Kyle O'Connor
and another Team Fisher House runner/friend at the 2007 MCM

Kyle is currently a member of Team Fisher House at the 2010 MCM.

I am alive. And well. And blessed.

The problem with asking all my friends to come out and run with me is that it doesn't really leave any flexibility if things go wrong.  Weather could be bad, legs & ankles could be bad, could be a low-energy day, could wake up feeling unwell and dragging butt, etc.  Some runs in Iraq I planned on being long ended short and some short days ended up going long.  Very unpredictable.  So I was a little bit nervous about having everyone come out.  Needless to say, I decided to leave it in God's hands.  At first glance, it may seem silly to pray for good weather or good health when there is so much wrong in the world, however God wants to be involved in everything in our lives, not just some things, that is why the bible says not to be anxious for anything but pray for everything,"[Phil 4:6]; so I did.  And God delivered.

It was a beautiful morning.  The weather was near perfect.  It did a bit warm in the heat of the day, but the breeze that continued through the day made it bearable.  It would have been probably 10-15 degrees hotter without the wind.  Thanks to Doc for the suggestion of the 0500 start time.  It was well worth getting up early.

I actually woke up a couple minutes before my alarm and was awake, not groggy.  I was able to get some oatmeal for breakfast and it didn't upset my stomach, which is unusual for me when trying to eat that early in the morning.

Thanks to everyone who came out and ran laps with me.  I had close to a dozen people run laps throughout the day and it made the journey that much more tolerable and pleasant even. Unfortunately I didn't get pix with the morning crew, but thanks to the folks that were there before the crack of dawn to start me on my way. During the whole day, I only ran about 6 laps by myself but it was retro eighties music on AFN radio, so that pumped me up and killed the time before my next crew came out.

My goal for the day was 50K which is 31.07 miles.  My longest run before that was 28 miles, but that was actually a month before and I had been injured the week before this run in my right leg, so I was not sure if that was going to be a factor for the day.  I decided to leave the run length to God.  I would put one foot in front of the other and He would dictate how far that brought me.  I was hoping for longer than 50k and asked God to do something miraculous, but would accept whatever He decided.

Well, 30 miles seemed to go by quickly despite the 6 hour price tag.  I was feeling good and strong, so decided to keep putting the one foot in front of the other.  About this time, I got a new set of folks to run with me, so that helped reduce the mental challenge of the run.

Before too long, 40 miles was marked off the chart and in my sun-happy brain, 50 miles seemed just a small number away. (50 Miles is what Ultrarunners really consider the mark for ultrarunning/ultramarathons)  10 little miles.  Anyone can run ten miles.  I've done that many many times.  Plus, a new crew of crazy people showed up in the heat of the day wanting to do some running, so who was I to let them down.  So again, one foot in front of the other and God would lead the way.  Here's really where things turned challenging.  6 more laps sounds easy, but when my brain started to wander, that equated to 10 miles, which equated to another 2 hours which was a staggering thought, so I struggled to nip that thought in the bud and just focus on the current lap.  My special thanks to 1Lt Franklin, USAF and LCDR Birkeland, USNR for running those last ten laps with me.  I think I ran the last 5 miles with my eyes closed just concentrating on the cadence of their footfalls; one next to me and one in front of me, with them calling out obstacles.

So here is the paragraph you were waiting for really.  Here are the final stats for the day:

50 MILES RAN !!!
30 laps around lost lake
9 hours, 59 minutes: 0505 - 1504
8200 calories spent