This month, WTOP is spotlighting participants in the 2019 Marine Corps Marathon events who are running with purpose and plan to finish with pride.
Renee Brooks, of Silver Spring, lives a busy life. She’s married, has kids, works and plays in the Redskins Marching Band. But there’s only one thing you’ll ever see her doing the last Sunday of October, and if you have anything else happening — no matter how important you think it is — she won’t be there for it.
That’s the day of the Marine Corps Marathon, and it’s still the only thing she’ll ever consider doing that day.
“It’s my destiny,” said Brooks, 53. This year’s Marine Corps Marathon will be her 23rd in a row.
“I’ve grown up in Montgomery County and lived in Montgomery County the majority of my life,” said Brooks, who ran most of these races as Renee Hudson before getting married a few years ago.
Her mom also grew up in the area, first living in D.C. before moving to the suburbs. When Brooks and her brother were kids, their mother would pack them into a Volkswagen Beetle and drive into the city. But they got lost a lot. And pretty much every time, she said, “We’d end up at the Iwo Jima Memorial.”
That’s the finish line of the Marine Corps Marathon. “I figured it’s my destiny to always end up at the Iwo Jima Memorial,” Brooks said. “Every year.”
‘I’m right back out there’
She had to be prodded into running her first marathon in 1997, and when she was done she had no desire to run another. A week later, she changed her mind and has never looked back since.
“At this point, if I stopped running marathons I think my body would fall apart,” said Brooks. “It’s just what my body is used to. I’ve trained for a marathon every single summer for 22 years. I just can’t even imagine my life not — I’m pretty much in constant training. I usually run a spring marathon as well, so I rest for Marine Corps about a month or so, and sometimes not … and then I’m right back out there.
“I think if I stopped I don’t know what would happen.”
Which is not to say that her body hasn’t challenged her. She won’t call them injuries — they’re “issues.” But her biggest challenge came not during a race, but a few days after one year’s marathon.
“In 2008, a week after Marine Corps, we were hit by a drunken driver on the Baltimore beltway,” said Brooks. She was diagnosed with whiplash, but the pain never stopped. After an MRI she was told to see a neurosurgeon.
“He said I had a herniated disc, and he didn’t understand why I wasn’t paralyzed from the neck down,” said Brooks. “He said most people who had films that looked like mine were going into surgery.”
“I kind of looked at it like ‘Hey, I’m really lucky, because my accident happened the week after Marine Corps, so I have the most possible amount of time to train for next year.’”
And that’s how she approached it. Brooks went on to have surgery and didn’t waste much time sitting around.
“The next day I started walking up and down the street as long as I could with my neck brace on,” she said.
‘Seven different spots’
She didn’t stop then and hasn’t stopped now. And on the last Sunday in October, her husband puts in a few miles just cheering her on.
“My husband comes down … wearing a Clinton Portis football jersey and runs all over D.C.” supporting her, said Brooks. “I see him in like seven different spots. So if anybody ever goes down there and sees someone in a Clinton Portis jersey, that’s my husband.”
It helps her to have that cheerleader on the course, and also afterward when she’s finished and feeling miserable.
“It’s hard. It hurts; it always hurts, no matter how fast you are,” said Brooks. “When I was fast it hurt; when I’m slow it hurts. But it’s a good hurt. If it stopped scaring me, I’d stop doing it. It’s still a challenge. I like a challenge.”
So what has she learned from all this running? A lot, apparently.
“I guess it has taught me to be persistent and determined,” said Brooks. “Possibly very stubborn and maybe a little stupid.”
But she’ll keep running anyway. She does it with pride, too. After all, it’s always been her destiny to finish at the Iwo Jima Memorial.
