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

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.

Last week I flew up to Alaska for the Anchorage Running Club’s Humpy’s Big Wild Life Runs, events that included a marathon, marathon relay, marathon walk, the Snow City Cafe 5K, the Alaska Museum of Natural History’s Run For Your Life Kid’s Dinosaur Fun Run, and Skinny Raven Half Marathon. The 25th Infantry Brigade’s half-marathon race at FOB Sharana Afghanistan was held in conjunction with the Half Marathon. The ARC  provided t-shirts, medals, and other support to the Fort Richardson soldiers participating in the event. Unlike the run in Anchorage, the brigade’s race was held at an elevation of 7,400 feet above sea level.

I was in Anchorage for four days and did experience the famous summer nights of light. Darkness lasted only four to six hours in the south. We’d be out at 10 pm and it wasn’t all that dark out. Earlier in the season, the northernmost region runs on a never-ending light bulb  with daylight illuminating the land in 24-hours cycles.

Race day, Sunday, August 16th was perfect. Conditions were ideal for racing: 53 degrees at the start with overcast skies and no wind. Temps didn’t go up much throughout the day. Most of the marathon course is on the beautiful Coastal Trail that runs along the Cook Inlet.I was the race announcer and I saw many runners, locals and those from the lower 48, I had just met the two days before. Some I have known from other races including many 50-Staters. My buddy Brian Jackson from NOLA finished his 49th state. Larry Macon from San Antonio did Humpy’s as his 566th marathon. And I am not making this up: Larry has run marathons in all 50 states 8 times. That is being beyond a 50-Stater or a Marathon Maniac. I don’t know if there is a word invented for it yet. If you can think of one, let me know!

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.”

   

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.

I’m out for walk with the rest of our group at 5am. It’s cooled off to 105°F. I was the last one to arrive in the lobby. Two minutes late. Everyone else was right on time. Frank Shorter was walking up to my room to retrieve me but I met him in the stairwell.

We have a one-hour van transport to APOD a military base near Kuwait International airport. When we transport by van we have a security vehicle shadowing us.  It’s official. We’ve received our kevlar helmets and flack jackets.

Now we have about a 3-hour wait for our C130 to transport us to western Iraq. Sandra Magnus, Sandy, had us captivated with her stories on returningto Earth  from space. We totally take gravity for granted. She shares stories of not being able to judge while simply walking around corners. She forgot how to jump even it was only jumping 10 inches off the ground. 

We have to get used to the hurry up and wait game. We always have to be ready when the plane shows up.We just found out our flight will not leave until 3 pm 6 hours later than anticipated. We have no control over anything. We just wait until someone will escort us to our plane.

Lunch at the mess hall is rice and cabbage. All we need to do is show our military orders and they feed us. I’m sitting in the mess hall and a soldier next to me is reading the July issue of Runner’s World.He sees the giant photo of me near the front of the magazine and freaks out. “That’s you!”

It’s amazing to me how many of our soldiers read the magazine and know all about me. He escorts me around APOD introducing me to all runners he knew on base.

It’s time. Our C130 shows up and off we go to Western Iraq. We sit sideways in the back of the plane with the cargo. Flack jacket, helmut, ear plugs and strong stomach required.

We land at a base in western Iraq and the back of the plane opens up. They unload a a few pallets then we jump off the back of the plane.This was so cool. I’m ruined for life. Commercial flying will never be fun again.

We get escorted to some fancy barracks they call Camp Cupcake. Our escort tells me he’s been following my training plan from our July issue. He’ll be running the satellite race they hold here in conjuction with the Marine Corps Marathon.

I met a Captain at the barracks. He says to me: “Sir, I meet you at the Air Force Marathon last year.” It was his first marathon and he’s hooked on running.

We head over to the rec center to open registration for tomorrow’s 5K race. Sandy, Frank and I sign posters for all the runners as they register for the race.

It’s a very humbling experience because they all thank us for being here in Iraq. We thank them for all they are doing. They are a bunch of really strong, hard-working Americans who are protecting the liberties and freedoms that we enjoy at home every day.

Frank and I look at each other and say the same thing: We are getting more out of this then they are.

Our group of 8 meets up at the Dulles airport in Washington DC. Twelve hours later we are half a world away in Kuwait City – but still not near our final destination. 

The Warriors Tour Team of Eight:

Rob Powers, race announcer extraordinaire and founder of the Warrior Tours. 

Frank Shorter ,the man who invented the running boom, the marathoner who made running marathons cool.

Sandy Magnus, a REAL astronaut. She spent 4 months at the international space station.

Nicole Cloutier, public relations with NASA.

Anne Bonney, a Senior Manager of Sports Marketing at Under Armour, one of our sponsors

Rick Stern and his son Josh, our race timers,

and me, Bart Yasso.

We arrived in Kuwait city at 5 pm. It’s 118 degrees. First stop: The one-stop Visa shop to purchase your Visa for $20.00 US or 3 Kuwait currency – 3 Dinar (KWD). The shop is located next to a Mc Donald’s, and it’s like an old-fashioned bakery. You have to get a number then wait to be called up to the window. It’s a very crazy chaotic scene to get $20.00.

Each security checkpoint is very different. Some are very strict, passport, Visa and what are you doing here questions; other checkpoints they just waved us thru.

It was a 45-minute caravan to the Arifjan base. Arifjan is used to bring newbies in before they are sent to Iraq or the last stop before people head stateside. Our housing was in three-story cinder block building .The base lobby had a tv on showing cnn international coverage of the Michael Jackson Memorial service. Some people watched it intently. Others could care less.  he first 2 people who meet Sandy both said the same thing, wow a REAL astronaut. I wonder what’s a fake astronaut? 

Got to bed at 11:30 pm and up at 3:30 am. I can’t sleep much because my room is next to the latrine. I hear the doors open and close all night long. We need to be in the lobby at 5:30 am for transport to an unknown location. I like the idea of having no idea where we’re going. You feel very safe. The one thing we know were in good hands.