This Halloween marks the 35^th annual Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. Joining the registration list this year are senior cross country runners Seth Markowitz and Carl Adams. This will be their first marathon, although both have run a half marathon in the past. Their training process has been long.

“I started serious preparation around the end of school last year,” said Markowitz.

Both have been practicing by doing long runs over the weekends and going to cross country practices during the week. Some of their exercises include running 15 miles or more runs. The half marathons they ran gave them a feel of what to expect and helped them train.

Running is something Adams and Markowitz like to do. They especially love running with their friends.

“It takes a lot of effort and determination,” said Adams.

They are both running this marathon for charitable organizations. Adams will be running for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity for wounded veterans and their families at Walter Reed Hospital. Markowitz will be running for the Washington Humane Society, which cares for about 30,000 animals each year. The better they run, the more money will go to these charities.

The pair’s passion for running began with cross country.

“This marathon is…relat[ed] to all my years [of] running for WJ,” Markowitz said.

The two are focused solely on the Marine Corps Marathon at the moment but the idea of running other marathons has crossed their minds. The two have considered running the Boston Marathon, which is a much harder race, because qualification for this marathon requires the marathon to be run in under three hours and 10 minutes. But participating in this marathon isn’t something that they have ruled out.

“If we qualify for it, I’ll do it,” Adams said.

Becoming a good cross country runner may be a gradual process, but those who are looking into running cross country don’t need to feel worried about being really fast right away, according to Adams and Markowitz. They say that the best thing to do when starting to run is to “take it slow.” They say that, initially, you should do what you can. Gradually, both of these runners have worked their way up to running a marathon.

Adams and Markowitz are focused in their training for the event next month. They are confident and all they can hope for is that all their hard work will pay off.