Our journey for the race started at about 6 am. I was a little nervous for this race since I was running the Eighth Annual MCRD Boot Champ Challenge with a team of people that consisted of retired Marines and marathon runners who have competed in this for the past seven years.

When we arrived on base there were about 10,000 people there. I was in a five person team and we were the last to compete. Our take off time was about 9 a.m. By that time the sun was beaming and it was pretty hot on base. The course was a 3 mile course featuring obstacles used only by Marine Recruits at the Marine Recruit Depot. We did four different obstacle courses which consisted of crawling through tunnels, jumping in fox holes, jumping over hay bales, climbing over and under walls, flipping over logs, you name it we did it.

By the end of the obstacles I’m not going to lie you were tired. But I’d have to say the best part of the course was the drill sergeants yelling at you the whole time. Some of their favorite lines seemed to be” FASTER!” and “YOU'RE A MARINE YOU'RE DISGUSTING!”

The race was awesome though and the whole event raises money for Marines, and now I’m gearing up for next years Ninth Annual MCRD Boot Camp Challenge.

-Lianne Maly