Running for fun

Photo By Staff Sgt. Rebecca Petrie | Capt. Stephen Carey, from Falls Church, Va., runs with his section every week to train for the Army 10-Miler shadow run.  

QALAT, AFGHANISTAN

08.06.2011

Story by Staff Sgt. Rebecca Petrie 

116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan – To someone not familiar with the military, getting flagged might sound like some esteemed rite of passage or prestigious initiation into an elite group, but it’s not. It is an adverse action that will keep a soldier from getting promoted, receiving awards or even reenlisting. It is a career stopper. One of the most common reasons for a flag is failing to pass the run on the Army physical fitness test.

Capt. Stephen Carey, the company commander of the Headquarters, Headquarters Company of the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and avid long-distance runner, knows all too well how it feels to be overweight and out of shape.

“I was admiring a couple of chins, and that got me motivated to run,” Carey said. “I was about to turn 40 and I really needed to take my fitness seriously, so I started running, and realized that I really liked it.”

Carey is eager to share his love of running with anyone who is interested. He and his section run every week to train for the Army 10-Miler, the largest 10-mile race in America. Carey wants to put together a shadow run at Forward Operating Base Lagman to help build morale, as well as physical and mental health.

“My goal is to help my section develop their distance running ability to the point where they can really visualize themselves running long distances,” said Carey. “Through a very deliberate training program we’ll build ourselves up, and by December, we should be up to 10 miles.”

Ten miles is no joke. Many soldiers have never run more than two miles at a time, the distance for the APFT.

“Whenever I talk to people about running marathons, the first thing people usually say is, ‘I could never do that,’ and I don’t think that’s true,” said Carey. “That’s where I want to go with my section. I want to get them to that point where they can feel that ‘I can run ten miles. I can see myself running that.’ When I started running, I just ran to lose weight. I never really thought of myself as a marathon runner, and it surprised me, just by a little bit of diligence, deliberate work and running smart, how easy it was for me to get myself from running zero to marathon.”

For Carey, the benefits of running are more than just shedding those extra chins.

“I’m much more confident,” he said. “I’m much more relaxed. I’m not tense or angry at all. I love running. It washes all that away.”

• Date Taken: 08.06.2011
• Date Posted: 09.07.2011 10:56
• Story ID: 76577
• Location: QALAT, AF