MARK HADLEY
Assistant Coach
Mark's coaching journey began in 2013 when he collaborated with his high school cross country coach to write his team’s training plan. That year he went on to win the Ohio Cross Country State Championship and earned a full D1 athletic scholarship to Furman. He's been addicted to the sport ever since,
A self-avowed overthinker, Mark has spent the past 15 years refining his knowledge of Athletics through countless hours of study and practice. Before it became the Railroad motto, Mark embraced the "One Step at a Time" mentality as an athlete and coach, getting the job done patiently without need for pomp or circumstance.
Mark is driven to help self-motivated athletes improve, finding just as much joy in helping athletes finish their first 5k as helping them qualify for Boston. He's even been known to hop in races and pace his athletes all the way to the finish. Here are a few of his favorite Railroad memories to date:
Pacing Caitlyn Hadley to a BQ for Mark's first marathon
Pacing Sammy O to a BQ for Mark's second marathon
Pacing Melanie H to her first healthy marathon for Mark's third marathon
Taylor Hadley breaks 19:30 in the 5k
Kaitlyn Burk overcomes a prolonged bout with mono to earn a college roster spot at Stephen F. Austin
Christian Dang completes three marathons in three months in his 50's
Jessi Bentley gets 3rd at the Cleveland Marathon four months removed from getting hit by a car and breaking a rib
Nicole Mackey runs a Boston Qualifying 3:18 at the California International Marathon
Lauren Stroud gets second at Austin Cross leading the Railroad Women to a team victory
quadragenarian, Juliana Neelbauer runs 5:53 in the mile, breaking 6:00 for the first time since high school
Christian May runs 3:05 at Indianapolis qualifying for the Boston Marathon
​Mark claims John Phillips, Whitney Resch, Rob Mizicko & Chris Neal as his biggest coaching influences. He embraces Railroad as an unconventional way to coach athletes while balancing his full-time corporate job and most importantly, a happy relationship with his wife.