Baghdad to Boston

Kudos to Boston Globe writer Brian MacQuarrie for a nice story in Sunday’s Globe.

In MacQuarrie’s article we meet sergeant first class Joe Williams of the US Army’s 10th Mountain Division. Williams, a former cross-country runner, is currently stationed in Baghdad. But in a few weeks he’ll be in Hopkinton at the starting line of the Boston Marathon. Turns out the B.A.A. accepted Williams’ special request to run Boston—he won a marathon on his base in December 05 in a qualifying time of 2:59:57. So the 37-year old Williams will use his only two-week leave of the year to visit the Hub and run the Boston Marathon. Now that’s dedication.

According to the BAA, Williams will be the first US soldier serving in Iraq to take leave and run the Boston Marathon.