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Laurel's Randy
Saxon to compete in Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run
Randy Saxon likes a challenge. And he will find nothing more
challenging than attempting to complete the 17th annual
Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run, which begins Saturday.
"I started running mainly for weight control in the early
'90s," said Saxon, who lives in Laurel. "I ran in the Carl
Touchstone Run (Mississippi Trail 50) back in '99 and just
fell in love with it. I ran the 50K out there, which is 31
miles, and things progressed from there.
"I've done a number of marathons and several 40 and 50-mile
runs, so this is just the next step up the ladder."
Saxon, a local employee of the United States Department of
Agriculuture Service Center, always felt he would compete in
a 100-mile run. Sadly, he will not have his father, Gene
Saxon, along to support him this week.
"I
had always thought I would eventually try a 100-mile run and
I wanted to get my dad to 'crew' for me," he said. "He had
retired, but I had really never discussed it with him. Being
retired, I figured it would be somewhat easier for him to go
somewhere way off with me and crew for me.
"I know he would have, but he died
suddenly last June. He won't be there with me, but I know he
will be running in spirit with me."
Saxon, a member of
Highland
Baptist Church, will have plenty of local support in his
effort.
Globe Outreach, a local ministry
started by David and Sarah Fedele, is sponsoring "100 Miles
for Missions." Globe Outreach will use Saxon's race as a
missions fundraising event.
"When David found out I was going, he
asked me to pray about that, so this run is being used as a
fund-raiser to support his missions," said Saxon, who is
also a board member for Globe Outreach. "He is a
self-supporting evangelist missionary. A number of people at
my work and my church have pledged either flat pledges or
by-the-mile pledges already.
"It looks like we're going to raise
almost $2,000 for his mission work."
Another reason Saxon is doing the
Vermont run is because a friend of his,
Rob Apple of Murfreesboro, Tenn., will also be running.
Apple is an experienced ultra-marathon runner.
"I want to do this run with him,"
Saxon said. "Rob has done over 400 ultra events and a number
of 100-milers. A lot of people have pacers they use in
events like this, like somebody that will come in for 60
miles who is not in the race and they will help you.
"Rob is like a built-in pacer. He has
finished so many of these I know he will finish this one."
As far as the actual run itself,
Saxon is pretty confident he can complete the course.
He has been averaging over 70 miles a
week to get ready and he completed the Mount Mitchell
Challenge, a 40-mile run, in
Asheville, N.C.,
earlier this year. He and Fedele have also gone to the Rails
to Trails layout in Hattiesburg twice recently to train.
"We did a 30-mile run down there and
then a couple of weeks ago, we did 40 miles," Saxon said.
"David rode a bike to help out. We got started around
4:30
in the afternoon and finished up around midnight, so I could
get used to running a little bit with the light.
"In fact, me
and my neighbor, Dennis Bisnette, ran 44 miles last year on
Rails to Trails because we were both 44-years-old."
The Saxon family - Randy, his wife
Sandy, daughter Kristin and mother Ann Saxon - will leave
early Wednesday morning for the lengthy drive to
New
England. They will arrive Friday in Brownsville, Vt., for
check-in and weigh-in. The run begins at 4 a.m. Saturday and
has a 30-hour time limit, so runners must finish by 10 a.m.
Sunday.
"None of us have ever been to
Vermont," Saxon said. "We're going to make a little vacation
out of it and enjoy it. I've done everything I know to do to
prepare, so I'm looking forward to it."
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