Army First Lt. Claire Heid is busier than you.
The military police officer — and executive officer of her unit — manages to fit in 120-mile training weeks while planning a September wedding and preparing for a December deployment to Afghanistan.
At 23, she’ll be the youngest starter at July’s Badwater Ultramarathon in Death Valley, Calif.
And if she finishes, she’ll be the youngest female finisher in the race’s history.
Fire Controllman 2nd Class (SW) Derek England runs on the frigate Elrod during the ship's deployment in the Caribbean. (Mark D. Faram/Staff)
Trying to stay fit while at sea would make this trail runner — me — super cranky. This week in Navy Times, staff writer Mark Faram writes about one sailor who’s getting it done:
Derek England is a loser. In fact, he’s the biggest loser in his whole command. And he’s pretty happy about it.
England is a 26-year-old, surface-warfare-qualified, fire controlman second class onboard frigate Elrod. Since the ship left Norfolk, Va., on Jan. 16 for its current deployment to the Caribbean hunting drug runners, he has shed 41 pounds.
Troops will be able to get into national parks, such as Yosemite National Park, with a free park pass. (Robert F. Bukaty/The Associated Press)
It’s a great deal to the great outdoors.
Beginning May 19 — Armed Forces Day — active-duty troops and their families can get a free military version of the America the Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Annual Pass. Part of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative, the pass costs $80 for civilians.
The dog days of summer are right around the corner, so we gave a dozen or so multisport hydration systems to a pack of ultrarunners to wear and abuse and see which ones would float to the top. The process involved a lot of arguing and a lot of hurt feelings, but very little dehydration.
Check out some of our favorites, after the jump.
Teammates hoist their raft to the finish line of Day 1 at Wilderness Challenge near Fayetteville, W.Va. (Colin Kelly/Staff)
If you wear your bruises like a badge of honor, then Jon Anderson’s OFFduty story on adventure races is for you. Jon writes:
Facing the ice-field tank known as the Arctic Enema, Army Capt. Jason Rathbun and Air Force Capt. Justin Ballinger bumped fists and dove in.
“As we came back up, we caught each other’s eyes and were like, ‘Yeah, this is real!’ ” Ballinger said.
The new Navy-Air Force Half Marathon is a go.
The race — in conjunction with the established Navy 5 Miler — will take place Sept. 16 on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The gun goes off bright and early at 0730 for the half marathon and at 0800 for the 5-Miler.
The half marathon course, which will be USATF certified by race weekend, will start at the Washington Monument and include East and West Potomac Parks and the scenic Rock Creek Parkway.
Veterans support organization Team Red White & Blue is hosting a global CrossFit-style “workout of the day” on May 28 to celebrate Memorial Day.
The WoD — called “21 Guns – A Memorial Salute” — is a partner workout with a goal to ”further connect the CrossFit community with our veterans,” organizers say on the event website. ”A 21 Gun Salute is the Nation’s highest display of honor, and is reserved for foreign heads of state, presidential funerals and in honor of our Fallen troops on Memorial Day. Our WoD intends to replicate this honor, on behalf of the CrossFit community, to honor our nation’s warriors — past, present and future.”
Staff Sgt. Erin Silden squats during a lifting competition in February, at Camp Marmal, Afghanistan.
Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Wilson emailed me a few weeks ago to recommend Staff Sgt. Erin Silden.
“He is a true inspiration for soldiers in the unit,” Wilson told me in his email.
Silden, 32, is stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., and sent me this workout while he was deployed to Afghanistan. He told me he became interested in fitness in 2008, when a friend gave him a reality check:
I was working out every morning five days a week doing the standard Army-driven workouts averaging a score a 245 of 300 possible points on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). I figured I was in decent physical shape and looked fit; however, when I noticed my test score was slipping and my waist line was increasing I figured something was wrong. In reality, I was eating anything I wanted and doing nothing but getting fatter and slower.
From wide-eyed recruits to the most grizzled veterans, the urge to abandon a fitness plan has plagued us all. Maybe your battle is staying in those dreaded formation runs or an old injury that threatens to sap hope of recovering — maybe it’s just sticking with a new diet.
However you’regrappling with giving up, three new books offerinspiration to help keep your body and brain in the game.
Mike Morton finished the Umstead 100-mile run in 13 hours, 11 minutes, 40 seconds -- a new course record. (Umstead 100 photo by Ben Dillon)
The race started at 0600 in Umstead State Park, N.C., and when Army Master Sgt. Mike Morton finished his first 12.5-mile park loop, the clock had ticked only as far as 0724.
Running 12.5 miles at a 6:45 pace isn’t anything to get too excited about. What is exciting, was watching the 40-year-old Morton pound out 87.5 additional miles at a record-breaking pace. His 7:55 average pace is faster than most recreational runners’ 5k times.
Except Morton ran that fast for 100 miles.
