By BRIAN CHILDS
Special to The Citizen

Jon Bridges was determined to run his first marathon this year.

Bridges is a 43-year-old, vice president of internet technologies and information for Chick-fil-A, and a nine year Peachtree City resident. A long time runner and Peachtree Road Race participant, he was inspired to go for greater distances last year when Truett Cathy, founder and president of Chick-fil-A, encouraged his employees to take up running to counterbalance the launch of their new milkshakes.

He also wanted to read more books on spirituality and business.

“I’ve had a goal to read more and exercise more, so I combined the two by listening to audio books on my iPod while I run,” Bridges said.
Bridges joined a group of men from church planning to run in the New York City marathon and they dubbed themselves the Running Club. Early on Saturday mornings, they met at Starbucks to go jogging and socialize. “It’s important to have friends you can run with that encourage you,” he said. On weekdays, Bridges had to balance his family and career and training, often getting up at 5 a.m. to run before work.

Bridges and the Running Club met their goal. Last weekend they traveled to New York City and were cheered on by two million spectators as they ran with the 37,000 other participants of the world’s largest marathon.

This was Bridges’ first marathon and as he ran he was pleased to see the signs cheering runners on and children lining the streets offering high-fives.

“It was a great experience, great views and great people,” Bridges said, “The whole thing was really exciting. Everything was just incredible.”

Bridges was happy to meet his goal of completing the marathon, finishing in 5:00:38, but was frustrated by a recent injury which hampered his performance. He plans to train harder for his next marathon, which he is running with 100 of his co-workers in Disney World this January.
When asked if he plans to run the New York Marathon again, Bridges laughed and said it was too soon for that question.

“I’d rather win the lottery than do that again,” he said, “but I’d recommend it as the marathon to do.”

Childs is a Peachtree City resident attending NYU as a graduate student.

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