USAF Marathon, Dayton OH
USAF Marathon
experience #3!! The weather at the start was much better than last year's rain...no
rain and a bit warm. I love the start of
this marathon. The full marathon runners
go out first and then an hour later the half-marathon runners go out. The hour difference makes such a big
difference in establishing my pace at the beginning of the race. This year my goals were to finish with
OTHERS. This would hold true for the 5K the day before the race and the
marathon.
If you look back at my
blog of the USAF Marathon last year, you will see my special story of running
the marathon for my good friend Denny.
The photo on the left was us last year a day after his surgery and the
day I finished the marathon. I made a
pact with him, that I would leave my finisher medal with him and come back the
next year and run which ever race at the USAF Marathon with him. Well the pact was completed with the running
of the 5K this year, photo on the right.
What a humbling and special moment for Denny, it was equally humbling
for me. If you have kept up with my
running you know that each race I do is either dedicated to someone, a cause or
I just simply want to help someone get across the finish line. It was awesome to come back a year later and
walk/run the 5K with my brother-in-Christ Denny! Brother you did awesome! I
can't wait to see what you are planning for next year.
Next up was the marathon. I came back this year as a member of the
Whiteman Running Team and a sponsor for the Air Force Enlisted Village. We had a great group of runners and one of
those was my first sergeant. We had
discussed a few months before the race that we would run it together and cross
the finish line together regardless of the time. This was his 2nd Marathon (He
did one 10 years ago).
As we were waiting for
the start of the race, I met up with my good friend and Ultra, 100-miler
finisher Brian Burk. All three of us
wanted the same finish time (Brian finished the race much earlier than we did
). So we were off and on a good pace. With the goal of getting him across the
finish line, I had my first sergeant establish his time which was 4 hrs or
less. After 13 miles we were ahead of
that with a half time of 1:55. It always
amazes me how the body changes as the race progresses and this would be no
different. At 20 miles he started to
cramp severely in both calves, which then moved to his thighs. There were times he would scream out in
pain. It was so tough to watch and I
truly felt horrible for him. We walked/ran
the last 6.2 miles, but as you see in the below picture we crossed the finish
together and YES he can always say he was 1 step ahead of me :):). What an honor and blessing to run with my first
sergeant. I'll bet there are not too
many Commanders out there that can say they ran a marathon with their first sergeant.
So what a weekend at
this year's USAF Marathon, it was all about giving back to OTHERS! How rewarding. The weekend was truly a blessing for me, one
I will never forget.
