On Sunday, 11 October, six of Detachment 415’s cadets participated in the 31st annual Army Ten Miler run in Washington DC. The event is put on by the US Army and is run by around 30,000 athletes from all over the United States. With teams in divisions ranging from Wounded Warriors to elites to ROTC detachments to active duty service members, this is one of the largest road races in the country. Our AFROTC team (consisting of Cadets Lucas Schaper, Joseph Scholl, Jon Leveille, Daniel Zastrow, and myself) competed in the ROTC division while Cadet Kaitlyn LaFrance competed in the Open Women’s division on the Minneapolis area team sponsored by the local Vessey chapter.
Having run track and cross country in high school, when I heard about the opportunity to try out for the detachment’s team, I knew this was a chance that I could not let pass me by. Training for this ten mile race began in the middle of August, just before I came to college. The format of the training followed a similar plan to that of my past running seasons: build a base of mileage, begin working on the speed aspect your race, and finally, taper off to be at one’s fastest on the day of the biggest race. However, our training did include some new experiences for me, specifically training in the morning, usually at 0600 or 0620, as well as increased mileage to be ready for the longer race than what I was used to. These new aspects added a level of uncertainty to the whole experience for me as I wondered if I would not only be able to keep up with my faster teammates in practice, but also if I would be able to handle the early mornings and harder practices while at the same time trying to adjust to a new home at college, make friends, and start classes. As time passed and the final race in Washington DC grew nearer though, I began to realize that there was no reason for me to be concerned about my performance or whether or not this event would be something that I could handle. The greatest thing that I gained from this experience was a group of mentors to rely on as well as an extremely valuable sense of comradery from my teammates and those are the things that would later pull me through not only the weeks training, but also the more difficult parts of the final race.
The day before the race, Saturday, 10 October, our team met at the Minneapolis airport to fly to Washington DC. After connecting in Chicago, we landed at Reagan National Airport to be met by our coach, Mr. DeJesus, and the night before the race was spent enjoying a team dinner at the hotel with the Army teams from University of Minnesota as well as St. John’s. The next morning, we met in the lobby of our hotel at 0530 to walk to the start of the race about a mile away at the Pentagon. After passing through athlete security, we walked up to the starting line for the first wave of the race, in which we would be starting. Finally, at 0800, our wave stepped off to begin the ten mile race through the city of Washington DC, passing by countless monuments and historical buildings along the way. Personally, the entire race went by in a blur. Even as we spent time touring the monuments and the Pentagon (guided by Air Force Colonel David Stimac) later that evening, I couldn’t seem to remember the roads we had run on or just how close we had been to so many significant buildings along the way. However, I do clearly remember crossing the finish line after ten miles (some of which can only be described as filled with agony) and feeling as though there was nothing that I could not do. While I was exhausted, I had also just overcome a very difficult task, for which I had been very nervous. Not only that, but I had also completed the race with a new personal record. To me, it was very exciting to come home with a first place trophy for my age group, but even more exciting was the fact that I got the opportunity to compete among a large number of the nation’s finest servicemen and women, create incredible bonds with older cadets who were both my teammates and members of opposing teams, and see our nation’s capital side-by-side with some of Detachment 415’s best mentors and athletes.
