Marsh column: What an honor to run with you

On Saturday Feb 4th was Winterflight which is an 8K (4.97 miles) run.

We were so fortunate to have a past Olympian (1996) right here in Salisbury running with all of us! Her name is Joan Nesbit Mabe. She is not only the Winterflight record holder with a 26.48 in 1992 (a 20 year old record and counting) she also broke a 17 year old record for 50 year olds. She finished with a 31.26. That is a 6.19 minute mile. Wow! As much as I was impressed with her amazing performance I was truthfully touched how great of a person Joan is. She helped with packet pick up, took time to talk to everyone and posed for pictures with whoever wanted to and signed autographs. A true representation of a great elite athlete and she was here right in Salisbury.

How awesome it was to run in a race with a former Olympic runner; it was another great honor to run with all of the participants who came out on a cold rainy day. Winterflight is a wonderful fundraiser for Rowan Helping Ministries and as we all know they need all the support and help we can give them for the tremendous need out there. It took about 30 seconds after I finished thinking why in the world am I doing this to myself (almost throwing up and passing out!) AND paying money to do it. But very quickly, seeing the wonderful volunteers congratulating everyone, you realize you helped raise money for an awesome cause, you meet so many wonderful new people and catch up with old friends. See a person of every age and fitness level finish even someone who is 88 years old. What an honor to be part of it all….people that set a goal to participate in an 8K and finish it! The “last” participant finishing took 10 minutes off her time from last year, how cool is that? What a great way to stay or get healthy and you are helping our community raise funds for very important causes. It’s a win win! I hope you come join the following (and you can run or walk!) community events:

March 10th is the Salisbury Fire Dept St Patricks Day 5K start and finish right at our JF Hurley Family YMCA.

On March 18th there is the run for Tom 5K run or walk. He is a music teacher in the Rowan Salisbury School system who is battling pancreatic cancer..

March 24th is the Millbridge Elementary 5K and [0xbd] mile fun run.

For more races and upcoming beginners running clinics go to the following website: HYPERLINK "http://www.salisburyrowanrunners.org" www.salisburyrowanrunners.org

Getting healthy, lose weight, support your community, can it get any better?

Ester H Marsh ACSM Cpt