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
