Air Force captain takes second in 2nd Annual Boston Marathon at Ali Base, Iraq
Not everyone can participate in the Boston Marathon, especially if they are deployed. But, for all the U.S. and coalition forces deployed to Ali Base and Logistical Support Area Adder this was possible.

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By Master Sgt. Jon Hanson, 407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
Posted Thursday, 6 April, 2006

ALI BASE, Iraq -- For the second time the Boston Marathon came to Iraq and more than 250 men and women ran either individually or part of four-person teams. One of those running was Air Force Capt. Casey Jackson, with the 407th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron. Captain Jackson, who is deployed here from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is an avid runner with three international marathons under his belt.

The 5-foot-7-inch, 140-pound man placed first among all Air Force members and second place in the individual race with a time of 3 hours, 2 minutes, 17 seconds. He finished behind Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matt Simms, who had a time of 2:53:35 and is based at Camp Slayer in Baghdad.

In Boston the high temperature is expected to reach 58 degrees on the day of the marathon (April 17). At the start of the marathon here the low was near 70 with temperatures reaching nearly 95 by the time some of the runners finished.

The 2000 graduate of Western Oregon University said he was doing fine until the 23rd mile. After that he said, “It was hell.”

“The wind was a little bit stronger than expected,” Captain Jackson said, who ran this race five minutes faster than his personal best. “The tailwind made it hotter. It was easy to glide and keep a fast pace but it was hotter.”

The captain maintained almost a 6:57 pace throughout the race, and that included stopping to go the bathroom.

“It’s so hard to be patient out there because it is such a long race and you want to get it finished,” he said.

The 26.2 mile course took runners winding around Ali Base and LSA Adder roads including to the Ziggurat of Ur, a 4,000-year-old temple in the ancient city of Ur where the Prophet Abraham was born.

The last mile took runners alongside the runway to make the turn to the finish line.

Preparation is the key to running a marathon, said Captain Jackson who has been running for 17 years and running marathons for six years.

“I try to come up with a well thought out training plan and figure out the time I can implement it around my busy schedule,” the captain said. “Do your research first and have a training plan that you can adhere to for more than three months. If you know someone who has ran a marathon, then it is good to talk with them about their experiences in order to get an idea of what you can expect.

“I try to run almost every day, but that doesn’t always happen,” he said. “A typical training day is about eight to 10 miles. My long run days are anywhere from 14 to 18 miles.”

Not only is training really important but so is diet.

“I eat a ton of bananas along with plenty of carbs, protein and drink lots of water,” Captain Jackson said. “On race day, I choke down more bananas, a couple of power bars, and gel right before and during the race.”

Running that distance takes its toll on a body.

“I’ll probably pass out for a couple of hours in my tent before I can rally and make it over to the chow hall to eat whatever is in sight. The race depletes your body of almost everything and walking is a slight challenge for the next couple of days.”

“The greatest challenge is always mental,” Captain Jackson said. “You feel pain which makes you want to quit. In this case, the biggest challenge in the desert would have to be the heat.”

“If feels good to (do well in) any event, but this race is special and unique just because of where we are located and why we are here,” Captain Jackson said. “I feel very fortunate to be running near a place with as much history as Ur while in a combat zone.”

Top 3 Male
    Rank
   Overall   Group   Time      Pace  FName    LName       Age
      1        1   2:52:05     6:34  Matthew  Sims         37
      2        2   3:02:17     6:57  Casey    Jackson      29
      3        3   3:07:27     7:09  John     Ruibal       42
Top 3 Female
    Rank
   Overall   Group   Time      Pace  FName    LName       Age
      8        1   3:36:11     8:15 Carrie   Peterson     29
     20        2   4:01:40     9:13 Heather  Simas        36
     22        3   4:03:48     9:18 Kimberly Riggs        30

Male Results

   Overall   Group   Time      Pace  FName    LName       Age
     55        1   4:33:45    10:27 Robert   Halmes
     101       2   5:21:55    12:17 Joel     Workman

