Photo By Capt. Alexandra Buckley | U.S. Air Force Capt. Amy Silverbush, 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron...... read more read more
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AL DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates -- At 4:30 a.m. at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, the sun has not contemplated rising. Yet, Capt. Amy Silverbush could be found running 20 miles on March 27, 2023, in preparation for the Boston Marathon.
Then, the water across the U.S. compound shut down.
Unable to so much as rinse off after completing her run, Silverbush, as Operations Flight commander for 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron, immediately went to work to fix the issue and communicate with the base. Water was working again within an hour.
“I have amazing Airmen who inspire me every day, working crazy hours, coming up with some ingenious solutions to some problems that you would never expect to happen.”
Of course, what she didn’t say is that her days are often aligned with her Airmen’s: working the hours needed to solve the problem.
However, she is also not one to overwork herself or her people. “Pacing is a metaphor for life. You have to be able to take care of yourself physically and mentally, and a lot of times your physical being will reflect your mental state of mind. I’ve struggled in both aspects of life, over the years.”
In 2019, Silverbush recalls, she felt unmotivated and out of shape; she hadn’t been as active as she had been during her college years, and wanted to start working on her physical fitness while studying at Air Force Institute of Technology.
“I forced myself to sign up for the Air Force Marathon [in 2019]. I really struggled; I was trying to run long distance, but I didn’t stick to any sort of plan. I got overwhelmed.”
She managed to complete her first marathon, and set herself to continuing to improve. Then, COVID-19 spread across the globe, including Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, where Silverbush was stationed following her AFIT graduation.
“Right in the heat of COVID, I was really struggling mentally, physically, and then I finally just got sick of it. I met some people who were avid runners and they encouraged me to stop feeling bad for myself and get after it… In November of 2020, I just went to the gym one day and said ‘Alright, Amy, this is it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get to 3 miles, but you’re going to get to 3 miles.’”
At first, she was only able to run about two miles before walking. Soon, though, she was slowly able to jog all three, and continued to increase her distance. Within four months, she was running six miles every day. One year after starting to run again, Silverbush was trekking 200 miles in the Alaskan winter.
“I would run rain, snow, ice, it didn’t matter. So I signed up for another marathon with a little bit of hope that I would qualify for Boston, just to see.”
She qualified for the 2023 Boston Marathon with her time. She will run in Boston, taking her mid-tour leave to do so, on April 17, 2023.
“Anything you set your mind to, you can get after. Sometimes, you can let yourself get in your own way. Other people can tell you ‘you can’t,’ but that can be a good inspiration to be able to do something. As soon as you start telling yourself that you can’t do something, that’s when it’s no longer achievable.”
That isn’t to say that every challenge is easy to face; even the most positive of people can struggle with that motivation at times, Silverbush says.
“There [are] still days that I struggle. Not every day do I wake up and say ‘Running is the best thing ever!’ Sometimes I’m like ‘man, this sucks,’ but I never regret a run… You never regret giving it your best shot.”
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.17.2023 04:48 |
| Story ID: | 442712 |
| Location: | AL DHAFRA AIR BASE, AE |
| Web Views: | 852 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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