Dear Family and Friends:

Two days ago I got the crazy idea to run further than I have in years. No imperatives allowed: no time limit, no pressure to maintain a pace. It was only important that I keep going until I met my goal. I figured once around the flight line was good, which by report was about 7.4 miles. I prayed a bit as I made my way through the first mile and said "Lord make this a continual act of praise to you," and He said "let's go." I ran the flight line once and as I neared the gate I'd started from I indulged this crazy idea I'd been harboring for the last 1.5 miles...

and did it again.

It was well after dark when I got back and I had missed the nightly meeting where our sergeant passes word (i.e. what classes we have tomorrow, how the staff plans to Screw You, Your Buddy, and Everyone You know, etc.). I got chewed on for that. I'm an NCO and shouldn't miss meetings... oh well. Is it me or do I get treated like an NCO only when I'm in trouble, and not when it comes time to assign tasks or authority (those get hoarded at higher ranks)?

[this isn't entirely true. I was told "make it happen" in regards to a flat TRAM tire, the kind that take O-rings and about five gallons of grease to seat and inflate. It took me and my Lance Corporals 6 hours to do, only to find the O-ring sold to us by the Hadji was too big and would explode--lethal i should add-- if aired up to capacity... exitement? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say "probably not.."]

Okay I was off subject--

I took out one of the Hummvees the next day and measured the route. It's not 7.4-- it's 6.6, making my grand total 13.2 miles in 1hour, 53minutes, 41seconds.

Maybe I'm not so doggone old after all, what with my problematic spine and lame ankle. Well, i'll be fair. I feel older than the hills today-- you know, the hills here that have been here so long they've eroded to useless sand. Legs hurt, back is stiff, and all that jazz.

OH WHO CARES I RAN MY FIRST HALF-MARATHON... almost by accident, too.

But let me say one more thing. This might actually be important.

Never underestimate the self-limiting power of negative thinking.

Before this run I would have never guessed in a year I'd be able to run that far. I had a sergeant who wanted to train up to it in two weeks, which seemed 'kamikaze' to me, but that night after he suggested it, I tried it, and I'm not dead yet.

What I'm getting at is I sell myself short. All the time. When I'm home, I run a few miles and berate myself for being bored-- A.D.D.?!-- and wanting to quit. Here, I use running to get away from all the mooks who make puppetry of my life and I've got to say, the brief freedom-- post meeting butt-chewing included-- is so worth it. Sometimes I run down near the waddi, over the old Iraqi bunkers and past all the blown up mig fighter jets and through the palm grove.

Better listening to these guys go on and on about 'not a whole lot,' I can tell you.

Alright. I will relent. Thank you all for your love and support!

:D

Joke in Post-Script: the bunkers in the middle east, including Iraq and Kuwait to my knowledge, were actually constructed by various European powers. I think Hungarians were responsible for Al Asad itself, and they did some nice work. Going inside the large bunkers you can see that the second 500lb bomb-- our planes drop two in rapid succession-- was needed to shatter the inner wall of reinforced concrete. The Hungarian models almost held out against 1,000lbs of munitions! Down in Kuwait we saw bunkers at Ali Al Saleem that had been ripped open like silly wet paper bags. These, we are told, were constructed by the French, who guaranteed their fortresses up to 800lb bombs-- guaranteed as in "we'll build the replacements for you for free if these fail." Alas, for the Kuwaitis there was one clause they should have had stricken from the contract: "guaranteed up to 800lbs *except* in cases where American munitions are utilized against aforementioned structures." Well, Saddam took the airfields in Kuwait in '91 and we blew them up shortly thereafter... and the French have stuck to their contract... the bunkers are holed and derelict to this day. No one insures against the American Menace? No one. :) This is your Marine smiling. :)