Goodfellow Airmen train for AF Marathon

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kamaile Chan
  • Public Affairs
A 26.2 mile run, known to most as a marathon, is not what the majority of people would consider "fun," but four highly-motivated individuals from Goodfellow are training to tackle the 26.2-mile Air Force Marathon.

Master Sgt. Benjamin Passons of the 316th Training Squadron, Tech. Sgt. Benjamin Cameron of the 316TRS, Staff Sgt. Christopher Leech of the 312th Training Squadron and Senior Airman Blake Manuel of the 17th Communications Squadron are all participating in this year's Air Force Marathon, which will take place Sept. 15 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio.

The first Air Force Marathon was held Sept. 20, 1997, to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Air Force. The marathon has continued every year in celebration of the U.S. Air Force's birthday. The race has grown in popularity since that first year, boasting more than 5,000 participants in 2006.

The course is 26.3 miles of historic scenery on Wright-Patterson AFB, including the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the Air Force Institute of Technology, Air Force Material Command headquarters, the Wright-Patterson AFB flight line, Huffman Prairie Flying Field and the Wright Brothers Memorial Monument.

Runners of every level participate in marathon events that include the marathon itself, wheelchair events, a relay (4-person teams), the half-marathon and 5K runners.

The name "marathon" comes from the Battle of Marathon, fought between the Greeks and the Persian Empire in 490 BCE. After the Greeks defeated the Persian army, a Greek soldier named Pheidippides supposedly ran 22 miles from Marathon to Athens to tell of the victory, but died from exhaustion moments after. 

This will be the first marathon for Airman Manuel, who has been training four days each week for the past 14 weeks, following the Air Force Marathon training plan by Hal Higdon, author of 34 books including the best-selling Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. His training includes at least one long run every week, the longest run at 20 miles.

"It's not physically tough," said Airman Manual, "it's more the mental hurdles that you have to get over. It's a lot easier to do marathon training if you have a training partner."
A veteran marathon runner, Sergeant Passons runs five days a week, cross-training one day with one day of rest.

He reaches between 40 and 50 miles total each week, training with his two dogs, Luke and Shiloh, on a 1.75 mile loop around his neighborhood.

"They tend to keep me honest," said Sergeant Passons. "If more than one day goes by and they don't get to run then they start looking at me sadly, making me feel guilty."
Sergeant Passons believes that marathons are a good way to stay motivated and disagrees that the mental challenges outweigh the physical.

"The most difficult part is between mile 17 and mile 20," he said. "That's where even the best-prepared runners really hurt. Your body has to be able to take that pounding. Once you get to mile 20, it's easy," the sergeant added. "You just tell yourself 6.2 miles isn't anything!"

For more information, visit the official AF Marathon website at http://www.usafmarathon.com.