After earning a degree in health care administration and political science from Auburn University, and working in the healthcare industry and Alabama politics for several years, Valerie McLean Cuddy started her own retail business in a small house two blocksoff of the main strip in downtown Homewood in 1995. Now twenty-one years later, The Trak Shak Running Shops has two successful locations in the Birmingham area and Valerie herself has become a driving figure in Birmingham’s running community. In 2002, she started the Mercedes Marathon, which has become a strong Birmingham tradition and has raised millions for local charities, including the Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs.  Before the first event in 2002, Valerie was successful in winning the bid to host the 2003 US Men’s Marathon National Championship and the 2004 US Men’s Marathon Olympic Trials during the Mercedes Marathon weekend.  With the growth of the Mercedes Marathon and the running community in general, the City of Birmingham was recently named in the Top 10 Runninng Cities in America.