Marine Corps Marathon Expo: Bart Yasso, free samples and a deluxe Porta Potty

Yes, that’s a REAL headline from the  Examiner.com.

There’s always comedy in running, isn’t there?

And the part about deluxe port-a-potties is absolutely true. Any runner wearing Brooks MCM 2009 apparel or Brooks shoes on race day gets to use their VIP port-a-potties along the course, which feature flushing toilets, partitioned stalls, climate control, a fragrance dispenser, hot and cold water complete with oak vanity and mirrors.

http://www.examiner.com/x-8091-DC-Running-Fitness-Examiner~y2009m9d8-Marine-Corps-Marathon-Expo-Bart-Yasso-free-samples-and-a-deluxe-Porta-Potty

RUNNING AIN’T NO RODEO.

If you see a runner with their race number on their back you know it’s their first race. Welcome them to the greatest sport on the planet. Then use my line: RUNNING AIN’T NO RODEO. Put that bib number on your chest.

It seems like it must be time I come out with a sequel to My Life on The Run. So many people I meet who have read My Life On the Run, are ready to read more about my crazy adventures. They keep asking when is my second book coming out and what’s it going to be called. I don’t know when it’s coming out but I’ve already heard some crazy suggestions for titles. My wife jokingly has already named the second book numerous times.

Titles:

My Life on the Couch

My Life as a Sofa Spud

My Life as a Joggernaut

My Life with the Kitty Cat

and the bogus titles go on and on.

Susan, a former co-worker of mine came up with this fake book cover last year: My Hair On The Run. See attached pdf of the fake prequel. My life as a long-haired hippy is a book in itself!

http://www.bartyasso.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/myhairontherun1.pdf

Thank you to Kevin Martin for keeping me updated on the Major Megan McClung Memorial Half  I wrote about last month. I met Kevin during the Warrior Tours at the base called Al Asad. I learned that Major McClung was the first female Marine officer killed in the Iraq war, as well as the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to be killed in action since the school was founded in 1845. She was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetary on December 19, 2006.

McClung was a triathlete (having competed in six Ironman competitions) and a marathoner. In October 2006, she organized and ran in the Marine Corps Marathon’s satellite competition. Kevin sent this photo from the run held on August 15th and wrote to say that they had over 400 runners and 100 volunteers take part. That is awesome.

While in Iraq, Christian Schauf of the band CatchPenny (they did concerts at each base as part of our Warrior Tours) mentioned he would like to run a marathon some day. Rob Powers and I told him that when we got back to The States we were both headed out to  San Francisco to do race announcing at the marathon.

Christian, age 29, asked us: “Do you think I run it?”

I was like, “Dude, the race is in 2 weeks and you haven’t trained.” I suggested he take the time and do four months of solid training so he could pull off a marathon.

As we were boarding our plane in Kuwait City for the return fligth back to DC, Christian, who lives in Minneapolis, told me, “I think I can run SF.” I listened to his determination and told him, yes he could if he took it easy.

Flash forward, one week later in The City By The Bay. It was a Warrior Tours reunion of sorts with Rob and me there along with Anne Bonney from Under Armour. Instead of all day and night sand storms we just had morning fog that burned off by noon. It was good to recall our crazy time with the troops in Iraq. The highlight was seeing Christian at the finish line, paced by Anne, completing his first marathon ever on nothing more than a 13-mile long run. The dude ran a 4:47 and is no worse for the wear. Congrats Christian!

I arrived home from Iraq last Thursday but just four days later I was back on a plane and headed west. During my my three and a half days at home I managed to go into work and catch up as well as get in a few bike rides, two rounds of golf – one a charity event for my hometown of Fountain Hill. (I love to golf but I suck at it. Laura doesn’t understand golf so when she asks how bad I am, I tell her that I am the equivalent of a 6-hour marathoner at golf.) Also got a lot of “mulching” done in our once acre yard, visited with freinds at our running club’s clubhouse and entertained company from St. Catherine’s Canada. On Saturday night after golf, mulching and biking and some quality time with Mojave the cat, I went into Philly to watch my wife run some night time laps at Back on My Feet’s Philadelphia 20 in 24, the second running of this set-time event staged at Boathouse Row behind the Philly Art Museum. What a perfect day and night to run in the City of Brotherly Love. My wife loves this 24-hour race and has convinced quite a few of her friends to enter as a relay. And many of last year’s relay runners entered the solo runner, “Lone Ranger” division this year. It’s a natural progression. There were 207 Lone Rangers. I stepped in and did some race announcing for a few hours at night before and during the Midnight Glow in the Dark loop but my mic was taken away from me by none other than that pink tutu-clad ultrarunner and crazy Brit, Keith Straw, fresh off of his finish at the Badwater 135 a few days erlier. It was great seeing folks from many of the local running clubs Laura and I belong to including the Pagoda Pacers of Reading. Ron and Helen Horn of the Pacers did the timing for the event.

Tuesday morning I was on a plane to Salt lake City for the big Outdoor Retailer’s Show. This was pretty fun as we – Runner’s World – were in charge of the Endurance Zone and Endurance Lounge. We had treadmills set up and some amazing duels were going down – Nicole de Boom vs Scott Jurek – in a skirt no less, and two-time Western States winner Hal Koerner up against Leadville champ Anton Krupicka. Anton, Scott and Hal have to be the three smoothest runners I have ever seen – hands down – and a testament to the caliber of runner in the ultra community. There is some ridiculously serious talent out there.

Now I’m in San Francisco staying on the embarcadero with a great view of the bay.  I’m on my way to the race expo where I’ll sell books. If you’re in town, stop by and say hello. It’s a typical San Francisco morning – foggy and overcast. Like Mark Twain said: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Below is what was sent out to many Runner’s World subscribers. Join us in Richmond this fall!

   

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

 

Brown Dust Storms – almost zero visibility.

Sorry – I haven’t updated the blog. When we do have internet connection – it is slow and we are on hold due to these brown sand storms. I know the troops get frustrated when they can’t communicate with their loved ones back home so a few days of no communication and sand storms should be nothing for us.

We’ve had to cancel our last few Warrior Tour races due to  these crazy sand storms. It’s very dangerous to run in these conditions. We can’t even fly out and it’s been three days.

Our last race on Monday was fun but small – 1.6 miles. I won the 50-59 year age division. Frank Shorter, Olympic gold and silver medalist in the marathon, placed third in the 60-69 division which means he finally got that medal that had been eluding him for four decades – the much coveted bronze! way to go Frank. I will post more photos on FB and here shortly.