At 8:15 a.m. Erin McCormack lined up at the start line of the Seattle Marathon Nov. 27.
Eleven hours ahead at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, her husband Ryan McCormack set out to run at 7:15 p.m.
Half a world apart from each other, they ran together.
Erin knew Ryan would only be with her for the first 13.1 miles, but the Army spouse pushed to reach the 26 miles to complete her first marathon.
"This is something where I actually feel like we're running together," Erin said. "He probably got to (mile) 13 before I did. He runs a lot faster."
The McCormacks moved to Joint Base Lewis-McChord last summer from England where they enjoyed running along small roads lined with sheep and cottages. A serious distance runner the past three years, Erin began to ask around for a local run group in DuPont. Someone told her about Lisa Hallett and the "wear blue: run to remember" group. Founded by Hallett, wear blue is a running community that serves as a living memorial to the service and sacrifice of the military.
It took just one weekly Saturday run in DuPont for the McCormacks to find their group.
"Before ‘wear blue,' running was my alone time," Erin said. "With ‘wear blue' it's a little bit different because we just named a bunch of (fallen) men and women and it's hard to just walk away from that and get into your routine without really thinking about why we wear the blue shirts. Saturday runs are a little more personal."
Before Ryan deployed in June the McCormacks had the idea that Ryan would shadow run Erin as a way to run together. What initially was a good idea to spend time together while they were apart turned into a harsh reality for Ryan. While the weather is mild in Washington during the summer months, it was brutal for Ryan.
"With temperatures hitting the upper-90s at 6 a.m. and spiking at 127 (degrees) in the afternoon it was very difficult to find similar time to run with Erin," he said.
As the seasons changed and Ryan's battalion's operational tempo slowed down, Ryan ran with Erin to clear his head and think about his family and friends back home.
"I use these shadow runs as opportunities to remember all of my friends and brothers in arms that have fallen throughout the years, and make a conscious effort to reflect on their families and loved ones," he said.
Ryan communicates with Erin to let her know what block of time he can give her during her runs so she knows at what point he is running with her. But the McCormacks do more than just run for each other. They look forward to the Saturday runs when they're running for a bigger purpose than themselves.
"When you hit the pavement on those Saturdays you're honoring them and you're taking on a huge responsibility," Erin said. "You step out of everything; of the kids, the errands you have to run, when you're going to make it to the commissary and the names come out and it's extremely powerful."
Hallett has run numerous marathons since she founded wear blue in 2009. Last month at the Seattle Marathon, Erin felt the nerves as she prepared to run her first. It took one look at Hallett at the start line to put her at ease.
"She just had this glow as though it wasn't 26 miles we were running," Erin said. The training and commitment for Erin's first marathon was one of the hardest challenges she endured. But as she ran mile after mile she didn't feel the fatigue that comes with the infamous "wall" runners experience. Rather, she reached mile 19 and was inspired by the street lined with American flags and blue shirts.
"A friend told me, ‘Before you hit the wall, remember why you're doing this. You're doing this to honor them. You will finish because you have a bigger mission than this,'" Erin said.
Part of the bigger mission is spreading the word of ‘wear blue' beyond the JBLM and DuPont communities. Ryan runs with wear blue in Kuwait and has plans to honor fallen West Point classmates from his 1997 graduating class. The idea is to give his classmates the opportunity to run to remember at the 15-year reunion. The eight names of the classmates who passed will be printed on the back of wear blue shirts, and a 5K and 10K run will be organized.
Erin has plans to run more marathons in 2012 and Ryan plans to shadow run alongside her. Always designated the pusher of the jogging stroller for their 4 and 6-year olds when he's home, Ryan looks forward to returning to his role where he receives "encouraging" words from his children.
"They're usually complaining of how slow we are moving," he said.
For more information about "wear blue," visit www.wearblueruntoremember.org.
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