Columbus is fantastic,” Franks said. “They do such a fantastic job, and it helps when runners put on races because they get it. … The course is going to be a little different, but I think it still will be a good race.”
The race is funded by the Columbus Lowndes Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation and held in conjunction with the Spring Pilgrimage. Started by Brad and Melissa Atkins, the goal of the race is to provide a healthy family oriented event associated with the pilgrimage.
The Columbus Cultural Heritage Foundation is a non-profit entity and all proceeds from the race will pay for operating expenses and be invested back into the community.
Franks didn’t compete in the Columbus Pilgrimage Half Marathon and 5K last year due to baby-sitting issues. In 2014, she finished first in the female 30- 34-year-old age group with a time of 1 hour, 37 minutes, 26 seconds. At the time, she was five-and-a-half months pregnant with her second child, Patrick.
“I couldn’t push it, but it was fun,” said Franks, who also has a daughter, Madison, who participates in Fun Runs. “The whole race was fun because I didn’t have to worry about competing with anybody. I ran with somebody who didn’t know I was pregnant.”
Last week, Franks had a pace of 6 minutes, 14 seconds per mile en route to a winning time of 1:21.51.6 in Greenville.
In February, Franks won the Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon in a time of 2:51.51. She also won the event in 2012.
Franks works as an assistant director in MSU’s office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement. She also is the project supervisor of the Maroon Volunteer Center AmeriCorps VISTA Project. Franks also teaches a mentoring class and a freshman success strategies class at MSU. Her Twitter feed has the message: “Inspiring students to volunteer. Marathon running mom on the weekends.”
Still, Franks said she finds time to run 80-90 miles a week. She said the training is a natural carryover from her days at MSU, when she was a member of the women’s cross country team in the fall and the women’s track and field team in the spring. She competed in the 5,000 meters in the indoor track and field season and in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the outdoor season.
Franks said she also has won other marathons, and that she tries to run as many local races as she can. After a successful college career, Franks said she is much better at longer runs than when she was competing for the Bulldogs. This past year, she said she competed in two marathons within 11 weeks of each other, which she admitted would have destroyed her earlier in her career. She said her speed isn’t quite what it used to be, though, but she has tried to change that by working on quarters, or 400-meter intervals, in preparation for the last two events.
Franks believes the training will help her record a “pretty good time” in Columbus. While running is a hobby for most people, Franks said it is difficult to use that word to describe what it means to her because she still finds a way to do it a lot. She hopes that work pays off Saturday.
“It is so much fun,” Franks said. “I am really blessed because running is just something I am passionate about doing. Everyone needs an outlet, and working a 50- to 60-hour week running really relieves stress. I do quite a bit of it and it also can cause stress, but at this point in my life I can’t be disappointed by my performance.”
Online registration for the Pilgrimage Half Marathon and 5K closes at 10 tonight. The cost for the half marathon is $65 and $25 for the 5K. After the online registration closes, the cost for the half marathon will be $75 and $30 for the 5K.
Participants can pick up their race packets and complete on-site registration from 4-7 p.m. Friday and from 5:30-6:30 a.m. Saturday at the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center/Columbus Lowndes Convention & Visitors Bureau
On Saturday, pre-race instructions and the National Anthem will be from 6:45-7 a.m. in front of the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center.
The half marathon will start at 7 a.m. The 5K will start at 7:15 a.m. There will be an awards ceremony for the 5K at 8:30 a.m. at the race site. The awards ceremony for the half marathon will be at 10 a.m., also at the race site.
The half marathon is slightly altered from previous years. The course will start and finish in front of the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center. Runners will begin with a loop around the soccer fields. The altered portion of the course will turn North onto 7th Street North, incorporating a few rolling hills before looping around Highland Circle, then back South towards Military Road and resuming the previous course. The course will go through the campus of Mississippi University for Women, historic Southside Columbus, the Columbus Riverwalk, and the newly constructed river bridge.
The course will be marked with orange arrows at all turns and intersections, as well as volunteers at the turns. There are arrows from other races on the course, but don’t follow any arrows that aren’t orange tape.
The 5K course also has changed slightly from previous years. The course will still start and finish in front of the Tennessee Williams Welcome Center. The course starts East on Main Street, winds through the MUW campus, then tours historic Southside Columbus. It also will be marked with orange arrows at all turns and intersections, as well as volunteers at the turns. There are arrows from other races on the course, but don’t follow any arrows that aren’t orange tape.
Aid stations will be located every two miles on the half marathon course and at the halfway point of the 5K. Food and beverages will be available at the finish line.
For more information about the race, go to columbushalfmarathon5k.com.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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