One of Jared's goals has been to run a marathon. This year he ran his first 1/2 marathon on his birthday (September 11th). About a month ago, he told me he signed up to run a marathon before Christmas. Personally, I thought he was crazy. Most people spend a lot of time preparing for one of these events, and I knew that his work schedule wouldn't allow him the time to go for long runs in preparation for this big event. Once again, I couldn't convince him to hold off. He told me to quit worrying and that he would be fine! He promised me that he would stop if he hurt himself or started feeling serious pains of some sort. He also told me that his goal was just to finish and had 5 hours to do so. If he wasn't done by then, a vehicle would come by to pick him up.
This morning was the day of the race. Jared and two other coworkers set out to run their very first marathon in Afghanistan at 4 a.m. I believe the course was set up so that they ran around the FOB twice. This included running past the "poo pond." The "poo pond" is exactly that--a pond where the backed up sewage goes. That must have quite the refreshing smell! lol Jared ran the race and did a great job. Below are his comments:
"I just finished my first full marathon. I finished in 4hours 47min I am glad I could run this race to blow off a little steam. Being in Afghanistan can be a drag so I got to keep finding things to do. I was listening to my mp3 player and Lee Greenwoods song came on it really made me feel good while i was running to listen to his song."
Then a few hours later, he said:
"my body aches because of the marathon or maybe im just getting old!"
Way to go Jared! I love you and hope you recover quickly!
Tammy
wow! props to him. I don't think I could do it
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