Jody Barr

Founding President

Your five foot nothin', a hundred and nothin' and hardly have a spec of athletic ability and you hung in with the best college football team in the land for two years, and you're also going to walk out of here with a degree from the University of Norte Dame, in this life time you don't have to prove nothing to nobody except yourself and after what you've gone through if you haven't done that by now, it ain’t gonna never happen. “Foutune” to Rudy when Rudy was going to quit the team.

That quote is what finishing a marathon was to me…(never mind that I couldn’t sleep the night before my first marathon and saw it at 1:00am and 4:00am) There is no way I could ever run 26.2 miles. I’m too busy with life, I can’t run one mile, never mind 26, I’m too fat, I’ll do it next year; I don’t like running and runners wear really short shorts…

Team MAD has changed my life! As a founding member of Team MAD in 2006, I learned that once you run a marathon, with just time and dedication, you can accomplish anything in life. My body, (or maybe it’s my eating habits) are not designed for running long distances, but each year - I train, work hard at getting people to sponsor me and cross the finish line Making A Difference. Not to mention feeling pretty darn good about my efforts. I will never win a race, but know I have never lost one either...Today, my greatest joys are coaching and seeing the sense of achievement in the eyes of new runners - It’s like watching the movie Rudy over and over again….

Favorite Quotes
“You are the World’s Best Runner”
“Running Sucks”
“Know your goal”
“We could do this all day”

Favorite Accomplishment
Anytime I cross a finish line….

Athletic Summary
4 Marathons and dozens of half marathons.

Hobbies
Hunting and Fishing...

Day Job
Since 1997 I have worked for Connecticut State University System in Hartford as a Voice Systems Analyst serving CCSU, ECSU, SCSU and WCSU.