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Runners race amid dust, danger in Iraq

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — They came in helicopters, trucks and Humvees instead of MARTA trains.

But about 600 soldiers, more than three times the number anticipated, got to the starting line of the Baghdad version of the Peachtree Road Race, which began at dawn Sunday on a course that circled one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. Participants were warned to seek cover in case of rocket or mortar attacks during the race, but all was quiet except for shouts of encouragement from a few volunteers along the 10-kilometer route.

CURTIS COMPTON/Cox News Service (enlarge photo) Armed Forces participants gather at dawn for the Baghdad Division of the Peachtree Road Race at Camp Liberty in Baghdad on Sunday.

Capt. Josie Hobbs, 39, a member of the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Brigade Combat Team, rode in the pitch-dark cargo bed of a military truck to get to Camp Liberty in time for the 6 a.m. start.

"I have fond memories of running in the Atlanta race in 1998," said Hobbs, a former high school and college sprinter. "Here I am in Baghdad, so I figured why not? It seems like a good way to represent my hometown."

The temperature at the start of the race was about 85 degrees with a dry, desert wind of about 15 mph. The Baghdad forecast called for 115 degrees with blowing sand by midafternoon, so organizers were eager to get this second edition of the Baghdad Peachtree race finished early. The race was run Sunday instead of July 4 because the holiday at home is just another workday here.

This year's Peachtree also had editions run in Kuwait and Afghanistan.

During the Baghdad run, which Hobbs finished in just under an hour, she pondered the recent and ancient history of this exotic region.

"This is Mesopotamia," she said. "And these canals remind me of the Bible story of baby Moses floating in a basket."

Runners circled a lake ringed by marble palaces built for Saddam and his family. Several of the ornate buildings had massive holes in the roofs and walls where American bombs had smashed them during the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam's regime.

"We [messed] that one up bad!" Hobbs said.

Saddam and former top members of his regime are now inmates at Camp Cropper, a heavily guarded prison a stone's throw from the race course.

A few off-duty U.S. soldiers fished in the lake during the race, and 1st Sgt. Barry Smallwood, 41, said he spotted carp that looked to be 2 or 3 feet long.

"It made me want to go bass fishing at Jackson Lake," said Smallwood, a towering former corrections officer who said fellow Sgt. Charlie Cloud, 33, of Liberty Springs shamed him into the early morning run.

"Some of our guys who were signed up to go didn't get out of bed," Cloud said. "But the first sergeant did the right thing."

Col. Dan Kornacki, commander of an Air Force expeditionary group based at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga., ran in his 13th Peachtree Road Race on Sunday — and his first in Baghdad.

"The main difference was the absence of about 55,000 close friends," he said. "We had a few people wishing us well along the route, but nothing like the thousands that offer encouragement in Atlanta."

The soldiers took scant notice of armored Humvees and hulking Bradley Fighting Vehicles as they came and went on combat missions during the race.

There was no "Heartbreak Hill" to contend with on the pancake-flat race course, but there wasn't any shade, either.

The start/finish line was a dusty parking lot where runners congregated after the race to drink water and Gatorade and munch apples and pears. Col. Bruce Resnak, garrison commander at Camp Liberty, handed out medals to the top three male and female finishers. The overall winner was Staff Sgt. David Bice, 32, of Frankfort, Ky., a member of the 503rd Military Police Battalion. Bice finished in 36 minutes, 25 seconds.

But road race shirts with coveted "Baghdad Division" on the right sleeves went to all finishers.

Resnak said he anticipated about 200 people would participate in the race, but three times that number showed up. Volunteers collected e-mail addresses so that runners who didn't get shirts at the event could collect them later.

"I accept the credit and the blame," said Resnak who ran his first Atlanta road race last year with his 12-year-old son. "We expected a few hundred people, but word spread like wildfire."

Dave Hirschman writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. E-mail: dhirschman@ajc.com