Marathon man: Kell’s athleticism serves as inspiration to his daughter

Local marathon runner Tommy Kell competed in his fourth Nashville Music Marathon recording a time of 3 hours, 20 minutes and 27 seconds. Kell was the 143rd runner to cross the finish line.

Kell has inspired his nine year old daughter Taylor to pick up the sport of marathon running. They have been training together since January and in April entered a 5K race at Grundy County. Tommy finished the race in second place and Taylor captured first place in her division ( girls 14 and under) with a time of 35.50.

Taylor had her dad have been working very hard and not only did Tommy enter the Music Marathon but Taylor did as well.

Taylor entered the Nashville Country Music Kids Marathon which was limited to 500 participants in kindergarten through the sixth grade.

The kids marathon was done by running the first 25 miles at your own speed at home.

Each participant was given a runners package and in the package was a map showing the 26.2 mile course that the marathon runners would take. Each time Taylor ran a mile at home, she would put a sticker on her map showing her advancement.

Then the last 1.2 miles was completed on the mourning of the race in Nashville. Taylor completed the last 1.2 miles and received a Nashville Country Music Kids Marathon medallion when she crossed the finish line. Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher was on hand to greet the children when they finished the race.