Last Friday was Veteran’s Day and it made me think about how running was intertwined with my military service.  The most prolific running experiences I had in the Army were while I was deployed to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan for 9 months.

Most of us have our routines where we run in our neighborhoods and parks, safe and comfortable.  Until I deployed to Afghanistan my experience had been the same, whether running in high school, with ROTC or on my own in Cincinnati.  We don’t have to go to the greatest lengths, we usually step outside or take a short car ride and go for a run.  Maybe there is a track down the street. It’s familiar, consistent, and safe.

I am not saying I had it that hard, believe me anyone who has been to KAF would laugh and mention that there is a TGI Friday’s and a smoothie shop. I FULLY ACKNOWLEDGE many Soldiers deploy to outposts and tiny forward operating bases where they can’t run at all for lack of space and safety.  I know I was lucky to have the flexibility I had on KAF.  But I still want to highlight what it was like and what we did to run while deployed for a different perspective.   It truly made me appreciate every aspect of running at HOME.  Whether back in Bavaria with blue skies and the freshest air I can imagine breathing or in Washington, DC with views of monuments and countless routes.

When we first got ready to leave someone who had been to Kandahar Airfield before told us we wouldn’t be able to run outside because the air was polluted and the smell from sewage and water treatment plants was so bad that we would never be able to breathe and would get sick while running.  My colleagues and I were terrified at the thought of running on a treadmill for nine months.  I was convinced I would just buy hospital masks and run outside anyway!  And the reality is that some Soldiers, like my husband and his platoon in Afghanistan just three years earlier, literally couldn’t run for 9-15 months because they were on outposts and small bases that weren’t safe enough or didn’t have the room to run, so if it took a hospital mask and some smells I was going to run.

We arrived and thank heavens, they had improved the systems so the smell wasn’t that bad and it was more than bearable aside from some dust and the need to breathe into your shirt when actually running past the water treatment facilities.  Other than the 109 degree days in July that required you to start running by 5am the experience could be peaceful…at times.

We had a few challenges to overcome, one of them being the limited areas in which you could run and being surrounded by fence and an off-limits airfield which resulted in a lot of boredom while running.  I ran the same 5-6 mile route so many times I can’t count them.  It was the outer loop of KAF along the border fence.  I loved that route because it was peaceful, other than the occasional sound of gunfire at the ranges that were in that area.  The route would also take me past the perimeter guard posts where the Romanian Soldiers were on duty.  I was cat called almost every time I passed them, especially if their truck was going around picking up and dropping off Soldiers for their shift change,  I am so glad I don’t understand Romanian because it was that much easier to ignore, I pretended they were cheering me on, but I did cringe inside every time I had to go past. Thankfully and as I would expect, no American Service Members ever did that.

So while it was peaceful, it was redundant and we wanted nothing more than to listen to music while we ran.  However, there was a no headphone policy to ensure people were always aware and alert.  I get it, safety.  My roommate Chelsea had the idea to wrap headphones around her sports bra strap and blast the music so she could still hear it coming through the speakers.  Eventually I just got defiant and purchased an arm band so I could put my iPhone in it and play music out loud.  Nobody ever scolded me for my arm band so I continued to do it.  That music got me through so many long lonesome runs, especially once my fearless female friends and I, who came to call ourselves Task Force Solidarity, started marathon training while deployed.  (And more to come on Task Force Solidarity in another post!)  I also got my first GPS watch while deployed.  Yep, I had been running regularly for about ten years at this point and got my first GPS watch after I’d run three marathons.  I used to be an old school Google Maps Pedometer, map it out before, run with a watch, and calculate the pace upon completion kind of girl.  But Google Maps wasn’t accurate or complete on KAF so I had to get a watch to keep track of distances and figure out routes.

