Cross Country Alum Wins Air Force Half Marathon
9/25/2010 12:00:00 PM | Cross Country
It was her fourth trip to the Air Force Half Marathon for Christina Johnston, but her days of running around the Wright State University campus and area go back to her undergraduate days when she was part of the WSU cross country team and her name was Christina Haverfield.
Johnston came away with a first place finish this year as she ran the course in a record time of 1:18.20--a mile pace of 5:59. The Xenia, Ohio, resident placed 13th overall of the 4,302 competitors and was tops among all female runners. The old record was 1:22.14.
Currently an intervention specialist and teacher at Saint Albert the Great School in Kettering, Johnston graduated from Wright State in 2002 with a BA in communications and 2005 with a Master's of Education. When she started at WSU, she did not plan to run for the Raiders but was encouraged by a hometown friend to give it a try. She still holds the school's fourth best time in a 6K race at 23:22 set at the Indiana State Invitational in 2001.
"My running steadily improved in college and my half-marathon time was at a faster pace than my best 5K times in college," Johnston said. "This past year, a friend of mine, Ed Alyanak, told me it was `time to grow up and become a runner' so I started to take it more seriously and train for the Chicago Marathon on October 10, 2010."
She also credits her husband, Dave, for helping and encouraging her to continue her running career. Dave is a former runner at Yellow Springs High School and Ashland University. The couple, married in 2006, have a stepson Cobi (8) and son Kyle (2).
