The Shawshank Redemption has always been one of my favorite films so when I came across the Shawshank Hustle a few years ago it was quickly added to my bucket list of races to run.

The Shawshank Hustle is held in Mansfield, Ohio and starts and runs from the prison and through the town where The Shawshank Redemption was filmed. Runners are split into two groups, guards and inmates, and the run is jam packed with some awesome Shawshank references.

The race starts bright and early at 8AM and upon parking in a field just across the street from the Ohio State Reformatory you then walk down a few steps and see the immense prison campus that the movie made famous. It’s majestic and creepy all at the same time and you can’t help but say out loud, “This is going to be pretty cool.”

Some runners take to full character dressing up as Andy, a guard or even the one runner who was dressed as the record player Andy used to pump opera music into the prison in the movie. Right before the race started, a police car with lights and sirens led the warden in on a motorcycle who then started the run and actually ran the entire course in a suit.

For a 4.6 mile course, the course was a nice and challenging route with some early morning heat mixed in and some decent hills throughout the run. Race organizers had plenty of water and volunteers out on the course and even a few musicians were out on the route adding to a really awesome atmosphere. As you came through downtown Mansfield, the impact of the movie being filmed there could still be seen as markers are in different spots around town where various scenes from the movie were filmed. For instance, a marker could be seen outside the old hotel Brooks moved into after being paroled (just the facade; his bedroom was actually filmed inside the old prison) and another marker was at the park bench Brooks sat on, as well.

After tackling the hilly course, it was then a quick downhill finish into the finish line back in front of the Ohio State Reformatory. I finished the Shawshank Hustle with a time of 40:32, good for 8:48/miles.

Post-run, runners were awarded perhaps one of the best race medals to ever exist. The medal seems to weigh about 4 pounds and is a complete replica of the safe that was in the warden’s office in the movie where Andy put the ledger each night only to replace the ledger the night of his escape with the hollowed out bible with a stone ax inside. The medal opens up, has a safe turn dial and is absolutely amazing!

Water, bananas, bars, ice cream sandwiches and freeze pops were available after the race and after a bit of a cool down we then used our race-provided tickets for a tour of the old Ohio State Reformatory. into a The prison has been turned into a museum with the front section completely overhauled into exhibits about not just the movie but also about the prison in general with sections about the electric chair, for example. As you make your way through the cleaned up, renovated section of the museum it is then into the actual section of cells, the infirmary and solitary confinement. This section was eerie to say the least, especially when in the infirmary it noted that paranormal activity has been witnessed there. That was enough to get us to giddy up and turn the other way.

After we were done our tour of the prison, it was then to downtown Mansfield to redeem the other free ticket for a ride on the refurbished carousel in the center of downtown. The girls took a ride on the carousel and the comfortable rocking chairs felt pretty good post-run as they took their ride. We found a great coffee shop with dynamite baked goods right next door to the carousel that hit the spot so we sat in the park for a bit and enjoyed the old-time feel of the downtown.

In addition to the race, we made a family getaway out of the trip and stayed in Columbus, about an hour away, and hit up a Columbus Clippers baseball game, the COSI museum (a science and innovation museum that was great!) visited a few different sections of the Columbus area and capped off our stay taking in a Columbus Crew soccer match. A great vacation!