Photo By Sgt. Christopher Gaylord | Lt. Col. Mark speaks via satellite phone, Aug. 23, 2008, with teammate Ike Anunciado...... read more read more
By Spc. Christopher M. Gaylord
Multi-National Forces - Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - To run a Pacific Northwest relay race from a desert thousands of miles away may not seem like a reasonable dream to most, but for one U.S. Soldier deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, it was the only option, and that dream became reality.
For the first time in the history of Oregon's annual Hood to Coast relay race – called the world's largest running relay race and the "Mother of all relays" – one team has taken its competition halfway around the world, allowing one of its members, Lt. Col. Jeff Mark, a Military Police brigade commander, to participate despite his dedicated service to his country.
Mark's participation in the relay last year, which took him and other avid runners and walkers winding 197 miles down breathtaking Mt. Hood to the gorgeous Pacific coastline, left him wanting more. He'd return in 2008.
However, a 12-month deployment in April with his Nevada Army National Guard unit made his hopes seem a bit high. But, as time would prove, no hopes were too high for team 360 Goes 180, as it came to be known after Mark joined.
With the mindset that it had to be done, Mark ran his three legs of the race – legs three, 15 and 27 – from Victory Base Complex, Aug. 22-23, Baghdad local time, while his team stayed in close contact with him via satellite phone, which Mark used to figuratively pass the baton. They're kind of hard to throw 8,000 miles.
Starting out, Aug. 22, 2008, at the Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith Fitness Center on Camp Victory, Mark completed his first leg of 3.93 miles by treadmill.
An operations officer with Mark's MP unit waited outside the gym for a call from one of Mark's teammates, Angela Wells, and once received, immediately secured a slap bracelet around Mark's wrist, kicking off the near four-mile leg.
Mark watched a video put together and mailed over by his team that literally took him through the beginning of the course as he ran.
Close friends and members of his unit stood just feet away to show their support for a man with one big goal he had begun to achieve.
And so they were there with him for legs two and three, his loyal teammates there by wire. This time, Mark took his feet to the street, running 7.25 miles the following day around the entire camp and passing his starting point in the late morning hours, for leg two. Unit members supplied water and motivation. Unlike Oregon, summer temperatures in Baghdad reach 120 degrees by 10 a.m.
Mark's goal was finally complete the evening of Aug. 23 with a third and final leg taking him 5.98 miles around Camp Slayer, adjacent to Victory.
All the while, the scenery was something other than a rash of massive Douglas firs packed together like sardines across majestic mountains. Palm trees, small, manmade lakes and elegant Middle Eastern infrastructure, to include impressive palaces – some unfinished – set the scene for this race. Still, it was a huge check in the box for Lt. Col. Mark.
"It was a dream come true for me to be able to participate in the event," Mark said of running Hood to Coast from Baghdad. "If you're any kind of runner and you haven't done Hood to Coast, you're crazy."
"I owe team 360 Goes 180 bigtime for all they've done for me," Mark said
Vancouver Hood to Coast team 360 Goes 180, named after its primary sponsor, 360 Physical Therapy, and the fact that its newest member, Mark, is halfway around the world, began work on bringing to life its teammate's dream back in December of 2007.
Celia Perkins, the program organizer for Portland Fit/Vancouver Fit – a training program to prepare runners for the Portland marathon – met Mark in 2005 at the Road Runners Club of America National Convention in New Orleans.
Perkins trained once a week last year with Ike Anunciado, and Randy and Angela Wells, who would soon be Mark's teammates, and mentioned to them the Soldier's hopes of running Hood to Coast despite a deployment to Iraq.
"What do you think?" Anunciado said, looking at Randy, the 360 Goes 180 captain.
"We have to," Randy answered. And with that, it was an event. The team, which Mark had at that moment officially become a part of, set out to make it happen.
Anunciado immediately began drafting up a plan that would allow his new teammate to participate in Hood to Coast.
"I wrote out an outline of a strategic plan that would include our mission and objectives, to keep the team focused," Anunciado said. "Once I was finished with my rough strategic plan, I gave it to Angela Wells, whose editorial skills polished it up to present it to the Hood to Coast management team and then to potential sponsors."
In January, the team approached the Hood to Coast director of marketing and executive director, who were more than willing to facilitate the request. Soon after, they began soliciting sponsors.
"Getting permission from Hood to Coast was pretty easy," said Randy's wife, Angela. "They were receptive to the idea and very helpful. We were able to get a number of companies to sponsor our team in different ways."
"They loved our proposal and have since been extremely supportive of our cause," Anunciado said.
Originally, the team had hopes of shipping Mark a donated treadmill with preset distances for the race so it could be set up in his personal space with internet connection available, and for Mark to run broadcast via video teleconference. But, after complications arose with both plans, Angela and the rest of the team had to shift gears. Satellite phone would do.
"Carrier pigeon would take too long," Mark said.
Through much effort and an army of emails, Angela had gotten in contact with the Morale, Welfare and Recreation supervisor on Camp Victory and worked out a plan to permit Mark more time on the gym treadmills than the allotted 30 minutes, allowing for sufficient training and completion of the longer legs of the race.
The plan was for Mark to run all three legs by treadmill, but just weeks before the event, he shifted his own gears and decided to take the race to the scalding hot streets of Baghdad, running clear around Camps Victory and Slayer to provide for more scenic routes. After all, Oregon has set the scenery bar pretty high.
"I couldn't imagine running another 13 miles on a treadmill," Mark said.
Mark gained national attention with the pursuance of Hood to Coast from Baghdad and was the star of a first-time occurrence in the history of the relay. It was all just another example of how supportive most Americans are of their deployed military men and women.
Since the birth of Mark's Hood to Coast dream, Angela and the rest of team 360 Goes 180 has used the event to show troops their own immense support.
By the end of December, we had come up with a proposal to use the event to show our support to the troops overseas, while allowing Jeff to keep a foot on home ground, Angela said.
The team has since sent shirts, shoes, banners, care packages and organized a troop supply drive in the weeks before the event.
"I imagine keeping in touch with the happenings at home makes the distance seem shorter and the tough tasks at hand a little easier," Angela said. "What Jeff and everyone over in Iraq are doing for us is unimaginable. Troops sacrifice a lot to serve their country."
"One thing is clear," Mark said. "The American public – my teammates – do support the men and women serving in the military. We are all grateful for all of the support they give us every single day."
And so, in the end, Mark ran with his team by his side. Pinned to the back of his 360 Goes 180 t-shirt during leg two was an 8" x 11" photo of the entire team. They experienced, for the first time, the 120-degree temperatures and extremely dusty conditions Iraq offers while riding on the back of a man whose dream they had fulfilled.
"Hopefully I'll run with them in person next year and our team bond will grow," Mark said. "All things considered, this was a great experience, and I can't wait to get back home to the states so I can do this for real."
| Date Taken: | 08.27.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 08.27.2008 11:01 |
| Story ID: | 22926 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 396 |
| Downloads: | 370 |
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