My Chessie Trail Marathon day was definitely one to remember. Everything ranging from the people, to the atmosphere, and the weather went exceptionally well. My interviews were outstanding. Every person I came across were very willing and excited to help with my project. Many interviewees went as far as asking me to keep in touch with them to provide updates on my project, as well as the successes I have with the mile markers. One thing that stuck out to me the most was the love that many participants had for trail running compare too city, road, or track running. They all said the same thing, it’s the scenery. “Who doesn’t love nature”, said one guy. The overall tone of the event I would describe as jovial and optimistic. The energy levels we’re at all-time high, everyone was very encouraging and supportive of each other. I noticed a wide array of runners, male and female, old and young, first-timers and veterans. Regardless of the status each person with confidence finished both of the races, I’m sure feeling proud. Many of the runners offered up possible responses. The most common one being the request of mile markers. Second, a lot of Runners dislike the sand that was on the trail, saying was very hard to run on. Third, many of the half-marathon runners did not like the turn around point due to it not being at the halfway mark. As a whole everyone agreed that this was one of the best trails to run on. This experience will help my project by giving insight on runners likes and dislikes regarding the trail and future events to be held on the trail. It also further helps those in charge of creating the mile markers to understand the importance of them.
My First Source is an article from CBS Boston. It points out that mile markers on major highways are every two tenths of a mile. Although this article refers to highways, this could be useful. Just like highway driving, Walkers and Runners need to know their location and direction without having to use GPS which I might add is sometimes not available depending on location.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2010/10/01/curious-why-spend-money-on-so-many-mile-markers/
My second source, is from Americantrails.org which is significant to my project because it is the world’s largest Trail resource online. Here I can find information regarding any Trail to compare them to the Chessie Trail. It also gives pictures of variations of possible variations of possible mile markers.

http://www.americantrails.org/photoGalleries/cool/39-trail-mile-markers.html