Photo By Lorne Neff | The Indiana National Guard Marathon Team competed in the Army 10-Miler, Oct. 24, in...... read more read more
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WASHINGTON D.C. - The Indiana National Guard Marathon Team kicked off a "new era" by running in the 2010 Army Ten-Miler. This was the first time in almost a decade the team ran as a full eight-person squad. For years, the team ran with only three runners, but now the program is being restored to full strength.
The guard team ran on Sunday morning, Oct. 24, with approximately 30,000 registered runners in The Army Ten-Miler race that began and ended at the Pentagon and wound through our nation’s capitol. The team finished 5th out of 29 National Guard squads and placed 102nd of the 652 race teams that finished.
The team is captained by 30-year-old Staff Sgt. Donald Barnard, a full time member of the Indiana National Guard who works at Joint Forces Headquarters as a budget analyst at Stout Field, Indianapolis. Having been on the team for two years now, Barnard is helping to revive the Indiana National Guard team which hasn’t been up to full strength for almost a decade.
“It’s a great program, it inspires people,” said Barnard. “It’s great for the guard and great for me. It brings in hard working, goal orientated people and I really enjoy being part of it.”
Barnard said he began running with his dad in the One-America 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis when he was a kid and has been running ever since. He has run in six marathons. He said the Army ten miler is actually more suited to him because he doesn’t always do well in long distance races, so he really can run all out in this event.
The rest of the team has a wide range of experience.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Darren Minnemann, co-captain, 40-year-old, Indiana National Guard team member since 2003 has ran in 109 marathons. He’s also been on several Indiana teams that placed among the top all-Guard teams at the Lincoln National Guard Marathon that takes place each spring.
Sgt. Scott Beiri, 46-years-old, says he was really excited and fired up to run the 2010 Army 10-Miler. He works as a supply technician for the Combined Support Maintenance shop at Stout Field and ran his first race with the Guard in Lincoln, Neb., this year. He began running races while deployed three years ago.
“It’s really a good feeling for me, being new to the team, and the people at work are very supportive as well,” said Beiri. “Going back to Lincoln, it’s really cool how there is a camaraderie between all the states out at these events. It’s like when we mobilize. You compete against each other, but you’re still very supportive of each other.”
Staff Sgt. Curt Carey, Fire Direction chief, 47-year-old, 2nd Battalion, 150th Field Artillery Regiment headquartered in Bloomington, Ind., has been running races for a very long time and calls himself the “old timer” of the group. He joined the Indiana Marathon Team in 1995 and has run in 13 National Guard Marathons and five ultra marathons of 30 miles or more. For an “old timer”, his run times are as fast as those much younger. He still holds a state record in Indiana high school cross country that he set 30 years ago. This race has special meaning for Carey who is recovering from an injury and hasn’t run a race in more than two years.
Maj. Tracey Andrews, 40-year-old operations officer for the 38th Sustainment Brigade, began running with her mother as a little girl. The Army 10-miler is her first go with the Indiana Marathon Team.
“It’s really cool to represent my division and the state,” said Andrews. “I’m really looking forward to this. I’m grateful for the opportunity and it’s great to represent the [38th Sustainment] Brigade.”
The other female on the team is 32-year-old Capt. Alain Samples, commander of Company C, 1st Battalion (Assault), 137th Aviation Regiment , in Shelbyville, Ind., and works as the education services officer for Joint Forces Headquarters, Indianapolis.
Samples said she used to fear the run on the Army Physical Fitness Test and was miserable. She decided to conquer her fear during her deployment to Afghanistan in 2006 and started running on a regular basis. She’s ran in the last four Indianapolis mini-marathons, including last year when she ran her miles while deployed to Kuwait. Like several members of the team, this was her first race with the Indiana team. Samples and Andrews have a friendly rivalry and ran with each other in the last four Indianapolis mini-marathons.
Sgt. Maj. Lance Hochwalt, 38th Sustainment Brigade Operations sergeant major, 40-year-old, said that like Samples, he never enjoyed running growing up. He slowly increased his running over time and has done the mini-marathon every year since 2004. This is his first time running with the Indiana team and is glad to run with Andrews for their Brigade. Hochwalt ran in the Army Ten-Miler while deployed with the 76th Infantry Brigade in Balad, Iraq, 2008.
Barnard said the team finished well and he’s happy with the result. He finished the race in a personal best time of 61 minutes and 51 seconds.
“It was a great race, a lot of fun, a lot of crowd support, and it was great to see all the National Guard running teams representing their states and organizations,” said Barnard. “I really look forward to running this event again in the future.”
The rest of the team echoed the sentiment.
Carrey said he didn’t know what to expect but was also very pleased with the results. He and Barnard ran together at the start, but the “old man” pulled away and finished with the best time on the team at 60 minutes and 57 seconds. Only 210 of the 30,000 runners finished ahead of him.
“It was great weather and a great crowd,” said Andrews who managed to finish ahead of Samples. “I think seeing the wounded warriors definitely had a positive impact on me. You’re pushing along, sucking wind and then you see someone up there with an artificial leg and blade on and you know they’re doing their best.”
Samples was a little disappointed with her time but not overall with the race.
“It definitely wasn’t the race I was hoping to run, but the weather was great and the race was fun,” said Samples. “I passed several people [wearing] shirts that said ‘running in memory of,’ trying to keep the memory alive of a service member that had passed [away]. That’s something you don’t see in most races.”
This was the 26th Army Ten-Miler, which boasts to be the 3rd largest 10-miler race in the world. More than ten locations in Iraq and Afghanistan hosted a shadow run, with more than 4,000 runners. Other race locations this year included Bagram Airfield and Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan as well as Forward Operating Base Union III and Joint Base Balad in Iraq.
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 10.28.2010 12:54 |
| Story ID: | 58999 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 409 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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