Mari’s hometown is Pierre, SD. She and her husband Mark moved to Rapid City (from Mitchell, SD) in 2012. Both are outdoor enthusiasts and spend their time running, hiking, biking, and four wheeling – with their 3 dogs (Dakota, Buck and Maddie). Mari works in the field of Occupational Health, Safety and Wellness.
Being old enough to claim she was one of the first females on the women’s cross country team in Pierre SD, Mari has been running most of her life. She ran her first marathon at age 18 on a whim, having just finished a collegiate cross country season. Her coach was running a marathon (a distance for which the coach had trained) and so Mari ran it too. It is here where she learned that “winging it” is not the best strategy when it comes to marathon events. Mari remembers this race well ….specifically hitting the “wall” in North Omaha – wanting very badly to quit, but being too scared to give up. If you’ve not been to Omaha … let’s just suffice it to say that North Omaha isn’t the place for a small town SD girl to be walking alone in 80’s running apparel. After many years of competitive running, Mari’s favorite distance to run is anything that does not involve asphalt and where the miles are not measured. Mari prefers warm weather running and if she had her way would run mid morning. However, 2 hour lunches are frowned upon, and thus you will find her putting in miles in the late afternoon/early evening. She enjoys running with her husband Mark and Vizsla Maddie.
The farthest she has ever traversed was on the Mickelson Trail from Hill City to Deadwood. This was a challenge amongst 5 girlfriends not to necessarily run, but to simply get active. The group started and finished together.
Her proudest running moment was the 2009 Lincoln Marathon. This was my husband Mark’s first marathon. At the time we were living in Mitchell, SD and experienced one of the coldest winters in history. Water and Gu would freeze on training runs. I am proud that we stuck to the training plan during a truly miserable winter and crossed the finish line together. 3/24