It’s officially the 246th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. How is the service celebrating it, you might ask?
While scores of Marines will surely be launching into an intoxication-fueled re-creation of the branch’s Revolutionary War-era founding in Philadelphia’s Tun Tavern, the Expeditionary Warfare Training Group Atlantic out of Virginia Beach, Virginia, has taken a page from those bizarre individuals who choose to honor or celebrate a person or moment in time by waking up at the crack of dawn and ... running.
That’s right. They’re running. But because these are Marines we’re talking about, this is no low-key fun run you could do with your grandparents like a Thanksgiving Day turkey trot. These personnel are running one mile every 10 minutes for 41 hours. That’s a total of 246 miles — see what they did there? — for those non-math enthusiasts.
Here’s to hoping the event is followed by 246 beers.
“It’s really good to get together and having that foundation and that camaraderie to bring us together and do what we do as Marines,” Cpl. Julissa Solorzano told local 13 News.
Because nothing says camaraderie like spending two whole days suffering together in the name of Marines past, present and future.
Whether or not Marines volunteered or were voluntold is unclear. Some, however, are slated to run as many as 20 miles. It will end with a formation run to include all participants on Nov. 10.
Semper fun!
Sarah Sicard is a Senior Editor with Military Times. She previously served as the Digitial Editor of Military Times and the Army Times Editor. Other work can be found at National Defense Magazine, Task & Purpose, and Defense News.
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