Mark's First 13.1

He's caught the running bug! Last weekend Mark decided to sign up to run his first half-marathon . . . THIS WEEKEND! His training consisted of a 6 mile run on the same trial last weekend. He ran 4 miles on Monday and 3 miles on Wednesday. Rested Thursday and Friday. To have enough energy for the race, Mark had plenty of pasta with his chili on Friday night. On a chilly and dark Saturday morning, Mark, Gater and I headed over to the Hawthorne Trail for the Tom Walker Memorial Half Marathon. It was much cooler than it's been for months (43 degrees and breezy). After checking in and getting Mark's bib, we returned to the car to stay warm. With 15 minutes until the race, we heading to the starting line.




Mark went to the back of the pack, not to get run over by the majority of runners. Gater and I walked down the trail about a 1/2 mile from the start and waited for the race to begin. After the pack passed, and we cheered Mark on, we headed back to the car and drove to the half way point. As Mark cruised into the turnaround, he didn't even slow down at the water station since he had his hydration system full of H2O.


Gater and I then headed to the next water station where we could see Mark run by. Once again, no time for stopping.



We then made our way to the finish line. Gater headed down the trail to be the first to see Mark and give him the last bit of motivation to finish strong. Mark finished in a time of 2:14:08 (his actual time, official time is more since he was in the back of the pack to start).


After finishing, Mark was given his finishers medal and then posed for a few pictures.



Other than his legs hurting a little (or a lot) and hungry, Mark was doing fine. He grabbed a few things to eat at the refreshment table and then we headed home. Mark is already scheduling his next race, maybe a 25 K? Look out Cheaha, here we come!!!!