Photo By Jeffrey Grossi | Staff Sgt. Joseph Russell, 911th Security Forces Squadron base defense operations...... read more read more
Running is cheaper than therapy.
That's how Staff Sgt. Joseph Russell explains why he woke up before dawn on a 35-degree Sunday morning and ran 26.2 miles through the streets of Pittsburgh.
With a goal time of sub-hours, he finished in 3 hours, 52 minutes and 40 seconds. Before the soreness set in, he was already planning his next race.
Russell, a base defense operations controller with the 911th Security Forces Squadron, was one of at least 15 Steel Airmen from Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station who participated in the 2026 DICK'S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon on May 3 – joining more than 52,000 runners from all 50 states and 33 countries across the full marathon, half marathon and supporting events. Three of those Reserve Airmen shared their stories.
While the gate at Pittsburgh IAP ARS closes every night. The community beyond it never does.
The Pittsburgh Marathon course threads through 14 of the city's neighborhoods – past PNC Park, over bridges spanning the Three Rivers, down Liberty Avenue where George Westinghouse built his first factory and Andrew Carnegie took his first steps toward an empire of steel. These are the streets where Pittsburgh-based Steel Airmen buy groceries, raise families and coach little league – the same communities they serve, just without a uniform on.
Master Sgt. Blaze West and Senior Master Sgt. David Gross ran the half marathon, completing 13.1 miles through those same streets. West, a communications infrastructure specialist, built his training base first on treadmills in January and later on the Montour Trail, running twice a week and adding distance progressively until his longest run before race day reached seven miles. The jump to 13.1 on race morning came down to one thing.
"Once you get moving – especially when you're training by yourself, it sucks," said West. But when you're in the marathon, the whole city's out there."
Gross, the wing's warfighter communications superintendent and a three-time half marathon finisher, put it simply.
"All of Pittsburgh shows up," he said. "The amount of people that show up and are out there supporting [us] through all the different neighborhoods is awesome, and that keeps you going."
But it takes more than a city full of cheers for someone to wake up at 4 AM for a run with double digit mileage, more than an engraved medal to pound pavement day after day and week after week – it hangs on one thing.
"It comes down to mostly just discipline," West said.
That kind of language fits squarely into a conversation happening across the Department of the Air Force. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach, in a February memo reported by Military Times, framed the service's updated fitness program in direct terms: "This update is not just about increasing the physical fitness test standards; it's about ensuring our warfighters are fit, ready, and prioritizing their long-term health."
The push goes higher than the service level. Speaking to senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in September 2025, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth set an unambiguous standard, according to Defense Visual Information Distribution Service**: "My goal is unmistakable: our core fighting formations must not just meet the standard, they must embody it."**
Lt. Gen. John P. Healy, commander of Air Force Reserve Command, reinforced that direction in TASKORD 2026-01, directing squadron commanders and senior enlisted leaders across the Reserve to foster and maintain a culture of fitness – leading by example and enforcing standards of discipline and conduct.
West, Gross and Russell didn't need the memo. They were already pounding pavement and planning training routines to take them well past expectations.
For Russell, that training physically carried all the way to mile 23. That's when the pain arrived and a warrior mindset and personal resiliency kicked in. He moved his thoughts away from his pace and his pain and began thinking about his people.
"I thought of all the people in my family that ever gave me an encouraging word," Russell said. "I just thought of their voices – they're telling me I can do it. They're telling me to keep going. They're telling me to just ignore the pain and drive on."
He kept going and crossed the finish line 7 minutes and 20 seconds under his goal.
The idea of community can come as an abstraction when considering a city of 2.42 million people. But the day of the race, that community was in full physical force for all runners to see. kids holding video game-themed posters along the route, offering imaginary power-ups to passing runners, while spectators handed out orange slices, candy and snacks at mile markers winding through 14 neighborhoods. It was 300,000 people lining the same streets that, on any other day, these Reserve Airmen simply drive through on their way to work.
"There's not one part of the course where somebody's not rooting for you," Russell said. "And they don't even know you."
Russell logged 450 miles in training since January, running 20 to 44 miles per week on a plan built with the help of AI. The research mattered as much as the mileage.
"Learn it, love it, live it," Russell said. "And just don't give up – even if you have a bad week. Just keep going."
Gross, with the medals of three half-marathons of his own, shares his personal best time with West – 2 hours and 1 minute – a time they hit side by side in a previous race, just two Steel Airmen pushing each other to the same victory. This year Gross crossed the line at 2:17:43, West at 2:13:02. While both crave a sub-two hour personal best, they both agree what matters most is putting in the work and finishing what they started – to anyone watching from the sideline looking to lace up next year, their advice was the same.
"Don't be intimidated by the number," they said. "Just go out and do it."
For a unit whose mission happens largely out of public view, 15 Steel Airmen running through Pittsburgh on a cold Sunday morning is something more than just keeping fit for a biannual test. It is proof that the Reserve Airmen behind the gates and fence line are the same people in the crowd – neighbors first, warfighters always.
(Editor's Note: The mention of the 2026 DICK'S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon and any commercial products or services referenced in this story are for identification and contextual purposes only. The 911th Airlift Wing, the U.S. Air Force Reserve and the Department of the Air Force do not endorse any commercial entity, product or event.)
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 05.11.2026 12:56 |
| Story ID: | 564913 |
| Location: | PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AIR RESERVE STATION, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Steel Airmen run Pittsburgh Marathon, carry Warrior Ethos beyond the gate, by Jeffrey Grossi, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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