LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Fireworks might be the main event for most people on Independence Day, but Friday morning, Lexington’s Fourth of July celebrations started off with a bang – literally – signaling the start of the Bluegrass 10k.
You could say two runners, Micah Hall and Kayla Moon, are running for love. The couple is getting married on Thursday.
“We decided we wanted to do something special together before the wedding, just kind of something we could team up on,” Moon said. “He did finish far ahead of me, but we were still in it together-“
“Getting nice and sweaty,” Hall jumped in, “to really prove that we love each other even after our race.”
“It's just another good memory,” he added. “We have our extended family all here, and the weather's nice. It's a feeling of togetherness and love, of course, and it's something that we conquered together.”
“I always say to him, we're on the same team, we're teammates,” Moon added. “This is just another thing where I feel like we're teammates.”
Everybody in the Bluegrass 10k has their own story, and that includes Brian Webb.
“I'm a head injury survivor and running just makes the most sense to me,” he said.
A week after Brian graduated from college in 1998, he suffered an intracranial hemorrhage.
“Doctors predicted to my parents I'd never be able to walk again. Just running itself is a statement that I'm still alive,” Webb said. “I ran my first Bluegrass [10k] in 2004.”
Webb shared that this race is the day before his birthday, and today was his last time running in his 40s because he turns 50 tomorrow.
“Lifting weights and running is the perfect solution for me. It’s like it gives me hope,” he said. “Running itself actually helps me both physically and mentally because it helps grow my brain. I mean it, there's so many positive things that happen.”
The Bluegrass 10k kicked off the festivities in Lexington for the day, which included a reading of the Declaration of Independence and a downtown parade, and it all ends with the fireworks show slated for Friday night.
