Who is that congressional marathoner? Schmidt breaks four-hour mark

There was another recognizable face in the Columbus Marathon crowd Sunday. Well two nearly identical faces if you count her twin sister.

U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Miami Twp., was spotted tooling up High Street midway through the 26.2-mile race alongside her sister, Jennifer Black of Loveland.

Some of you may recall write-in candidate Nathan J. Noy's Ohio Elections Commission complaint this summer claiming Schmidt did not run the 1993 Columbus Marathon while questioning the authenticity of her finish-line photo, which is posted on her campaign web site. A unanimous elections commission dismissed the complaint last month.

According to today's results, the 54-year-old Schmidt finished an impressive 3 hours 56 minutes and sixth in her age group; Schmidt's sister, Jennifer, finished in just over 4 hours 11 minutes. Schmidt's run more than 60 marathons since 1990, according to her campaign biography.

Brian List, 23, of Milford finished third overall with a blistering time of 2 hours 29 minutes. (An average of 5:43 per mile!)

Two Cincinnati-area runners led the men's and women's division of the inaugural half-marathon, according to today's race results:

Mike Greiwe, 28, of Cincinnati won the 13.1-mile race in 1:10:41, averaging 5:24 per mile. Winning the women's division was P.J. Ball, 27, of Norwood with a time of 1:22:28. Ball finished 17th overall, averaging 6:18 per mile.