Shadow run pays homage to U.S. soldiers past and present

By Nick Craddock

UK students will run at 10 p.m. on Friday. In Baghdad, where it will be 6 a.m. Saturday morning, so will U.S. soldiers.

The Run for the Fallen shadow run on Friday was organized to honor all soldiers the week of Veteran’s Day. The event is intended to coincide with the 5K that over 700 soldiers currently deployed in Baghdad will run early Saturday morning.

“We will show our support for our troops by running alongside them on Friday night at 10,” said Stacey Martinez, the coordinator of the shadow run.

Martinez’s fiance, 2nd Lt. Jeff Graham, died on Feb. 19, 2004 while serving in Iraq.

“Jeff was one of a kind. It’s so hard to put his personality into words, as cliche as that sounds,” said Martinez, who was with Graham for five years. “He always had a smile on his face, and he just lit up a room. Very few people disliked him.”

Though this run is the first time Martinez has organized anything of the sort, similar events exist, including one in which Martinez participated.

In the summer of 2008, Martinez ran one mile in the Run for the Fallen campaign, in which one person ran one mile for each fallen soldier from the Middle East starting in California and forging east to Washington, D.C.

However, Martinez emphasized the event is not just to remember fallen soldiers, but to remind people the service veterans have given to the nation. She said the run is not a fundraiser and the times of runners will not be logged.

Capt. Joey Orr, the UK ROTC operations officer, said roughly 50 people are committed to the run, the bulk being UK students. Orr said participation in the run is open to anyone and everyone.

“I think word of mouth has helped this event, and I think Veteran’s Day this week really got some people motivated to remember the soldiers,” Orr said.

Josh Lynch, a sophomore cadet in the UK ROTC program, will run on Friday. Just like Graham, Lynch is a Pershing Rifleman, a military fraternity, which is how Lynch learned of Graham.

“I think this is a good way to remember Lt. Graham,” Lynch said.

With all the support, Martinez said as long as the soldiers in Baghdad continue to do their run, she would organize an event like this “in a heartbeat.”

“(Without our soldiers) we wouldn’t be able to go run freely on a Friday night,” Martinez said.