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Meet the Altmans: The couple behind the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon

The Covenant Health Knoxville marathon is one of the biggest events of the year in East Tennessee. The marathon takes months of planning and overseeing it all, Jason and Kristy Altman. Not bad for a couple who had barely started running when they married in 2004.

Knoxville, TENN. — You can watch full coverage of the marathon on WBIR Sunday morning from 6 a.m. until 11 a.m. on WBIR. More details and stories here.

It's a quiet Tuesday evening at the Altman house. But things inside the home are anything but quiet, Jason and Kristy Altman are a flurry of activity; the couple are checking emails and making final plans for the 2018 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.

"We've both been heavily involved for 12 years," said Jason. "We ran the first year and then were volunteers," said Kristy.

MORE | Watch the 2018 Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on WBIR on March 25

The couple had just started running when they married in 2004.

"If you look at our wedding photos we both significantly lost weight since our wedding in 2004 which typically most people go the other direction," said Jason.

"I was doing spin classes and weight classes and other cardio stuff but running was not on the radar," said Kristy. "And then Jason made the infamous bet and started running and started to lose weight and I thought 'heck, all this exercise I'm doing isn't doing the trick so I'll try it', and I hated every step and then one day it wasn't so terrible."

That bet, from a friend, was for Jason to run a 5k. He took that bet and the rest is history.

"The endorphins came back and the excitement of being a part of competitive nature. From there it was like 'hey let's see if I can go further' and 'if I can go faster'," said Jason. "Lo and behold, that's when they announced the inaugural Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon was going to be launched and 'hey, bucket list'."

Jason ran the very first marathon in 2005, Kristy ran the 5k. From there they began volunteering and before long, Jason was named race director.

"This is my twelfth year as the director of the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon and truth be told when I was selected, they told me that part of the reason that I was selected for the job was because of her," said Jason. "We were a package deal and they knew that if I was going to have the job she was coming with me."

The couple spends time traveling to other marathons across the country to get ideas to bring back to Knoxville. Jason sometimes runs out-of-state marathons and sometimes, he wins them.

"I've done 15 marathons and you know it's good to go see them in other states and bring some of the ideas back with you," said Jason.

Kristy has ran 3 marathons and has overseen the Knoxville Track Club.

The Covenant Health Knoxville marathon isn't the only thing that the couple has helped see grow. Their own family has grown, they have 2 sons: Jackson and Karson. The couple is very open and honest that it can be challenging to juggle full time jobs with raising 2 kids.

"You know when we first started having kids that's what everyone asked, 'are they going to run?' and we never wanted to push them," said Jason. "We never really pushed Jackson, let him do the soccer thing and he's done some swimming and some tennis but now that he's 8, he enjoys the one-on-one time running with mom. Karson's still 4 so he's still a little bit young and we still haven't pushed him."

Race weekend will be a busy one for the Altmans. The set up starts on March 24, the same day of the Health & Fitness Expo, 5k run, and the Covenant Kids Run. Then they'll be there bright and early on the morning of March 25 to see their hard work happen.

"Race weekend is a celebration of all that hard work," said Jason. "Seeing people that come from out of town we only see once a year."

Kristy will join WBIR Channel 10 in our live coverage of the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on the finish line at Neyland Stadium.

The couple says this is a dream come true, they've watched live marathon coverage in other cities and feel it's finally the right time for Knoxville.

"I get to actually spend some time on the field behind the anchor desk as an analyst talking about the runners with backgrounds on everybody who's coming through," said Kristy.

"This is really upping the ante this year and we're so excited to have WBIR doing this," said Jason. "I'm Excited to see how it goes. I'll have to set my DVR because I'm not going to be able to watch it."

Jason will begin his day at the start line introducing guests, and following a strict timeline until the marathon starts at 7:30 a.m.

"Every year when we get to the start line and you climb up the announcer's stand and you look out at all of the crowd, I get goosebumps and I start tearing up," said Jason. "Having that feeling is the reason we put in the 100 hour work weeks in March and the 80 hour work weeks in February."

Even though they will be busy on race weekend, the family will try and keep one tradition alive: Taking a selfie on the 50 yard finish line. They've been doing this since before they were even parents.

"That's one of the incredible things is to look back when we started is before kids and then we have a picture of the two of us at the finish line when she was pregnant and then with a baby the next year and then several years later pregnant again, and then 2 children," said Jason. "Just looking at how our family has evolved around this event is something that's really special to us."

"I'm so proud of him. He puts so much work into it and it's not just he just does it to do it," said Kristy. "He' s all the time looking for new things, we're all the time talking about what we can do bigger and better to make it a better experience for everybody, not just those up front but the first person to the very last person that crosses the finish line."

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