Meanders take on Boston Marathon at Adder

Photo By Staff Sgt. Engels Tejeda | Californian, Lt. Col. Judith Graham, a chief nurse with Fort Carson's 10th Combat Support Hospital serving a year-long deployment in southern Iraq passes the 4,000-year-old Ziggurat of Ur while running a leg of the Boston Marathon in Iraq. Graham, 44, split the 26.2 miles with three other nurses under the team moniker 'Nightingale Meanders.' 'We've always done the runs here,' Graham said after the team completed the marathon in 5:16:03, 'but this, the Boston marathon in Iraq, is a once in a lifetime opportunity.' Photo by Engels Tejeda. (RELEASED).  

TALLIL, IRAQ

04.28.2006

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP ADDER, Iraq - Lt. Col. Doreen Agin got more than she bargained for, when she participated in the Army's Bataan Death March in White Sands, N.M., four years ago.

"I learned my lesson that time," says Doreen, the chief of behavioral health with Fort Carson's 10th Combat Support Hospital (CSH). "I lost toenails and everything hurt."

Naturally, Agin decided one 26.2 mile marathon was enough. But while serving a deployment in southern Iraq she has picked up the habit of joining four colleagues in monthly Morale, Welfare and Recreation runs, usually between five and 10 miles long.

So when the Boston Marathon in Iraq came to Tallil in April, it was difficult for her to turn down her "Nightingale Meanders" team.

"We've always done the runs," said Lt. Col. Judith Graham, a chief nurse with the 10th CSH and a member of the Meanders, "and this is a chance of a lifetime."

Instead of breaking habit, the Meanders decided to run the marathon as a relay team.

The marathon rules only allowed Soldiers to run in teams of four, the four members run between six and seven miles.

"Last time, it took me all day," said Agin, while noting that this time she didn't have to wear combat boots and carry a backpack.

Finishing the marathon is a testament to their physical abilities and positive attitude.

Each of the Meanders has spent more than 15 years as a nurse for the military. The youngest, Capt. Vivianne Mestas, a head nurse for the intensive care unit, is 39 years old.

The oldest, Lt. Col. Ethel Roberson and Maj. Lorrainne Roehl, are 57 years old. While Graham has no children, Agin and her husband have nine children, and Roberson has "four children, five grandchildren, and a husband of 37 years." She describes the Meanders as "a cohesive group of eclectic people."

They finished in five hours, 13 minutes, and 44 seconds, a remarkable time considering the terrain and weather conditions. When they began running at 6 a.m., it was 84 degrees, by the time they crossed the finish line, it was 107. The course ran twice around most of Camp Adder's perimeter. More than 550 runners participated, making the marathon one of the largest recreational events in theater, according to event organizer 1st Lt. Tony Daschke of the 5th Battalion 113th Field Artillery Regiment.

As for the Meanders, they think this might be their last marathon, but it all depends on what kind of run Tallil's MWR office organizes next month.

• Date Taken: 04.28.2006
• Date Posted: 04.28.2006 11:39
• Story ID: 6167
• Location: TALLIL, IQ