Bagram military and civilians shadow run the Tacoma Sound to Narrows 12K

Photo By Master Sgt. Nathan Hutchison | Bagram Airfield coalition military and civilians shadow run the Tacoma, Washington 'Sound to Narrows' 12K. The 804th Movement Control team hosted the race to promote physical fitness at BAF and to honor their home base community back in Tacoma.  

AFGHANISTAN

06.12.2016

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Hutchison 

U.S. Forces Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN (June 12, 2016) – Physical fitness can be a key stress relief and a long, vigorous run can clear the mind and fortify the body. The coalition military and civilians deployed here in support of the Resolute Support Mission have several opportunities to get a good, physical workout before the start of their duty day. Among those choices are a variety of morale, welfare, and recreation road races hosted throughout the year.
The 804th Movement Control Team hosted the ‘Sound to Narrows’ 12K run here today at BAF that routed from one side of the base to the other and back. The race was open registration to all and nearly 150 participants signed up to run the 6 a.m. race this Sunday morning.
U.S. Army Capt. Antoinette Hyres, 804th MCT commander, commented, “Overall, we wanted to promote health and fitness. Usually when you are deployed you like to work out, or run.”
She added, “Around here we host a lot of virtual runs, the Boston Marathon, the Georgia Publix half marathon. Our unit is based out of Tacoma, Washington. I thought this was a good tradition to do because this is the oldest 12K in Washington.”
The Tacoma race has been supporting healthy children and families in the community for 44 years.
The 804th MCT is a U.S. Army Reserve detachment based in Tacoma, Wash. In solidarity with their home station community they chose to host this ‘shadow run’ in conjunction with the official race that runs along Puget Sound, mostly through Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, June 11.
Hyres ran in the race herself, along with another member of her team, 1st Lt. Ryan Gilbert. The detachment executive officer, 1st Lt. Chadwick Peterson, helped ensure race registration and logistics were in order and he monitored the finish line to call out times for runners as they completed the course. U.S. Army Chaplain (Maj.) Brian Hevrin and Sgt Jenna Lekki, 373rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, assisted the 804th team.
With the 11-1/2 hour time zone difference between the locations, the two races started just 12 hours apart. The temperature at both locations was similar; 70 degrees Fahrenheit in Bagram, 65 degrees in Tacoma. The route conditions; however, diverged, the Bagram route was mostly flat but at an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet. The runners in Tacoma experienced some rolling hills; however the highest point on the route was just a few hundred feet above sea level.
Karen Phillips, a Springfield, Ohio native and U.S. Air Force civilian employee working here at Bagram, said just before the race began, “I’m here today to run because I can, because I’m in Afghanistan, and because the Lord’s given me all kinds of capabilities and possibilities and I am going to use them.”
The race began sharply at 6 a.m. and in less than an hour the first runner crossed the finish line at just under 48 minutes. Other runners approaches shortly thereafter, individually, or in groups of two and three. The last runners crossed the finish line about 90 minutes into the race.
As the runners finished, they were greeted with bottles of water, and they gathered in the ‘clamshell’ covered stage arena for other refreshments, including fresh fruit, soft drinks, and cookies so they could replenish their bodies. After all the runners gathered, Hyres and her team recognized the top male and female runners.
U.S. Army Capt. Elliott Mecquier, Task Force Raging Bull, 518th Resolute Support Sustainment Brigade, was the top overall finisher with a time of 47:47 minutes.
Master Sgt. Agatha Hebbe, Regional Contracting Command – Afghanistan was the top female finisher, running the race in almost exactly one hour.
Hebbe talked about the race after her finish, “So far I have done the Boston Marathon shadow run, this was much shorter. But 7.4 [miles] is not quite 6K, a little bit more than 6K, but it’s an eight mile loop I normally run. So it was a good ‘half and half’ run for me.”
Second Lt. Valerie Kutsch and Sgt. 1st Class Luis Tamariz, recently deployed here with the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., seemed to enjoy the race.
“This is my first race here in Bagram and I am pretty exhausted,” said Kutsch.
Tamariz added, “We’ve been here about a week. We’re happy to do the Sound to Narrows. The cool thing about the Sound to Narrows run is that we’re from JBLM, so this is our hometown run.”
The event met Hyres expectations. The weather was cooperative, the participation was high, and the mood among the participates was very positive. As she spoke before the race, “It’s really great weather here today, it’s sunny, there’s no rain, it’s not too hot at this time. So, I think it’s going to be a pretty good turn out.”
It was.

• Date Taken: 06.12.2016
• Date Posted: 06.12.2016 11:15
• Story ID: 200796
• Location: AF