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Marine team to run 177.5 miles, marathon

For many road warriors, the Marine Corps Marathon is a battle of wills, a struggle between runner and road and the 26.2 miles that must be hoofed.

So, what do you call it if someone adds 151.3 miles to the race?

That’s what two current and two former Marines plan to do in October, when they run from the Corps’ birthplace in Philadelphia to the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Va. — then run the race itself.

The group is “chasing 1775,” running an estimated 177.5 miles to raise money for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. And although each runner has competed in marathons before, this will be the longest run any of them has made.

“There’s a lot of excitement about going into unknown territory,” said Gunnery Sgt. Dennis Miranda, who planned the run. “We’ve never done something like this, and we want to help these injured warriors.”

Miranda, supply chief for the 4th Marine Corps District in New Cumberland, Pa., said the trip is divided into five legs: four 37.8-mile runs beginning Oct. 22, then the Oct. 26 marathon. It’ll span everything from rural country roads to gritty city streets in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

“We’re only going to be out there for five days busting our ass doing this,” said former Sgt. Andrew Strohecker, 28, now a civilian contractor with Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington. “In no way does that compare to what other people have given, in terms of deployments, sacrifices and losses.”

The team

It was April 12 when Miranda, 36, was unable to finish the North Face Endurance Challenge, a grueling 50-mile ultramarathon on the steep terrain of Bear Mountain, N.Y.

Miranda, a recovering alcoholic who credits running for his transformation, had run ultramarathons before. But he had never failed to finish, a turn of events that prevented him from qualifying for an even longer June 7 race — the 100-mile Old Dominion Run in Woodstock, Va.

“After a day of moping around, I said ‘I need to practice what I preach and find the next race,’” Miranda said.

Miranda began e-mailing other friends who ran ultramarathons, which can vary in length from a little more than a marathon’s 26.2 miles to well over 100 miles. He was looking for another challenge, something to keep him running.

In conversations with family and friends, Miranda floated the idea of running the Marine Corps Marathon and tacking on enough extra mileage to reach 233 miles, to coincide with the Corps’ 233rd birthday this year.

Family and friends “brought him down to reality” about the proposed distance, questioning whether it was realistic, Miranda said. But Strohecker, an old friend from the Corps, went a step further.

“He said ‘I want to run that run with you, but I think that’s probably a little bit too much mileage,” Miranda said. “He suggested running 177.5 miles, and we went from there.”

Before long, two other ultramarathoners with ties to the Corps — Sgt. Brandon Richardson, 23, and former Cpl. Joseph Garcia, 29 — also had signed on.

“Anyone can go and run 50 miles for charity,” said Garcia, a civilian facilities manager in space management for Naval Sea Systems Command. “We thought we’d do something different and do something more significant to the Corps.”

The journey

Although there may be variations in the planned route, the 151.3-mile run to the marathon is meant to pay homage to all things Marine.

It kicks off at Tun Tavern, the legendary Philadelphia pub where the first two battalions of Marines were raised in 1775. It ends at the Marine Corps War Memorial, the Arlington, Va., monument modeled after the iconic image of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

And every step in between is dedicated to Marines wounded in battle, with a goal of raising $5,000 for the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. Established in 2004 by a nurse at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, Calif., the charity helps the families of wounded Marines with everything from mortgage payments to travel expenses, depending on individual situations.

So far, Team Esprit De Corps already has received one pleasant surprise. While e-mailing friends and colleagues in an attempt to raise the $408.70 needed to cover the team’s marathon entry fees, a Marine reservist — Gunnery Sgt. Freddy Hoch of Waldorf, Md. — volunteered to cover the whole thing.

To raise money for the fund, the team also created a Web site, http://www.active.com/donate/teamsemperfi08/TunTavern, and its members are all running at least 50 miles per week.

In typical Marine fashion, the team members also have made a pledge to each other: No one gets left behind. They plan to stay together throughout the entire 177.5 miles, regardless of injuries, cramping, hunger or other potential distractions.

“These guys are more than my running mates. They are more like my brothers,” said Richardson, an administrative clerk who has served since August as the driver for Maj. Gen. Richard Tryon, commanding general of Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

“Every mile is a challenge,” Richardson said. “But we know we are in this together and we are all determined to finish.”