About Us
About Us
A bond that unites all ages and paces together. Runners set out to achieve their own personal goals.
We want runners of all types! No matter if you are a beginner, weekend warrior, road runner, trail runner, or a Boston Marathoner...we would love to have you!
Come join the fun and earn some miles.
About Us
President - Joe Cook
Joe Cook, owner of Abilene Running/Angelo Running Co and Jostens of Abilene. Joe is married to Sara and has a young daughter, Claire. He began running in 2005, training and finishing the OKC Memorial Half Marathon in just under 2 hours. He has since run many other half marathons, 10ks, 5ks, and 2 Full Marathons. Joe has been a familiar face around the big country for a majority of the races as the race director and timer. He absolutely loves the running community, how they are always there to support other runners, and how hard they are willing to work to accomplish their goals. When Joe is not running, you may also see him around playing french horn, trumpet, or other instruments with the Abilene Community Band.
Vice President - Mark Kiser
Mark has been running since 2016. After running several road half marathons he transitioned to trail racing and completed his first ultra-marathon in 2019. He ran the Leadville trail marathon in 2021 and completed his first road marathon during the Disney Dopey challenge in 2023. Mark’s goals include running more road marathons as well as a 50 mile trail race.
Treasurer - Julie Cronk
Julie first started running in 2000 by competing in the Cowtown 5K and has loved running ever since. She has completed numerous 5Ks, 10Ks, and various other distances. Her greatest accomplishments are finally completing 4 half-marathons, with the first being at Cowtown in 2021. She hopes to complete many more half marathons, while trying to PR each time she competes. Her ultimate goal is to eventually compete in a full Marathon. She is currently trying to become a teacher while also getting her Master’s in Teacher Leadership with a concentration in Gifted and Talented Education. When Julie is not running she is usually reading with a goal of having a 1000 book library.
Media Coordinator - Chelsea Weaver
Chelsea is a native to the Big Country and is the life skills teacher at Jim Ned Intermediate. She found her love of running in junior high and continued to run Cross A Country through high school. She started running again in August of 2022 as a way to help her mental health and found the Abilene Runners Club where she found a group of people that not only helped with running goals, but became some of her best friends. Her first half marathon was BMW in Dallas in December 2022 and has since completed other halves, plus an Ultra at Possum’s Revenge. She looks forward to many more miles and races with some of her favorite people. When she’s not running or working, she’s riding horses or traveling.
Secretary - JB Batiste
I have been a runner since 2008. I ran my first 5k At Abilene Turkey Trot 2008. First Half-Marathon June 2010 San Antonio, and First Full-Marathon February 2012 Cowtown. I qualified for the Boston Marathon in December 2015 and ran the race in April 2017. I have ran 10 Full-Marathons, and 124 Half- Marathons. I enjoy running several races every year.
Membership Coordinator - Christina Turner
My running started before I was even born. My parents second date was a ten-mile run. When I was a kid, I HATED running since my parents wanted us to do it and I enjoy it, but I did not. As a teenager, I LOVED it and was actually pretty good. Then life happened and would get away from running for little while. Always come back to it. In my 30’s decided to run a half. Then decided it was time to do a full. The first one did not go as planned running with a pacesetter, so trained for another and decided to just do my own run. It was successful so did a few more. Life happened again and got away from running. The last five years have tried to have a planned event every 3-4 months to keep myself more accountable. My paces have definitely slowed down over the years, but I still enjoy it. My husband decided he wanted to run a Full, so in January of 2024 we did Disney. We finished and for me that was all that I wanted. It is no longer on my bucket list to complete a Full since there is so much time invested and with my slower times, I feel like a Half is where I can complete the training without too much stress. My husband and I set a goal to run a half in each state as long as we are able. We started our goal late, but so far have done California, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan.
Member at Large - Toi Kiser
Toi