Margie Bruner
For Margie and Greg Bruner the annual Run for John is a labor of love. The seventh annual races will be held this Saturday morning in Dalton.
The couple plans to continue their tradition of running the 5K together.
Margie Bruner, along with Andy Meyer, are Dalton State’s cross country coaches. “This day is a celebration of John’s life and the thing he loved,” Coach Bruner said.
The race is a scholarship fund raiser in honor of Margie and Greg’s son, John Bruner, who collapsed and later died in 2007, the result of a rare “coronary artery anomaly” near the end of the 4.7-mile Missionary Ridge Road Race in Chattanooga.
John Bruner was a 2006 honor graduate of Dalton High School who ran cross country and track for the Catamounts.
Run organizers say “scholarships are designed to honor John Bruner’s love for running and his faith with scholarships for college bound or current college students that are runners, race volunteers and or parishioners of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.”
The races have raised over $10,000 per year in scholarship money.
“This race means so much to our family,” Coach Bruner said Sunday afternoon. “It is such an honor to have John’s name live on in the scholarships that the Run for John committee award to such deserving students.”
Margie, who has been diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, is participating in a clinical trial at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The treatments take her to Nashville every three weeks.
“I want to treat this as aggressively as possible,” the coach said. “This trial is not available closer to home.”
Coach Bruner is running four or five days a week and competed in the recent River Gorge race near Chattanooga.
The start/finish lines for the events will be at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Haig Mill Road. A one-mile run/walk will begin at 8:30 a.m. The 5k run, which is the tryout for the DS teams, is scheduled to follow at 9:00 a.m.
Cost for the April 29 run is $15 for individuals in advance and $20 on race day. Entry for children 18 and under is $5.
Advance registration runs through Tuesday, April 22.
Adults must have a signed waiver. Children must have a waiver signed by a parent or legal guardian.
Race day registration starts at 7:30 a.m. for check-in and race package pick-up.
For more information on the run, see www.thefunforjohn.org or email Coach Bruner at mbruner@daltonstate.edu or Coach Meyer at ameyeiz@daltonstate.edu