Six Malmstrom officers complete Marine Corp marathon

  • Published
  • By Capt. David Zesinger
  • 10th Missile Squadron
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Most Sunday mornings are spent sleeping in, going to church or spending a lazy day with friends and family. Few would be crazy enough to consider waking up at 5 a.m. and running 26.2 miles before lunch.

That is exactly what Capts. Andrew Ackles (3:06), Kelly Hines (4:33), Heidi Kent (4:24), David Zesinger (3:47) and 1st Lts. Christel Andrews (5:27) and Jessica Matthews (4:47) did on Oct. 25. These young 341st Operations Group officers completed the 34th Marine Corps Marathon that tours the nation's capital.

The famous race started off in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, crossed the Potomac River into historic Georgetown, then made its way through the District of Columbia passing the White House, Capital Building, National Mall and all the major monuments therein. At mile 20, a point where most runners have had enough, the race again crossed the Potomac River near Regan National Airport back into Virginia. From there runners only had a few more painful miles to run past the Pentagon and finish back in Arlington Cemetery by the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Nearly 30,000 runners participated in the race - with more than 100,000 spectators cheering them on. The mass of runners created a river of humanity that steadily flowed throughout the course - which at times was only a few feet wide. Captain Zesinger, 10th Missile Squadron, planned on running with his cousin, Marine Lt. Dan Hyman. However, the densely packed starting line made it impossible to find each other despite finishing a few minutes apart. Even though the large crowd made running and meeting up afterwards a little tricky, the race made up for it with great volunteers, endless rows of cheering spectators and 200 finish-line masseuses.

Finishing the marathon gave the runners a great feeling of satisfaction; not only were they done running such a great distance, they were also done with their long, and sometimes tedious, training programs. Captain Zesinger would often go for long runs while his girlfriend biked beside him, and Captains Hines and Kent tried to do their longer runs together. But even with good company, it's tough to stay motivated when you know you have three to four hours of running ahead of you.

With the successful completion of the race, many plan to take it easy for a while. Captain Ackles is already looking forward to the next marathon but will probably take a break from the road and spend more time snowboarding in the backcountry this winter. Regardless of what the runners choose to do they'll be doing it with a little more self-confidence for having pushed their bodies through 26.2 miles.

Captain Kent's advice for anyone planning on their first marathon is, "You can't fake it. Most people in the military can push through a PT test, a 5K run, or even a 10K run without really training for it. But a marathon is a different monster and the big day will be a lot more enjoyable if you find a good running program and follow it as much as possible."