Clarendon College Cross Country Coach Zack Leggett participated in the Dallas Marathon on Sunday, December 9, and finished 28th out of a field of 4,873 full marathon finishers.
Leggett ran the 26.2-mile event in 2:56:26, beating his personal goal of 3:00:00.
Leggett said he enjoyed running in a marathon of this size –over 25,000 participants in total.
“It took 8 city blocks for the starting line,” Leggett said. “It was a lot of fun to get to run with that many people.”
In preparation, Leggett said he runs 6 days a week and averages anywhere from 70 to 80 miles per week.
His motivation for running a marathon came after he graduated college and found himself at a weight of 260 pounds.
“I ran two years in college, but when I stopped that’s when I gained the weight,” he said. “I started getting back in shape and my goal was to finish a marathon.”
He met that goal last year when he ran the Dallas Marathon for the first time and finished with a time of 3:16:00. He bested that time by about 20 minutes this year.
This year’s finish qualifies Leggett to run in the Boston Marathon in 2014, and he plans to be there. He also wants to return to the Dallas Marathon next year and best his time once more.
“My goal for next year is 2:45:00,” he said.
In his division for men age 30-34, Leggett finished the Dallas Marathon in 8th place. The overall fastest time for all finishers in the full marathon was 02:19:38.
While he doesn’t require his cross country runners to train in the same way he does, he said he does have them run up to 15 miles a day and about 80 to 90 miles a week in order to compete in their 5 mile races.
“They do more of a speed workout than I do,” he said. “I have to conserve enough energy to finish the race, but still run at a marathon pace.”
Leggett is in his first year at Clarendon College and it will be exciting to see what his runners accomplish this spring.
“Not only does Zack talk the talk, but he walks the walk,” Clarendon College Athletic Director John Green said.
“I am very proud to have him as a coach at Clarendon College, and I look forward to seeing the Cross Country program improve under his leadership.”
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