For Vicksburg resident Carolyn Aziz, Saturday’s Run Thru History marked a turning point.

“This is my first walk,” said Aziz, 55, who three years ago was preparing to get on the list for a heart transplant. Her husband and supporter, Wali, was with her every step of the walk.

“From 2009 to the spring of 2010, I was getting ready to go on the transplant list,” she said. “My doctor told me to start cardiac rehab.”

Aziz entered the cardiac rehabilitation program at River Region Medical Center in 2010. Saturday, she was one of 16 cardiac rehab program participants who braved the 48-degree temperature and 14 mph wind to line up Saturday morning at 8:30 in the Vicksburg National Military Park for the 5-kilometer, or 3-mile, run/walk.

Her training regimen was different from many of the walkers who took off at the sound of a Civil War musket.

“I went every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to rehab and walked a mile on the treadmill,” she said. “I did all my walking inside. It’s a big difference from walking outside.”

The Azizes were among the 720 participants for the 33rd annual Run Thru History, which was won for the second year in a row by University of West Alabama and former Clinton High School athlete William Kazery with a time 34 minutes, 19 seconds.

The race takes participants through the Vicksburg National Military Park’s north and south loops, and then onto North Frontage Road for a finish at the Battlefield Inn.

The heavy rains that hit the Vicksburg area Friday night were long gone by start time, and the course was dry, despite a brief sprinkle just before the start.