Iowa City native runs in honor of Marine Corps’ 241st birthday

IOWA CITY - From what his mother recalls, Asa Hess-Matsumoto has always been a disciplined athlete and a natural-born leader. It earned him the nickname 'The Lighthouse Keeper” among his childhood friends for organizing their games.

So when 1st Lt. Hess-Matsumoto, an Iowa City native, told his mom, Janet Hess, that he and a team of fellow Marines would be running 241 miles this year in honor of the organization's 241st birthday, Hess simply thought, 'Of course. That's my son.” The run was a part of the Ragnar Relay in Napa Valley, California, an annual overnight race that's typically 183 miles.

Hess remembers him waking up at 4 a.m. to run long distances before his classes at the University of California Santa Cruz and tying a rope around his waist and instructing his friends to hold him back while he ran to train for the Marines.

'I think my son pushed himself to become a powerful athlete out of sheer willpower,” Hess said in an email interview.

Hess-Matsumoto's skills were put to the test during the California run. He said he was on a team of 12 Marines, divided into two support vans, who all took turns running. He said he had to prepare to run about 18-20 miles for his portion and each leg of the race could last anywhere from 2 to 12 miles.

He said his team's final race time came in just under 26 hours, placing them 47th overall. However, all other teams counted their 183-mile times while the Marine team counted its 241-mile time, he said.

On the first leg, Hess-Matsumoto got to run across the Golden Gate Bridge and on the second leg, he said he passed 22 teams alone. He called his third leg the 'most trying” simply because of fatigue - on average the Marines in his van only got about 2 hours of sleep.

But that didn't seem to matter much on his fourth leg, which he called 'phenomenal.” All 12 Marines ran together, each draped in an American flag, and crossed the finish line together.

'The amount of support and gratitude we received from other runners and prior-service members alike was just absolutely humbling,” Hess-Matsumoto said in an email. 'Like every other leg finish, most of the time I was just wondering where the finish line was. But completing the race was an extremely satisfying moment.”

Hess-Matsumoto, 26, is currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and has been there since January 2015. He spent most of his childhood in Iowa City - attending Lincoln Elementary School - before moving to California with Hess.

He said his father, Barry Matsumoto, still lives in Iowa City, where he retired from teaching law at the University of Iowa.

Hess-Matsumoto and his mother remain Hawkeyes fans and Hess said they'll never forget they are from Iowa. She said she even wears a Hawkeyes jacket and Marine mom tag each day.

'My heart bursts with pride over this man, my son, who has been a leader since he was a boy,” Hess said. 'I see great things for my son; and one important message is that individuals across the political spectrum belong to the military.

'They all work tremendously hard, and it is hard to describe how much they sacrifice, and how difficult it is for his family - for me and his girlfriend Stephanie, especially - having him gone.”