Black Hills Veterans March 2014

Long story short, I was training for the AF Marathon but due to staffing issues (i.e. I'm the only pharmacist) I had to forgo my registration and opportunity to run.  So after some dismay, I discovered that on the same day the SD Army National Guard was putting on the Black Hills Veterans March/Marathon in remembrance of those past, present, and future veterans.  I hadn't done much running whatsoever, but I thought this would be a nice remembrance of the time I spent in uniform.  So I signed up for the military march, which is running a marathon in my ABUs.  After winning the 100 miler relay, I developed a winning mentality and that is exactly what I was hoping to do when I went out there despite my lack of training.  So with fresh untrained legs and a superior resilient mental attitude, I started out near the front of the pack and never looked back, except when an Army guardsman caught me at mile 10 or so.  We ran together a bit and after an additional layer of socks was added and some fuel and oh some downhill, I was able to stretch my legs and put some distance between us.  I was able to manage that the rest of the way and despite some migrating cramps/spasms I caught and passed a bunch of civilian marathoners and with the help of Miley Cyrus's "Wreckingball"  I pushed myself and WON 1st military to cross in 5 hours and 16 minutes.  What a feeling to win a long distance race.