Photo By Lance Cpl. Kayla LeClaire | U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Nancy Wright, retired, runs at Butler Stadium on Marine...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – THUMP THUMP THUMP. The sound of feet hitting the treadmill echoes like a loud heartbeat through the room. The air tastes of salt as sweat drips over the brow and off the face to the ground. Panting breaths match the rhythm of footsteps, creating a chaotic melody, while the humming of the machine turns adrenaline to energy. Pushing further, harder, and faster, the mind is clear and all that matters is the run. Not everyone has experienced this feeling known as the runner’s high, but for Nancy Wright, it’s a feeling she knows all too well…
A native of Granville, Ohio, Nancy Wright is a retired Marine who works as a senior consultant with a Department of Defense contracting company. In between her job and working to apply for grad school, she is running, training, and competing in marathons.
Wright originally joined the United States Air Force in 1997 and spent about ten years working as security forces before she decided to make a change. She didn’t want to grow old and regret not taking the chance to do something she had always wanted. In 2008, she made the switch between branches and joined the Marine Corps.
“I decided I wasn’t getting challenged enough,” Wright said, “I always wanted to be a Marine and I was almost getting too old at that point, so I decided to get out of the Air Force and go become a Marine.”
Wright spent 12 years as an air support operator for the Marine Corps and retired at the rank of Gunnery Sgt. While she felt she made the right decision, her service in both branches came with their own set of difficulties. Long work shifts would leave her exhausted, the pressure would build up, and managing the stressors became difficult. Instead of letting difficulties drag her down, Wright sought to better herself and improve in every way she could.
“I would say my time in the Marine Corps was more difficult than the Air Force, but in the best possible way,” Wright said. “I had a lot more satisfaction from my time in the Marine Corps than I necessarily did from my time in the Air Force.”
Wright began running when she first joined the Air Force. Going on runs was her way of meeting all the physical requirements of the military, but also having something to decompress. It was something of her own, that nobody could take away from her. Her eyes lit up as she fondly remembered her time running at the Air Force bases she was stationed at.
“When I was running around the base perimeter, I frequently got asked if I was lost and needed help,” said Wright, “I had my mental sanity questioned a few times,” she said with a laugh.
Currently training for the Marine Corps Marathon and for her own enjoyment, her routine includes running every other day either on the treadmill or out at a park. She mixes up her training with short runs and walk-run intervals during the week, and on the weekends, she does long distance training. Wright expressed that pace isn’t what she strives for with her running, instead she works on her endurance and distance. She doesn’t need to be the fastest; she just needs to keep running.
“I would say I’ve been a runner longer than I was an Airman and longer than I was a Marine, so I’m just grateful to still be running,” Wright said.
Wright first participated in the Marine Corps Marathon while she was in the Air Force and stationed in Italy. When she heard about a group of Marines from a reserve unit in her home state who were killed in action, she knew she wanted to do something in their memory. Unsure of how to best honor their sacrifice, she heard about the upcoming Marine Corps Marathon and knew exactly what she had to do. She flew back to the United States to participate in the marathon held in Washington, DC.
Wright mentioned that she found running to be a rather fitting way to honor Marines, with the sweat, pain, and ‘maybe even a little bit of blood’. After her first participation in the Marine Corps Marathon, she decided to continue running it and any other marathons if given the chance. This year’s upcoming Marine Corps Marathon will be her sixth time participating.
“It's kind of like tattooing. Like, once you get that first one, you're like, okay, that wasn't as bad as what I thought it was, I think I want to sign up for another one,” Wright said. “All that fatigue that I thought I had, it's almost like as soon somebody puts that marathon medal around your neck, you're thinking ‘I'm kind of feeling awesome, let me go find another one’.”
Wright has since participated in nearly 30 different marathons, but described the Marine Corps Marathon as one of the best marathons she’s ran. The organization, community, runners, and crowds added to not only the race itself, but to the overall atmosphere. She described her excitement for the marathon to be held in person after its two-year virtual break due to the Covid-19 pandemic; nothing compares to the physical rush of a live marathon event and community spirit.
“I deferred my race number like for the virtual marathon, because, that really didn’t seem like a lot of fun,” Wright said. “People make signs, girls would be running by with ‘Do you need a date for the ball’ that had their phone numbers written on their back, and every now and again you’ll see a guy running past in a ghillie suit. The whole crowd as far as the Marine Corps Marathon goes is awesome.”
Wright described the marathon as a great chance to focus and simply be with other people who enjoy running just as much as she does. Given that running is mostly a solo sport, marathons are a fantastic way to bring these likeminded individuals together. The beauty of the Marine Corps Marathon in particular, is that it isn’t only for hard-core runners. Wright spoke on the fact that now as she is growing older, she tries to take it easier on herself. The important thing is just running the best you can. People of all shapes, ages, athletic abilities, and experiences partake to simply have a good time.
“Since we’ve all been separated from as many people as humanly possible to be separated from, it’s great to come back together for a community event. That’s exactly what the Marine Corps Marathon is, it’s all these different people that come from all these different nations,” Wright said, “It’s not even necessarily because they know anything about the Marine Corps- they just know it’s a good marathon and that people have fun. They don’t need to know much beyond that- they can just get out and run.”
| Date Taken: | 09.26.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 09.28.2022 17:30 |
| Story ID: | 430270 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | GRANVILLE, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 45 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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