I made my first conscious decision to run when I was in high school, prior to this I just ran spontaneously as most kids do. However in high school I was a wrestler and I used running as a means to lose weight. Specifically I would run the 10 miles from my house to the high school wearing a rubber suit and old school cotton sweats. The idea was to sweat off water weight, this certainly was accomplished as I would lose 5-10 pounds on every run. Looking back this was an absolutely terrible practice, and they have actually made rules in high school wrestling to prohibit this,but that is now. These runs would take me along the highway and big semi-trucks would rumble by leaving me choking on dust and diesel fumes. I would look at the fields covered in snow and see the occasional turkey or deer. I still run this route sometimes when I run from my current home to where my parents still live.
When I joined the military and was stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division running became a chore. Everyday 5 days a week we would rise and shine to the strains of "blood upon the risers."
Then we would do our daily dozen exercises in physical training and take off on a formation run, singing such cadences as "C130 rolling down the strip, she wore a yellow ribbon, or Captain Jack. " These runs were done up and down the Ardennes street in front of the Division area. Thousands of paratroopers would run up and down this street and the air was filled with cadence.
When I moved on to the 10th Mountain Division it was more of the same although runs tended to be much more of a survival exercise in the frozen tundra of northern New York state. Once I got to Special Forces running became a daily competition. Every morning on a team it was a race to see who could complete the designated run first. During this point in my life I would have considered myself at my running peak, while not the fastest in the unit I was always in the top 5.
In the mid 1990's I ran my first community 5K, since then I have run hundreds of races from 5K to Ultramarathon, it was from this point that while running was still part of my job it also became my hobby. I started running for fun and not just because I had too. I started to enjoy the times spent running on roads and trails. I particularly enjoyed some of the sights I saw and places I ran. I have some great memories good and bad from running.
In Ranger School I once had to piss down my leg so as not to fall out of formation which would have resulted in failure of the course.
In the Special Forces Qualification course I spent countless miles struggling along the sandy firebreaks of Fort Bragg NC
In Incirlik, Turkey my team would run the 8 miles around the airfield every morning, listening to the call for prayer from the minerets and watching farmers in donkey carts traveling the roads.
In Germany I could run through the forest and villages on a myriad of trails. Leaving from my doorstep I don't think I ever ran the same route twice in 3 years.
I have run in Kosovo and Uzbekistan with a pistol concealed in a fanny pack, while running up and around the mountain trails.
In Uzbekistan I also ran through the city of Tashkent and the massive Independence Square where Communist Party rallys used to be held.
In San Vito/Brindisi Italy we would run along the highway that headed to the beach, I would stop sometimes and grab some grapes from the vineyards to snack on.
In Colorado I would run the trails through the Garden of the Gods or up the "Incline" from the Barr trail parking lot
Of course home is where the heart is, and this is the scenary I run through now
I hope to have much more scenary and many more runs ahead of me
