Capt. Swinford Runs Marine Corps Marathon

“It was a sense of duty to the Marines,” said Captain Autumn Swinford of her participation in this year’s Marine Corps Marathon.

On October 31, after countless hours of training, Swinford, a Truman School MPA student, Marine Corps Captain, and instructor in the University of Missouri’s Naval ROTC, joined over 30,000 runners in the nation’s fourth largest marathon, beginning in Arlington, VA.

After Dr. Jill Biden fired the start gun, the runners traveled across the Key Bridge to Georgetown, and then headed into Washington, D.C. Swinford recalled seeing, among other national symbols, the National Mall, U.S. Capitol building, and Pentagon during the race.

The “sense of patriotism” and support emitted by Marines and civilians congregating along the marathon route were encouraging, but those participating in the race were even more moving, Swinford said.

“I saw people from all walks of life, body shapes and sizes. I even saw a blind runner and a runner with two prosthetic legs. It was inspiring to see those less capable than me doing it,” she continued. Swinford discussed this marathon, her third, as a personal commitment. “Contrary what people believe, I don’t like running,” she said. You don’t have to love running to run a marathon. It’s the commitment to physical fitness and to health, whether you run for a charity or for yourself. You know your body can do great things.”

The sunny, 26.2 mile journey finally ended back in Virginia, at the Marine Corps War Memorial, commonly known as the Iwo Jima Memorial.

“The memorial was such a welcomed site. The finish line was staffed with Marines,” commented Swinford. She described the marvel of the race’s end, and emotional experience of ending the race near the resting place of so many fallen heroes. The support of military servicemen and –women and spectators was “phenomenal,” Swinford said.

She was even fortunate enough to surprise some of her previous students—now commissioned as Lieutenants in the Marine Corps and undergoing officer training at Quantico—who were working along the marathon’s route.

Swinford summed up her experience by expressing the fulfillment of being in the presence of thousands of outstanding individuals, visiting our nation’s most sacred and patriotic area.

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