A run full of heart

When the Mercedes Half-Marathon arrives this year, the Krackes won’t simply be on the sidelines cheering.

Instead, they will be among the thousands of people running the streets of Birmingham on Valentine’s Day morning.

Both Robert and Chrystal Kracke grew up in Mountain Brook, but the couple decided to move to Vestavia Hills when they got married.

For Chrystal, who is a preschool physical-education teacher, running a half-marathon is nothing new. This will be her 13th half, and her second time running the Mercedes.

“I like the fact that it’s in Birmingham and so large,” Chrystal said, and said that seeing familiar faces cheering on runners is one of the major positives she’s felt.

For Robert, however, this will be a new experience.

Robert, who works with computers and in the transmission business unit at Southern Company, began running in September as part of the Run University program.

The program, designed and run by certified running coach and personal trainer Danny Haralson, gradually introduces runners to long-distance running.

Throughout the process, increasing distances are achieved through group runs and personal training, and the program led Robert to complete the Vulcan Run 10K this past November.

“I just got on board,” Robert said. “It was one of those things where I worked through that, accomplished the goal, and at the end of that [Haralson] said, ‘OK, who’s up for the next one?’”

“If I can do this,” he said, “a half-marathon is the next logical step.”

Chrystal agreed.

“If you can do six miles, then you can do 13,” she said.

Though Chrystal may have more experience with running, the couple said they have still trained together and helped one another through the challenges.

“It’s one of those things where she’s been running a lot longer than me, so she runs a whole lot faster than me,” Robert said. He added, however, that they always start together and finish together.

“There’s still that together aspect of it,” he said.

Most of the Krackes’ training has been during the Run University group runs through Vestavia on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. For Robert, the number of miles has increased weekly, and Chrystal has been training to improve her time.

They may be working toward different specific goals, but Chrystal said she thinks it has put them on the same page about running in general.

“He didn’t understand how it felt to go out running,” she said, “how it felt at the end of the run and how you accomplished something.”

“I didn’t understand the motivation and the drive that I was seeing in her, and the ‘why are you so obsessed with this?’” he agreed. “Now I get it.”

He said he really began to understand the drive in early December when an injury kept him from running for three weeks. Having been injured while training for a full marathon a few years ago, Chrystal was able to relate.

“You have to listen to the doctors,” Robert said, something he knows all too well.

Robert has Type 1 diabetes and goes to the doctor regularly to monitor his health.

“My overall health is much improved,” he said, adding that his doctor asked him what he had changed to cause such noticeable results.

“I told him, ‘I’m running!’ and he said, ‘Keep it up, I can tell,’” Robert said.

Not only are the Krackes running to improve their health, but Chrystal is running to raise awareness for a cause she said is very important to her personally: autism spectrum disorder awareness.

Chrystal is running as an ambassador for Mitchell’s Place, a provider of comprehensive, research-based educational, social and therapeutic services for those affected by autism and other developmental disabilities.

As a preschool teacher and friend of someone whose child has autism, Chrystal said causes such as Mitchell’s Place have always been special, and becoming an ambassador was an easy choice.

“It just felt right to raise awareness and money for Mitchell’s Place,” she said.

Chrystal said her role as an ambassador involves raising awareness and support through word-of-mouth education in her running groups, as well as through other activities. Often, she even wears a Mitchell’s Place shirt while she runs.

Through everything, Chrystal and Robert said that the shared experience of training for the half-marathon has strengthened their relationship as a whole.

“We’re able to have time away from the home together, so it’s been good,” Chrystal said.

For other couples interested in training for a distance run together, the couple suggested finding a Run University or other group to train with.

“You’ll find like-minded, similarly motivated people,” Robert said.

Ultimately though, their advice was simple.

“Take it in steps,” Robert said.