Special to the Port Arthur News

Southeast Texas runner Candace Nelson Adkins was well back in the pack behind elite runners at the Chevron Houston Marathon on Sunday.

But her time of 4 hours and 6 minutes was well under her goal time of 4 hours and 15 minutes for her first marathon and her finish helped her achieve a more important goal: honoring the life of her grandmother, Ocie Maye Vick, who died of Alzheimer’s.

Adkins raised funds for the Alzheimer’s Association, the largest nonprofit funder of Alzheimer’s research.

Candace said her strong-willed character comes from Vick and helped her “run for a reason” when completing the race.

Adkins’ husband, Dr. Chad Adkins, and the couple’s daughters were among those at the race to cheer her on.

Some 27,000 runners participated. There were about 20,000 spectators.

Adkins trains with coach Tim Neckar of Houston.

This year, the top male and female runners, both from Ethiopia, were Bazu Worku who won the men’s race with a time of 2:08:30 and Biruktayit Degefa, who won the women’s race in 2:24:51.