Along with running longer distances when marathon training amped up and races, like the ten miler, came the need for water and fuel in this dry dusty mountain desert we were living in.  So I bought an Iron Man training belt with a pouch for whatever a

nd two water bottles (Amazon.com was my best friend). At first I would carry the water bottle in my hand, then when I needed the pouch for some beans or a stick of gum I slid it onto my PT belt.  It was conveniently bright yellow just like the PT belt and blended right in.  So now I was getting away with an arm band and adding a pouch to my PT belt.  It’s the little things.
When I had a 10 mile run on an 80 degree day in March  I got brazen enough to wear my full Iron Man belt so I could have both water bottles.  One of my favorite moments during the deployment was when an NCO complained to the First Sergeant that my roommate Chelsea and I were wearing “unauthorized belts” over our PT belts while running.  The First Sergeant proceeded to tell the NCO that not only are PT belts not a required part of the PT uniform but if we were going to get out and run ten miles and pay attention to our fitness while deployed then the NCO could learn a lesson from us and get his fat a** into a pair of PT shorts.  Oh how I miss the lack of tact sometimes.

Another completely aesthetic and comfort related challenge I faced was running in Army PT gear.  I hate the ankle socks, stuffy cotton shirts, and when it got really cold the awful baggy pants that do nothing for warmth yet make you sweat?  So again I got a little creative and devious where I could.  I bought white Asics compression socks with logos on the toes that barely covered my ankles and when I ran in pants I didn’t wore whatever socks I wanted.  I bought black UnderArmor ColdGear to wear under my PT Jacket and Pants in the winter as well.  No matter what I still had to abide by the required top layers and as someone who is VERY particular about what I wear when I run depending on temps and weather, it was frustrating.

We were insanely lucky to have a 1/4 mile track inside of the “boardwalk” facility on KAF.  We didn’t even have access to a track on our base in Germany, but we had one in Afghanistan.  So I would run about a mile down to the track, Chelsea would bike because she acquired a bicycle when we first got there.  And we would do interval workouts.  We could wear our head phones on the track so these workouts were sacred.  During the rainy season the track was often under water so I would take my new GPS watch and mark off 1/4 mile distances on the roads out by our unit’s compound.  We would drop our PT belts and just run back and forth between them.  It worked!

The most amazing thing about being stuck on KAF were the regular races held by various units and the MWR.  Not only did we train on our own but we could register for 5ks, 10ks, even a half-marathon was held during my time there.  The ladies of Task Force Solidarity were not alone!  I participated in the Air Force Marathon 10k Shadow Run, the Army 10-miler Shadow run, and various other races.  Complete with medals and trophies at the finish line.  It was amazing how these units put together events and hundreds of Soldiers, Airmen, Marines, Sailors, and Civilians would come out to run, in PT belts and eye protection no less. Many of them first timers who had never run outside of formations and PT tests!

The second most amazing thing was that despite the smell and dust, and likely pollution, we were at 3,300 feet in elevation so the training made for some great lung capacity.  I actually ran a new PR for the Army two-mile run running a 12:06 during our final PT test.  And when we got back to Germany the marathon training at high elevation paid off.  I ran a marathon PR of 3:22 just over a month after getting home.

So in all, there were was small annoyances to overcome and although at times it felt like a giant prison yard because I left KAF one time in 9 months, I was able to run and train at almost the same level I could at home.  I just had to work a little harder and be a little more devious to do it.  The point of this post is to make no one feel sorry for me, please.  I know people who had to run for 15 months on a treadmill and others who, like my own husband, were in such terrible places that it wasn’t safe enough to put your weapon down, let alone run.  I know others still who have run FULL MARATHONS while deployed, on rocky paths looping 15 times around perimeter fences.  No, the purpose was is to share a different experience and help more of us think about what other Service Members have to do in austere and deployed environments to continue running and staying fit while we enjoy our neighborhoods and high school tracks and river trails.  So thank you Veterans for running on treadmills and around “poo ponds” so the rest of us can run here at home.

