At 71 years old, retired Marine Corps Col. Hank Donigan crossed another start line on Oct. 25 at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. It was his 31st time running that particular race, and the 570th marathon of his life, according to Stars and Stripes. For a community built on the idea that a finish line can be a lifeline, his story is a reminder of what endurance sport can carry a person through.
A Streak That Started With a Second Chance
Donigan has been running at a pace most athletes a third his age would envy: roughly 50 marathons a year since around 2015, according to Military.com. He hit his 500th marathon at Boston in April 2025, and he's kept adding to the total ever since.
The streak nearly ended for a very different reason. Donigan had no symptoms when a scan, taken as part of a Department of Veterans Affairs research study, turned up a tumor. After doctors watched it grow, he had it removed in July 2023 — and by multiple accounts, he kept running a marathon a week right up until the surgery. He's now in remission.
Running for Those Who Came Home Hurt
Donigan isn't just logging miles for himself. He runs to raise money for Semper Fi & America's Fund, a nonprofit that supports combat-wounded, critically ill, and catastrophically injured service members, veterans, and their families. Reporting from Yahoo/We Are The Mighty puts his career fundraising total for the organization well into six figures.
It's the kind of story that captures what a lot of veterans already know: that movement, purpose, and community tend to show up together. A marathon course doesn't fix everything, but for Donigan, it's clearly given him a great sense of purpose, as he's described it to reporters covering his streak — one race, and one fundraising push, at a time.
Why It Matters for the Veteran Running Community
Donigan's story lands at a moment when endurance events of every size — from local 5Ks to the Marine Corps Marathon itself — are increasingly built around veteran participation, charity fundraising, and the kind of mutual support that gets people to the start line in the first place. Whether someone's goal is their first 5K or their 570th marathon, the mechanics are the same: a reason to train, a community to train with, and a race to aim for.
That's the gap Operation WarriorFit exists to close. We cover free race entries for veterans, service members, and first responders across distances from 5K to Ironman, because the hardest part of getting back to a start line is often just getting signed up. If you've served and you're looking for your next race, check your eligibility — the entry fee shouldn't be what's standing between you and the next finish line.