Number 23 - Bataan Death March Marathon, White Sands, NM
All marathons are different, but this one is truly one of a kind. It is dedicated to the 1942 WWII event on the island of Bataan where thousands of Allied troops, including many from the New Mexico National Guard, were forced to march across the island (about 80 miles) with many dying in the process.
The event takes place in White Sands, New Mexico. Where, in the nearby National Park, you can see miles and miles of white drifting sand. It is unlike anything you will see. We visited the park the day before the event and found families picnicking, playing, and climbing the dunes. It was very cool.
The location for the race course was the White Sands Missile Range base, about 20 miles east of Las Cruces, NM. Most of the participants in this memorial event were military personnel; many carrying a 30 pound backpack to emphasize the physical demands many endured in the real march. Survivors of the Bataan Death March were on hand to greet the participants, with the names of those who passed since the last event announced prior to taps being played at the start. The course is on gravel roads including a six mile ascent up one of the mountains of the beautiful Organ Mountain range that hovers over this area. After the decent from the mountain everyone experiences the pit, where the road becomes nothing more than soft gravel and seemingly goes on for miles. This was the most grueling race course I have experienced during my marathon quest. The primary objective quickly became just to finish the event because quitting seemed unconscionable. My finish time was the slowest since I started running, 5:08, but I finished.