‘Bigger than myself': Runner aided by Marine during Haiti earthquake prepares for 2023 Marine...

The Marine Corps Marathon is just days away, and thousands of runners are preparing to lace up their shoes.

For Corporal Mehdrina Jean Charles, a marine stationed in Northern Virginia, the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend is a full circle moment.

"It just feels like I am holding myself to a higher standard than anybody else," Jean Charles told News4. "All of us Marines have pride being in the uniform, but it just means the world to me, because I know I worked hard to be here, and I'm here now."

Jean Charles saw a Marine Corps uniform for the first time 13 years ago. She was born in Saint Marc, Haiti -- where, after the devastating earthquake in 2010, the sight of a Marine helped her feel safe when she needed it most.

"At the time I didn't know it was a Marine," she said. But she still had "a warm feeling, like it was something I wanted to be a part of, like it was bigger than myself."

Now, all these years later, she and her twin sister are both Marines themselves.

Mehdrina Jean Charles is stationed at Quantico, while her sister recently landed in Iwakuni, Japan.

Jean Charles says the decision to join the Marines was easy, but becoming one was more difficult. It was two years of hard work.

"It was a lot of sweat and blood and tears," she said.