Park Superintendent Monika Mayr didn’t finish first in Saturday’s 26th Run Thru History 5-K walk, but she did set a record of sorts.

Mayr, who took over as head of the Vicksburg National Military Park in October, became the first superintendent to make the annual walk through the park, according to Run Thru History organizer Mack Varner.

“It was great,” Mayr said. “Hopefully, I’ll run it next year.”

Mayr has been with the National Park Service for 20 years and is the first woman named superintendent of the local park created by Congress in 1899. She followed Bill Nichols, who served as superintendent for 18 years before his retirement.

A regular walker, Mayr said she considers herself somewhat athletic.

“I walk everyday with my dog, but I’ve been moving and I’m not in good enough shape for the run,” Mayr said.

She said park employees spent about a month working with the Run Thru History committee getting ready for Saturday and the last week roping off the area for the run, walk and 1-mile fun run.

Mayr said the committee and park employees took every necessary precautions to keep participants from damaging the park, including limiting to 1,000 the number of participants.

“It’s a great event, and it gets everybody thinking about what happened here in 1863,” Mayr said. “I heard a lot of people around me talking about the things they saw.”

Mayr wasn’t the only park employee who took part in the Run Thru History. Park Ranger Dan Seifert, who moved to Vicksburg about two years ago, ran the 10-K run for the second time.

A regular runner, the finished 34th overall Saturday and has completed the Mississippi Marathon.

“A lot of it is just staying in shape for work,” Seifert said.

Mayr heads a 40-member staff at the park and national cemetery, including the USS Cairo, a Union gunboat sunk in the Yazoo River Dec. 12, 1862.

The park encompasses much of the trench line created around Vicksburg by the defenders of the Confederate Army and the besieging Union forces. Also included in the park are the last remaining section of the canal in Louisiana ordered dug by Union Gen. U.S. Grant in an attempt to bypass the batteries defending the city and the house in downtown Vicksburg where Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton had his headquarters.

The park has about 800,000 visitors per year.