Michael Bonner

The Clarion-Ledger

STARKVILLE — Dan Mullen weaved through lines of college football players at Davis Wade Stadium last weekend.

Brandon Bryant, at one end of the field, stretched as Mississippi State's fastest player, having run 40 yards in 4.25 seconds. Quarterback Elijah Staley prepared his throwing arm that he’s also used as a power forward on the Bulldogs’ basketball team.

But Mullen, surrounded by athletes in peak physical condition, boasted a feat few, if any, could have accomplished just hours prior. The eighth-year head coach rolled out of bed at 7 a.m. and ran nine miles in preparation for Monday’s Boston Marathon.

“You just kind of pick and choose your days where you have a little bit of free time,” Mullen said. “Fortunately, Boston has always been a dream — to go run the Boston Marathon. On the calendar for a coach, it hits at a very good date.”

Mullen, a native of New Hampshire, grew up 70 miles north of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, the starting point of the Boston Marathon. The world’s oldest marathon shuts down the state on Patriots’ Day where families line the 26.2-mile course through Framingham up Heartbreak Hill and down through Kenmore Square and Fenway Park where the Red Sox play matinee baseball.

Mullen reminisced about the tradition at the adidas retreat a year ago with the company’s director of sports marketing Chris McGuire.

McGuire, intrigued by Mullen’s interest, offered the head coach a sponsor’s exemption for the 2016 race.

“We came back to Starkvegas. I bet he had his running shoes on two days later,” Mullen’s wife, Megan said. “Honest to God, he’s kept up with it ever since.”

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Mullen ran almost daily through the summer and into the fall. The time constraints of an SEC football schedule prevented workouts lasting longer than six miles.

A 51-28 victory over North Carolina State in the Belk Bowl ended Mississippi State’s season and offered Mullen an opening to lengthen his morning runs.

“I got up New Year’s morning and got 13 miles in,” Mullen said. “That was kind of my first start.”

The number symbolized a personal training goal. Mullen will run the marathon alongside Megan’s brother Wally Zediker, who has completed ultra marathons and Iron Man races. He advised the coach to build up to a 22-mile run before the April 18 run.

That translated to 13 miles in the football coach measuring system.

“I’m a football coach. I’m so much more mentally tough than all these other people running the race,” Megan recalled her husband saying. To which she responded, “OK, Dan, your mental toughness is far more superior to other people, but let’s shoot for 20 miles and not an entire other half of the race.”

Mullen originally wanted to complete the marathon in under four hours. As the distances lengthened, Zediker advised him to slow his pace.

At 25 pounds lighter than when he began, Mullen's training peaked at 20 ¼ miles on Easter, which leaves about six miles in uncharted territory on Monday.

“Those last six are going to be a challenge,” Mullen said with a smile. “But that’s where I guess the mental toughness has to kick in.”

The first-time marathoner avoided as many 4 a.m. wake up calls as possible in preparation for Monday. He normally trained at 7 a.m., ran up to 10 miles, then continued his day as a football coach, saving the 13-plus mile runs for the weekends in the offseason.

But Megan remembers a handful of 5 a.m. workouts during January’s 20-degree weather.

“And somehow (made) it to a staff Meeting before 6:30, 7 a.m every day,” Megan said. “It’s unbelievable what he has put himself through with this race. The commitment, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

The motivation for every step in below-freezing temperatures and to continue through each pain that stabbed his joints at mile marker 20 and beyond derived from his Mullen Family 36 Foundation. It raises money for children across Mississippi geared toward scholarship, the arts, athletics, and healthcare.

“God’s blessed me with so many great opportunities to live my dreams,” Mullen said. “So our foundation, we look out and we want to try to help children’s organizations in Mississippi.”

Mullen’s goal is to raise $36,000. So far he’s raised more than $24,000. Those interested in donating can do so at mullen36foundation.com.

“Bulldogs fans can cheer me on. The School Up North (Ole Miss) fans get some pictures of me running up there and cheer the pain on my face when I hit mile 20,” Mullen said. “It’s a great cause.”

Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @MikeBBonner on Twitter.