Taking a run on the 'dark side'
By Brett Turner
Skywrighter Staff, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Marathons don't just draw runners of all shapes and sizes. They also bring in characters.
There was probably no bigger character at Saturday's ninth annual Air Force Marathon than Kettering 's Harry Sober.
Sober, a huge Star Wars fan, came to run the full 26.2 miles in his complete stormtrooper outfit. Stormtroopers are the foot soldiers of the evil galactic empire in the space saga.
While most runners were dressed in sweats, tank tops and shorts in the early morning hours before the race, there was Sober, decked out in four pounds of gear, including a helmet and a "blaster" at his side.
"When I told my family I was going to be in the Air Force Marathon, they said that was cool," Sober said, smiling. "When I told them I would be doing it in the armor, they said 'Are you crazy?'"
He said he's the third person in his Star Wars club, the 501st Legion Ohio Garrison, to run a marathon in an entire stormtrooper outfit. He and his friends are often in costume doing appearances at children's hospitals, charity events and cancer walks.
"I see this all the time at Star Wars conventions and stuff," he said. "It's all about having a lot of fun."
He said he was originally doing it to raise money for a sick child whose dad created the club. Unfortunately, the girl passed away last month, so Sober is dedicating his race to her memory. His times to beat were 5 hours 48 minutes and six hours 12 minutes.
Besides his Star wars obsession, Sober is also a runner who has done a 5k (3.1 miles) in the suit and 6.2 miles in the full gear as his longest runs, but running a full marathon isn't like chasing down droids on the planet of Tatooine.
To help beat the heat that would emerge as the day went on, Sober put two mini fans into the helmet. He said being in the gear for that long wouldn't be new. At a recent Star Wars fan celebration, he was in his gear for long periods - for 19 hours straight at one point - and in the pouring rain in another, directing traffic.
"I figured I would do it slow and not overexert myself," he said. "I'm not really worried about the others' time; if I can beat them that's all well and good. My main goal is to finish the marathon so I can say "I ran the marathon in stormtrooper armor.'"
Sober said the armor is relatively light compared with some Star Wars outfits, such as a Darth Vader outfit, which is all black and has a lot more gear.
As if running the full marathon wasn't enough, Sober, his wife, Maria, and a fellow stormtrooper also arose at 3 a.m. and came out to help direct traffic into the marathon.
Sober drew as many, if not more, stares and attention than professional guest runners Bill Rodgers and Alberto Salazar, but he said he loves it.
He said he got used to the attention while acting in Renaissance fairs with Maria. She came to the event in her imperial office outfit, but declined to run, mostly due to the five-inch heels on her uniform, which some mistook as Russian army officer gear.
Maria said they are both used to being on camera; her dad was a wedding photographer, so she's had plenty of experience. She waited patiently as Harry navigated the marathon course. Although it wasn't like making the jump to hyperspace, he finished the race in 7:32:22, in 1,0204 th place, just around 27 minutes before the course officially closed, meeting his goal of finishing.
Perhaps he could have gone a bit faster had he known there was a fellow runner ironically named Luke Skywalker who ran the 26.2-mile race. This Skywalker did not hail from Tatooine, but from Canton, Mich.
Skywalker finished the race in 4:59:32 and in 851 st place; of course, the force was strong in him.
Next to stormtrooper Harry Sober, Lt. Col. Brian Berry was maybe the next more noticeable runner in terms of appearance. He came dressed in Hawaiian hula garb, complete with grass skirt, hat and coconuts in his chest to run the second leg of the relay race for the Beauty and the Beasts team.
Berry is a member of a social running club called the Hash House Harriers, who are used to doing crazy stunts while running. He said he thought he'd adjust it to run in the marathon and trotted out the costume, which he had only previously worn to a Jimmy Buffet concert.
"It was a lot of fun," said Berry , who works in the Electronic Systems Center here. "A lot of people said I gave them a morale boost, incentive. I got a lot of smiles and a lot of hoots and hollers from the ladies."
He said the costume caused a little irritability here and there, but it was worth it due to the attention along the seven-mile second leg. Teammate Scott Graham said he liked the costume, but wasn't quite willing to join in, nor were his other teammates.
"Next year, maybe," Berry said, smiling.