Nealis has been director of Washington’s famous Marine Corps Marathon for 19 years. This year’s race sold out Wednesday faster than any U.S. marathon in history (two hours, 41 minutes), according to Running USA. About 30,000 runners will take part in the race on Oct. 28.
So, how did it feel?
You wake up this morning and you find out that you have a whole bunch of new Facebook friends.
Is it pretty impossible to get in now?
We have over 100 charity partners this year, and those charity partners have blocks of numbers anywhere from 25 to 100. So it’s not impossible to still get on the starting line on Oct. 28.
It’s called the People’s Marathon. Why?
Really, we get our name because out of the top marathons we are the only marathon that doesn’t do cash prizes. So you don’t have the elite marathoners coming to the Marine Corps Marathon. We focus on treating [everyone] the same — whether you’re the first runner or the last runner. You’re all special to the Marines.
What’s so special about the race?
It’s a great opportunity for runners to see the Marine Corps up close and personal. The fact that over 2,000 Marine Corps and sailors work the course on race day — it’s a rare opportunity. A lot of American people have no exposure to a live Marine outside of what they see in the movies. Obviously we’re still at war. We sometimes forget that for the last nine or 10 years we’ve been at war and these Marines handing out water and taping up blisters might have been in Iraq or Afghanistan the year before. There’s a big patriotic flavor to it.
