Several Marines stationed at Fort Benning plan to run in this year’s Marine Marathon Oct. 30 in Arlington, Va., and extend an invitation to any Soldiers who may be interested in running one of the nation’s largest marathons.
Daniel Baumgardner, a Marine gunnery sergeant, said he would like to build a team that represents the entirety of Fort Benning. Baumgardner will be running the marathon for the fourth time.
“I don’t know if there are any other teams out there that are composed of Marines and Soldiers at the same time,” Baumgardner said. “Last year it was a Marine Corps team, but this year it would be more of a Fort Benning theme, a representation of an entire base. It’s open to anyone —civilian or Army.”
The course of the Marine Marathon winds 26.2 miles up and down Washington, D.C., and much of the course goes through the city’s historic sites.
“It’s basically a tour of every monument that is there,” Baumgardner said. “You run right next to some of them.”
On Oct. 30, the streets of Arlington and Washington, D.C. will be shut down and filled with spectators to cheer runners on.
“There will be one million people on that race course,” Baumgardner said. “The entire time you’re running, there are people screaming at the top of their lungs.”
The Marine Marathon, which has been running for 35 years, is the fifth largest marathon in the U.S. and the ninth largest in the world.
The marathon is held to honor the efforts of the U.S. Marine Corps and Baumgardner said the field has grown to about 30,000 participants
Baumgardner said though any Soldiers or civilians interested would have to pay their entry fee, travel and hotel costs, he and his team are willing to take as many people to the marathon as possible, even if someone is not used to running long distances.
“If someone is really new to it … we can help them out with what they need to run and come up with a training plan,” he said. “There are those people who are in it to win it; we’re not those guys. We’re pretty good, we’ll probably beat 85 percent of the people out there, but it’s not really about winning.”
Baumgardner said he plans for his team to run several trial runs of about 20-22 miles between now and Oct. 31 to prepare. That’s usually the distance, he said, when runners realize whether or not they will be able to finish the marathon.
“You have to run a certain speed to get to a bridge on the course by a certain time of the day,” he said. “When you get to that bridge, it’s just over 20 miles. That’s usually when people hit the wall.”
Anyone interested in running in the Marine Marathon should call Baumgardner at 910-545-1481.
