Photo By Senior Airman Courtney Witt | Polish army Warrant Officer Mariusz Plesinski, 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade from...... read more read more
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GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Military members and their families find many ways to stay connected to loved ones back home. For U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Laura Childs of the Texas Agribusiness Development Team-IV one of these ways was introducing the Aramco Houston Half Marathon to Forward Operating Base Ghazni, Jan. 30.
The Katy, Texas, resident and 146 others on the small FOB ran it in Afghanistan while her husband Craig ran the race back home in Texas.
Childs was not the only ADT member to run the race with a spouse also running it back in Houston. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Justin Mitchell from Tyler, Texas, and his wife Kacy also participated.
“My wife beat my time by a minute,” he confessed.
While not run simultaneously as originally planned, the Ghazni version of the Houston run also took place the same day as the one in Houston. But a simultaneous event would’ve had the runners in Afghanistan running in complete darkness on roads covered with large rocks passing for gravel, a recipe for falls and twisted ankles.
The race brought a bit of home to many participants.
“It brought a bit of normalcy here. This is something I would do on the weekend back home,” said U.S. Navy Lt. Alex Dietrich from Washington, D.C., an engineer with the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team. “For a couple of hours I could forget I was on FOB Ghazni.”
The race came with a few additional challenges for the runners here. The FOB is at an elevation of 7,200 feet and, as mentioned, the roadways are covered with very large gravel. Runners covered the same route nearly eight times to make up the 13.1 miles of the race in near-freezing temperatures.
Along with the additional challenges, the runners also had great support both on the FOB and from back in Texas. When Childs mentioned the idea to her team, they were immediately on board and went to the FOB’s mayor to ensure there were no problems with their group running the race here.
Management of the FOB is in the hands of the Polish military who wholeheartedly took on the task of managing the satellite race. Soon, the number of participants rose from the 23 Texas ADT runners to 147 runners as word spread to the rest of the base populace.
Back in Texas, Childs’ local sports store, Luke’s Locker in Katy, Texas, heard about the Ghazni connection and sent the ADT a supply of hats, gloves, shirts and socks for the race.
Meanwhile, U.S. Army Maj. Patrick Flood, also from Texas ADT and a resident of Austin, Texas, mentioned the event to a friend back at Clif Bar and soon the participants received a supply of Goo and other energy foods from the health food giant.
“We were overwhelmed by the support we’ve received from the race organizers in Houston, Luke’s Locker, CLIF Bar and the FOB,” said Flood.
An unexpected bonus came in the form of a coincidental F/A-18E Super Hornet fly-by in the middle of the race. “As an F/A-18 Hornet pilot, the fly-by was the highlight of the race for me,” remarked Dietrich, “It gave me an extra boost of energy during the race.”
The top finisher was Polish Army Warrant Officer Mariusz Plesinski of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade in Swietoszow, Poland, with a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes, 22 seconds. Second place went to Polish Army 2nd Lt. Lukasz Bogdal at 1:31:54 and third place to Polish Army 1st Lt. Marcin Pawlowski at 1:36:36, both also from the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade.
The top female finisher was Polish Army Master Cpl. Wioletta Sliwka from the 49th Combat Helicopter Regiment from Pruszcz Gdański, Poland, with a time of 1:54:19. Dr. Katarzyna Pierun, a health care specialist with the Ghazni PRT from Lodz, Poland, was right on her heels with a time of 1:54:40. Taking third place was Angela Szyszlo, the education specialist for the Ghazni PRT, with a time of 1:58:08.
| Date Taken: | 01.30.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.01.2011 08:52 |
| Story ID: | 64591 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE GHAZNI, AF |
| Web Views: | 81 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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