Photo By Sgt. Maj. Christopher Klutts | U.S. Army 1st Lt. Shamai Larsen, fourth from left, poses with teammates from Joint...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Shamai Larsen remembers shaking hands with Gen. Raymond Odierno, the chief of staff of the Army, after helping the JBLM women’s active duty team clench first place in the 2012 Army Ten-Miler in October.
Larsen said, “It was super intimidating and crazy, but it was from being a runner, not anything else. (Running) has opened so many doors for me as far as the army goes.”
Now a first lieutenant and company executive officer with 62nd Medical Brigade, Larsen didn’t commit herself to running until years after she enlisted. She was 23, and a dental noncommissioned officer at Fort Campbell, Ky., when she “just decided to run a marathon.”
A sergeant first class at her clinic inspired her to lace up.
“She was really fast and ran a marathon. I thought she was pretty cool, and I wanted to be like her,” Larsen said.
The Dillingham, Alaska native strode toward her new goal alone. She ran whenever she found time. After a month and a half of training, Larsen ran all 26.219 miles of her first marathon – the first race of her life.
“I knew nothing about running. I just started running on my own, at night and after work. Just running more and more and more,” she said.
Larsen’s next step as a runner came simultaneously with a step up in her career. She enrolled in Austin Peay State University in Tennessee under the Army’s Green to Gold Program, where enlisted Soldiers can earn their commission through a combination of college and military training.
The assistant coach of Austin Peay’s track and field team recruited Larsen at “the second race of (her) life,” a 5K run, only four months after her first marathon. She went to practice the next day.
“I enlisted right out of high school, so I didn’t think I was going to get that college experience. Being a student athlete really made that come true,” Larsen said.
Joining the Division I team at Austin Peay was a “whirlwind and amazing experience.”
Doug Molnar, head coach of track and field at Austin Peay State University, described Larsen as, “One hard worker. She worked from the crack of dawn until after dark. She had such a demanding schedule.”
“If I wasn’t gone for sports, I was traveling in the field for ROTC,” Larsen recalled.
Having only started competitively running after joining the Army, Larsen and Molnar knew her teammates and competitors would have experience on their side – and that she would have to catch up.
“Other girls have been running three, four and five years without a break,” Molnar said.
Larsen’s more experienced teammates brought her up to NCAA-speed.
“It was so second nature to them. And to me, it was all completely new. They were just talking me through everything … running, training, shoes, traveling for sports, putting on that college jersey for the first time, and toeing up to the line for my first Division I track race at Indiana University,” she said.
Molnar remembered sitting with Larsen in his office and going over her goals.
“She said she just didn’t want to finish last,” he recalled. “I remember telling her ‘Don’t worry, you won’t.’”
And she didn’t – not during her first collegiate race, or since.
At Austin Peay, running became more than an activity for Larsen, or even an exercise.
“It became a lifestyle. It’s not even really a choice, just something you do. I don’t really feel normal if I’m not running almost everyday,” she said.
Larsen recently traded road races, like the Army Ten-Miler, for mountain trail races where she’s found her niche.
“I don’t really like running on the road anymore. I think I’m retired,” she said.
Larsen described the trail racing circuit as “a super educated community, very hard working and outdoorsy. It’s really cool to be part of that.”
Adopting a runner’s lifestyle has changed more than her level of fitness.
She has like-minded friends, eats healthier and “feels accomplished.”
For Larsen, it’s never been about her finish times – other than not being last – or the competitiveness of sport. She said running is about the experience. Like the experience of her last road race, the 2012 New York City Marathon.
Facing a cancelled race in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Larsen was momentarily set back. She prepared for one of the most famous runs in the world, both physically and financially. Not to be defeated, she joined roughly 20,000 other runners for laps around Central Park. She said the sense of community she experienced during the impromptu race is common among her trail running friends, and a reason why she prefers dirt to asphalt.
“The way the runners rallied together without any official organization was almost better than running the marathon,” she said.
For another first, Larsen plans to run the Deception Pass 50K in Oak Harbor, Wash., Dec. 8, her longest trail run.
“Its just a part of who I am now, and it will always be in my life,” she said.
Larsen may have retired from the road, but she has no plans to stow her running shoes any time soon.
| Date Taken: | 12.05.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 12.05.2012 14:41 |
| Story ID: | 98787 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Hometown: | DILLINGHAM, ALASKA, US |
| Web Views: | 184 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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