-Shaina

Running with my husband is one of my most cherished aspects of our relationship.  Of course there are the shared values, life experiences, faith, love of anything peanut butter/chocolate/pretzel, life goals, baseball games, and our dog Bailey….but running is right up there with them.  And when I say running with my husband I mean the experience of both being runners, not literally always running side by side.

The funny thing about this cherished shared endeavor is that we don’t always have to do it together.  I believe that is the key to maintaining a good balance and enjoying this hobby and/or lifestyle (depending on how you view running) without getting burnt out on it or each other.  We do plenty of training runs where occasionally I split off or turn back before him.  In addition, sometimes running at the same time but not the same route or distance or side by side is still a way we can support each other in our endeavors.  Jeremy also runs more days of the week than I do so he gets his fill of solo runs where I get less of them.

When we do run together, Jeremy lets me set the pace.  He is much faster than me and in the beginning that bothered me deeply because I always felt like I was holding him back and there was no way he could be OK with that.  Well, over time I learned to stop saying “You can go ahead if you want to” because if he wants to…he will.  I can’t get upset if he does, we just meet back at home or wherever the car is parked.  When it comes to how we spend our time during runs together, it varies.  Sometimes we listen to music and talk if we need to, sometimes we chatter away the entire run, sometimes we enjoy the silence with no music and an occasional joke

Not every run is joyful and filled with butterflies and rainbows.  There are many long, miserable, and awful runs.  There are many times we have been grumpy and snapped at each other (me more often at him). There are many times I temporarily gave up, or wanted to walk away, or tell him to go on without me.  But there are many times we laugh and joke, stop for photos, get a little competitive, and make fun of our silly dog for her sideways gate.

On race days, we decide ahead of time if we will run together or not.  And its usually based on the distance or the reason we are running. It usually goes something like this:

-Marathons are very deliberate and if we sign up for one together, thus far its been with the intent to run it together.  We’ve now finished Prague, Shamrock, and Chicago together.  Jeremy will usually sign up for a marathon by himself if he wants to go out and run a time faster than I am capable of. We haven’t decided yet how Boston 2017 will work, but we will before we toe the starting line.

-For a ten miler that we run for fun, we run it separately.  For a ten miler as a training run for a marathon, we run it together and if I am seeking a PR we may run together so he can pace me.

-Anything less than 10 miles we don’t run together.  I have only run one 10k since we’ve been together because I don’t really love them, but I didn’t ask him to run at my pace.  We have never run a single 5k together and likely never will nor will need to since I love the 5k and there is no need for a pacer.

That’s us and what we have figured out works for us.  Having a specific plan identified always ensures neither of us is surprised, for better or worse, by not crossing a finish line together or getting left in the other’s dust (OK me getting left in Jeremy’s dust).

Of course those times when one of us races and the other doesn’t its an opportunity to cheer on the other and be waiting at the finish line.  Race spectating is better than running sometimes! Jeremy was there for me to help me walk when I limped through Boston 2015 in 3:43 with serious IT Band Syndrome.  And I was there to help him walk when he charged through Philadelphia 2015 in 2:52 to qualify for both Boston and NYC.  The bond from empathizing due to shared misery is one of the strongest I know.

Ultimately, running together is like life and marriage – its not always pretty but we always have each other to get through the tough times, and sometimes when we have to go it alone –  one of us is there on the other side waiting with open arms to welcome the other and keep us standing when we can’t bear our own weight.  We listen to each other complain, and whine, and cry, and sometimes say “suck it up and move on”, because that’s really what we need to hear. (And yes I have had to say that to Jeremy – case in point Prague Marathon 2014).  At the end, we have a shared experience and I know that like we are there for each other during a run with a joke, pep talk, or a “suck it up” we are together in life ready to run the race that lies ahead.

Oh and whether a run or life in general we we can always reflect on the experiences with another favorite shared experience; brunch 🙂