Commentary:

Speir takes on

marathon for hospital
By Steve Behr, sports editor
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Appalachian State assistant coach Mark Speir knows football.

Speir is the Mountaineers’ defensive line coach. He is also the team’s recruiting coordinator. He may not make first contact with every recruit, but he’s responsible for making sure that when a group of seniors graduate, they are replaced by a group of freshman capable of winning another national championship.

However, Speir is taking a crash course on running.

Not running the football. Not on stopping the run.

Marathon running.

Yes, the same running that lasts for 26.2 miles. The same that only rail-thin people seem to be good at.

Speir is running in the Music City Marathon in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26. He’s got two months to get ready to do something he’s never tried.

He’s not going through all of the training necessary to run in an event such as this just because it’s there.

Instead he has a cause, and Speir is trying to raise money for that cause.

Speir would like to raise $26,200 to help build a hospital in Bangladesh. The hospital is run by the World Medical Mission, a division of Samaritan's Purse.

The donation would be in the name of the late Dr. Lowell Furman, a co-founder of the World Medical Mission and a longtime supporter of Appalachian State football.

Speir is also running the race in honor of Dr. Jim Foulkes, who devoted 38 years to medial missions in Africa.

Foulkes leads devotional prayers for the Appalachian State coaching staff.

“I asked Dick Furman what I could do in memory of Lowell, and he said ‘We happen to be rebuilding our hospital in Bangladesh.’ So I thought that was perfect.”

Spear knows that finishing this task will not be easy. He’s never run track, even in high school, and has been training mostly on his own. He’s reached 18 miles in one run, but “hit the wall.” last weekend and is researching how to train for something like this.

It’s a lifetime goal for Speir, who will be 40 two days after the event. He decided about a month ago to go ahead and try it.

“I’ve been doing a lot of running,” Speir said. “If I’m abusing my body and if I’m in pain, I might as well raise some money.”

Speir has been fortunate since he’s had time to train on weekends despite facing spring football. The offensive coaches are in demand to run coaches clinics, leaving the defensive coaches free time on the weekends.

“ They’ve all been calling me Forest Gump,” Speir said of his fellow coaches. “When I reach 26 miles, then I’ll stop.”

To donate, which is tax deductible, people can go to Speir’s Web site of www.firstgiving.com/markspeir.