I have been inspired to write you all once again! This morning we were finally allowed to run our half marathon! The Hesco Half Marathon started at eight this morning and it was a perfect day to run. Well for what we have here it was. I thought I would describe what it was like. First off it was put on our friends on the United Kingdom base next to our base. They raised money for two charities and raised almost $6,000! It was great to know that my small donation went to a greater cause!


I do not claim to be a “runner” but do claim to love running. It was something that took me some time to like and eventually love. I have also found that I am a runner that needs to constantly train. I am not a natural and I still have a long way to go. So on to my story for the day.

We started our run as I said at eight this morning. I have written that the temperatures here were cold, well that has changed again, now it is warming up. It feels good to have some heat, as I am sure you are all waiting for! I am also sure that in a few more weeks from now I will be writing about how HOT it is here! I would guess the temp for the run was in the 70’s, perfect!

As we started our run I noticed that it felt much hotter. The first thing I noticed was that the wind was going to be a challenge. It was against us most of the way but it seemed to cool me down. I mentioned to the person running with me that it was funny that the wind was at our faces most of the way and kept us somewhat cool, but when at our backs, it seemed to disappear!

Another thing about our location is that there are helicopters flying all of the time. I could sit and listen to them all day. I love the sound of them above me. Today we had a few fly over us, it was awesome!  

The roads we run on are just like the gravel roads in our rural areas. They are pretty beat up most of the time and the dust is crazy. Not as bad as my last blog, but after mile nine, it gets to be a lot! After a few miles, you can feel every rock that you hit, not a great feeling. Traffic here was not stopped for our little run so we had to make sure we were aware of our surroundings.

This course had a lot of turns, which was nice for the changes of scenery but it messed with you a bit, the longer stretches seemed really long! I kept a pretty good pace. I usually run my heart out and then get tired at the end. My new strategy is to get a good pace and stick to it, until the end, and then run my heart out.

The finish is always the best part. Most runners stick around and cheer on the people coming in, it is great to have people out there cheering for you and motivation helps me keep moving. I am always happy with my performance and that I even finished the thing. It was a great morning. Now time to relax for the rest of the day and take care of my legs!