Smiling and covered in sweat, 35-year-old Ashton Swinford of Hudson raised her arms as she crossed the finish line on Sept. 27, finishing first in the women's full marathon in Akron. Exhausted, she accepted her medal and high-fived other runners.

With a finish time of 2:51:24, Swinford outran the women's runner-up by over 9 minutes in the 23rd annual FirstEnergy Akron Marathon .

"My kids are the finish line," Swinford said after the race. "They inspire me."

Swinford was one of thousands of runners who participated in either the full marathon, half-marathon or relay races. Thousands of families, friends and community members lined the streets, cheering on the runners.

Swinford's men's full marathon counterpart is a two-time consecutive Akron marathon winner. Aaron Davidson, 25 of Ar

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