Marathon Makeover: Turning Couch Potatoes Into Marathon Runners

Marathon Makeover: Mississippi entrepreneurs transform lives, turning couch potatoes into marathon finishers

By Jack Criss

(The following article will appear in the next edition of Mississippi Sports Magazine published by Profiles Mississippi designer, Greg Pevey, and his wife, Mendy).

Mark Simpson turned a challenge from a friend into a statewide health and wellness program that has exploded into the Mississippi athletic environment changing countless lives along the way.

Marathon Makeover is a 40-week wellness program that takes “couch potatoes” off the couch and transforms them physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually through the process of training for a marathon.

“It’s really about transforming one’s total wellness within a supportive community toward an audacious goal,” says Clinton-based Simpson, who is the co-founder and co-director of the organization.

Why a marathon? “The marathon is an point of reference that, seemingly, all things in life are judged by,” Simpson answers. “You so often hear things referred to as being a ‘marathon’—the connotation is that it’s the ultimate definition of accomplishment or perseverance.”

There are other marathon programs out there for individuals to choose: Why did Simpson start this one? And in Mississippi of all places?

“I was talking to a marathon fanatic one day,” Simpson relates the story, “a guy who ran a marathon once a week. He was complaining about how no one in Mississippi wanted to ever train for and run a marathon. I told him that it’s not such much that no one here has the desire, it’s just that they wouldn’t know where to start.

He laughed and said to me, ‘Simpson, I could have you ready to run a marathon in six months. I’ll even train you if you can find five other people to do it—but you won’t be able to.’ That was the gauntlet being thrown down,” Simpson says. And he picked it up.

It took Simpson a little bit longer than six months—nine, to be exact—but he did, in fact, find some twenty-two people to train alongside him as he prepared for the Chicago Marathon in 2004. “Twenty of those folks finished the marathon with me,” Simpson says. “That gave me the impetus to do this type of training on a regular basis. There was such a groundswell of interest and support from that first group that my wife, Robin, and I decided to form Marathon Makevoer.” (For the record, Simpson completed the 2004 Chicago Marathon—his first race—in five hours and three minutes. He has completed five more since.)

Charging a nominal fee for their time, the Simpsons officially kicked off Marathon Makeover in 2005 taking 54 participants to Chicago that year. Marathon Makeover currently has over 450 people training for a marathon.

“Robin and I have pulled together a team of coaches to help us,” Simpson says, further explaining the program. “The group outgrew just the two of us as far as providing the necessary training and tools. Last year we broke our local groups into area groups and now have a Clinton, Ridgeland and Brandon Reservoir team in the Metro Jackson area. We have a turnkey training system which is DVD based that all of our coaches use equipping them with the program’s consistency and sharing the insights we developed in the previous years.” Marathon Makeover has expanded further in 2009, becoming a franchise with new teams in Vicksburg, MS and Mobile, Alabama.

For those individuals wanting to participate in Marathon Makeover, Simpson says it’s essentially “wide open.” With a doctor’s go ahead, the only requirement of the program is that participants must be over the age of 21 (16 and over if training with a parent) and in good health. “We’ve had several participants and finishers over the age of 70,” Simpson says, “and people from all other ages and backgrounds.”

Simpson and his Marathon Makeover team were participants in the now-infamous 2007 Chicago Marathon in which one runner died and many others were hospitalized due to the extreme heat and fluid shortage. Did having a group of first-timers in the middle of the worst marathon disaster in the sport’s history cast a pall over the program? Quite the opposite, according to Simpson.

“It was one of those defining moments, without a doubt,” he says. “It served to build our characters and resolves I see in retrospect. I think it highlighted the effectiveness of the Marathon Makeover program, honestly. We arrived with 135 participants and all of us felt ready. Yes, it was hot, but we trained in heat. Although the race was called off in mid-stream, the amazing thing is that we had over a dozen of our people finish and they all would have finished if it had been allowed to continue. We ended up saying that Mississippi was ready for Chicago but Chicago wasn’t ready for Mississippi!”

Last year, Marathon Makeover put on its own road race at the Renaissance at Colony Park in Ridgeland, a half marathon. “Of course you have to hit the 13.1 mile mark in training for a full marathon,” Simpson says, “and with our previous groups we would always celebrate and acknowledge that momentous step with our members. It was suggested to me that a really special way of acknowledgement would be for us to have our very own half-marathon. Chuck Gautier, an alderman in Ridgeland, actually was the one who encouraged us to start this road race and open it up to the general public. So, we put the ball in motion, and with the help of the City, H. C. Bailey Company and the people at the Renaissance, we put on our first half marathon in June of 2008.” Over 830 people registered for the race resulting in one of the state’s largest races and a post-race survey undertaken by Marathon Makeover rated it a Nine out of Ten. Simpson says the 2009 half marathon will be a bigger and better one.

“For this year’s half we’re bringing in a race director from Austin, Texas who was the logistics coordinator for that city’s half marathon as well as other races,” Simpson says. “His expertise and knowledge will add a whole new level to the Renaissance race this June.” In addition, Marathon Makeover will be putting on a full marathon in October to replace the group’s yearly trip to Chicago.

“We did the math,” Simpson tells us, “and realized that, in 2008, by taking over 300 people to Chicago resulted in over $200,000 being dropped in that city’s economy. We thought: why not do that locally and invest in our home? Plus, it would afford our participants the opportunity for more of their family members and supporters to witness their accomplishment and cheer them on.” The inaugural Marathon Makeover Marathon, which will also include a half, will be held on October 17 in the Highland Colony area. Registration will open at the Renaissance at Colony Park Half-Marathon in June.

Avid and enthusiastic promoters, Mark and Robin host their own Marathon Makeover talk show Friday mornings from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on SuperTalk FM Radio and will also soon be publishing a full color, glossy health magazine called Marathon Makeover magazine. “Additionally, one of our partners, Don Warren, is a professional videographer and is continually shooting video for promotional purposes and future products to compliment our program.

“Marathon Makeover can drastically improve people’s lives,” Simpson says. “We’ve seen so many wonderful, inspiring stories of people who, perhaps going through life changes or difficulties, have participated with us, reached a challenging goal, and came through in transformed. That’s why we use as many media means available to us as we can to get the word out. We want people happy and motivated and we’ve seen that happen so many times.”

Marathon Makeover is a true community in every sense of the word, Simpson says. Not only do people complete the program having accomplished a major athletic event, becoming happier and healthier in the process; they also establish ties and relations that will last lifetimes.

“I stay in touch with so many of our participants and can’t tell you all of the great success stories I’ve heard. It is so gratifying to me and Robin,” Simpson says. “That was our purpose in creating Marathon Makeover and it moves me to see so many instances where we’ve accomplished our mission.”

For more information, please log on to www.marathonmakeover.com or emailing mark@marathonmakeover.com