Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

December 1, 2010, Front Page  

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

 

 

Neillsville couple catches the inspiration to run

 

 

The Weiers, Dawn (left) and Joe, posed with their medals after finishing the Whistle Stop half-marathon in Ashland in October.  The Neillsville couple finished the race in 2:15:49. (Contributed photo)

 

By Peter Spicer

 

After Dawn Weiers watched her husband, Joe, finish a marathon in June, he caught the running bug and decided to join him for a half-marathon in October.

 

Joe Weiers, who is the pastor at Neillsville’s Hillside Community Church, was the first to get hooked on running and then passed inspiration on to Dawn.

 

One of Joe’s life goals was to run a marathon but Joe didn’t start to work toward that goal until Dec. 1, 2009, when he started training for his first marathon despite his "bad knees."

 

"[Running a marathon was] always kind of a dream of mine," stated Joe, who credited his family and church congregation for their encouragement.

 

Joe also credits one of his neighbors, fellow distance runner Mark Wilson, for "[helping] me understand how to train" adding, Wilson’s advice "helped me a lot."

 

One piece of the advice Wilson gave Joe is if he worked his way up to running 20 miles, he would be able to finish the over 26-mile marathon.

 

"[Mark’s advice] was just really helpful," explained Joe.

 

Joe took Wilson’s advice and never ran more than 20 miles during a training session before the marathon.

 

Joe entered the June 19 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN, and hoped to finish the race in four hours and 15 minutes.

 

After finishing the first half of the marathon in 2:07, he kept the pace and finished the second half of the race in 2:07 as well, finishing in 4:14, one minute better than his goal. 

 

As an inspiration from family, friends, and a cheering crowd wasn’t enough, Joe joked he also wanted to finish the marathon because those who finished in under six hours received a free t-shirt.

 

The 4:14 time Joe finished the race in allowed him to finish in the top 40 percent of those who finished the race; he took 2,031st out of over 7,500 runners.

 

"[The race] was just really rewarding," Joe explained, who added several other Neillsville-area residents also ran the marathon.

 

After the race, Joe was surprised by how good he felt and stated he was sore the next day but not hurting as badly as he thought he might.

 

Dawn watched the marathon from the sidelines but after watching Joe and others run the marathon, she became inspired to begin training herself.

 

The Weiers began training together for the Oct. 9 Whistle Stop half-marathon in Ashland and enjoyed the time they were able to spend together training.

 

"It was nice to just train together," said Joe, who added it was "enjoyable as a married couple to find something to do [together]."

 

Joe lost 47 pounds during his training, which included miles of bicycle riding, and has logged 369 miles of running during those months of training.

 

Joe and Dawn’s training session included a bit of danger, as well; during a run, a Rottweiler dog began chasing them, said Joe, who added after that experience, they were a bit more cautious when passing by that property.

 

Joe and Dawn ran together during the half-marathon and finished in 2:15:49, competing with up to 3,000 other runners.

 

Joe praised Dawn for completing the race and accomplishing her goal and stated he celebrated every moment of being able to train with her.

 

The couple stated running the half-marathon was fulfilling; both have goals for future runs.

 

Joe is looking forward to training for the Green Bay Marathon, which begins and ends at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers football team.

 

As for Dawn, she stated she wants to run another half-marathon and improve on her 2:15 finish time.

 

Completing marathons was just a matter of Joe following his "life theme" stating "Finish what you start."

 

Both Joe and Dawn seem to be making good on that statement.

 

 

 


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