Marathon Runner Honors Wounded in Unique Way

Sunday's Marine Corps Marathon saw a Guinness World Record fall. Marine combat veteran Sgt. Jeremy Soles ran the 26.2-mile race in 4 hours, 29 minutes and 2 seconds while wearing a gas mask the entire way, Military.com reports.

Soles, founder of the nonprofit group Team X-T.R.E.M.E., dedicated his record-setting achievement to Marine Cpl. John Michael Peck, who suffered a brain injury in Iraq in 2007. Peck returned to combat, but then lost both arms and legs in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan in May.

Soles said he wore the gas mask, which causes a 25-percent oxygen resistance, to honor soldiers who have been wounded in battle. He carried a total 15 pounds of gear.

"A lot of times, people ask why we run in a gas mask," Soles said. "Well, we use the gas mask to symbolize what we do. People often ask how difficult it is, and our first thing to tell them is it's not nearly as difficult as overcoming traumatic brain injury, which [Cpl. Peck] did, not nearly as difficult as overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder, learning how to walk again with prosthetic limbs -- and people see the parallel."


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