A note from Kevin Martin, one of the soldiers I ran with at Al Asad…

Bart,

Hope the rest of your tour in Iraq is going well.  We really enjoyed having you all in Al Asad.  It was quite an honor to run that 5K with your group. Here is that picture that we spoke about showing us holding the poster for our event. 

The event is the Major McClung Memorial Half-Marathon and will be held in Iraq this August.  It is named after Major Megan McClung, the first Marine female officer killed in Iraq.  She organized the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon Forward which is a satellite version of the Marine Corps Marathon.  The Half-Marathon will fall 8 weeks from the 2009 Marine Corp Marathon — so in the perfect spot for a marathon training schedule.  Iraq will host another satellite version of the Marine Corps Marathon in 2009.  There are currently over 200 service members signed up to run the Half-Marathon.  Major Megan McClung was an avid runner who finished 6 Ironman Triathlons and numerous marathons including the Marine Corps Marathon which she helped bring to Iraq in October of 2006.  Two months later she was killed in an IED attack.

 

This is the information about her scholarship fund:

The Major Megan M. McClung Memorial Scholarship

C/O Women Marines Association

P.O. Box 8405

Falls Church, VA 22041-8405

See womenmarines.org for details.

 

Thanks again for hanging out with us,

Kevin Martin

 

Left to right: Mark Cain, John Gandy, Bart Yasso, Frank Shorter, Timothy McMahon, Dax Bonnett & Kevin Martin