  29 Under
      9        1   3:38:12     8:20 Nathan   Rayle        21
     15        2   3:46:01     8:38 Matthew  Mckenna      23
     19        3   3:57:54     9:05 Robert   Dill         21
     24        4   4:04:23     9:20 Shane    Kittle       25
     28        5   4:14:12     9:42 Douglas  Hogan        28
     30        6   4:18:37     9:52 Robert   Schlote      21
     37        7   4:23:44    10:04 Evan     McNamara     29
     38        8   4:24:08    10:05 Jerrid   Floyd        29
     38        9   4:24:08    10:05 Seth     Allen        29
     40        10  4:24:44    10:06 Brad     Johnson      29
     45        11  4:26:25    10:10 Robert   Guess        27
     46        12  4:26:53    10:11 Patrick  O'Brien      20
     47        13  4:27:11    10:12 Jordan   Reber        24
     48        14  4:29:12    10:16 Jose     Maldonado    27
     49        15  4:29:58    10:18 Prabhiot Sandhu       24
     53        16  4:30:48    10:20 Larry    Sikuka       29
     54        17  4:33:43    10:27 Jeremy   Schuyler     29
     57        18  4:36:02    10:32 Sean     Tucker       22
     60        19  4:38:47    10:38 Chris    Mandarino    29
     67        20  4:43:48    10:50 Cory     Engle        20
     70        21  4:46:00    10:55 Tyrone   Manegdeg     26
     78        22  4:54:40    11:15 Matthew  Sissel       25
     80        23  4:56:12    11:18 John     McRae        27
     81        24  4:56:39    11:19 Edward   Bryan        21
     85        25  5:04:25    11:37 Neil     Young        21
     86        26  5:04:26    11:37 Larry    Williams     23
     87        27  5:04:52    11:38 Jesse    Kane         26
     94        28  5:18:45    12:10 Gideon   Stibor       23
     95        29  5:19:05    12:11 Brian    Shintaku     23
     100       30  5:21:08    12:15 Osbaldo  Valles       24
     103       31  5:22:50    12:19 Jacob    Naylor       27
     104       32  5:23:07    12:20 ChristophOlson        21
     106       33  5:35:21    12:48 Gary     DeWitt       29
     107       34  5:39:00    12:56 Jonathan Guerin       22
     113       35  5:46:37    13:14 Marshall Thompson     27
     115       36  5:50:17    13:22 Dale     Fater        27
     117       37  5:55:17    13:34 Steven   Terry        27
     118       38  5:57:55    13:40 Jacob    Strickland   21
     121       39  5:57:58    13:40 Riley    Ras          20

    30-39
      4        1   3:12:34     7:21 Giuseppe Cirelli      36
      6        2   3:25:28     7:51 Derek    Cooper       37
      7        3   3:32:37     8:07 Martin   Lucenti      36
      9        4   3:38:12     8:20 Denny    Hart         35
     13        5   3:44:41     8:35 Ramon    Colon        33
     14        6   3:45:04     8:35 Neal     Loidolt      39
     16        7   3:48:57     8:44 Andrew   Corrow       39
     18        8   3:55:05     8:58 Jason    Conrad       38
     22        9   4:03:48     9:18 Assad    Samad        32
     26        10  4:08:08     9:28 Jonathan Wright       35
     27        11  4:08:47     9:30 Gennaro  Burlatto     35
     41        12  4:24:53    10:07 Predrag  Viskovic     38
     43        13  4:25:46    10:09 Roberto  Moreno       31
     44        14  4:25:54    10:09 Paul     Hester       38
     50        15  4:30:13    10:19 Kevin    Gillespie    33
     52        16  4:30:35    10:20 James    Sweat        39
     58        17  4:37:26    10:35 richard  Bamonte      31
     62        18  4:39:19    10:40 Blazenko Puskar       35
     63        19  4:41:04    10:44 William  Hampshire    37
     64        20  4:42:46    10:48 Thomas   Lippert      39
     72        21  4:47:27    10:58 ChristianJenni        35
     79        22  4:55:48    11:17 Stephen  Voss         35
     82        23  5:00:27    11:28 Eric     Horton       35
     83        24  5:01:03    11:29 Thomas   Smith        36
     84        25  5:02:37    11:33 Kenneth  Flores       34
     88        26  5:08:28    11:46 Matthew  Perry        32
     90        27  5:14:18    11:60 Roberto  Zama         36
     91        28  5:15:02    12:01 Robert   Venton       32
     93        29  5:18:16    12:9  Davy     Weaver       37
     96        30  5:19:44    12:12 Mark     Denton       34
     96        31  5:19:44    12:12 David    Chandler     35
     102       32  5:22:46    12:19 William  Burnett      38
     105       33  5:29:43    12:35 Randy    Eppley       39
     108       34  5:39:15    12:57 Mark     Kassum       32
     110       35  5:40:21    12:59 John     Gavigan      34
     111       36  5:40:55    13:01 Aaron    Whittington  33
     119       37  5:57:57    13:40 Rob      Dent         35
     119       38  5:57:57    13:40 James    Grier        37

    40-49
      5        1   3:13:47     7:24 Brad     Owen         41
     11        2   3:42:20     8:29 Scott    Lubag        41
     12        3   3:43:58     8:33 Matthew  Anderson     45
     17        4   3:52:37     8:53 Nelson   Johnson      40
     21        5   4:03:33     9:18 Jeff     Camp         41
     25        6   4:07:52     9:28 David    Vreeland     45
     33        7   4:19:37     9:55 Steven   Drennan      47
     34        8   4:20:05     9:56 Tim      Hodge        49
     36        9   4:23:08    10:03 FredericoProcacci     47
     56        10  4:34:10    10:28 Jeffrey  Yarvis       40
     65        11  4:43:36    10:49 James    Cook         45
     67        12  4:43:48    10:50 Filippo  De Fazio     40
     69        13  4:44:25    10:51 AlessadroMilanesi     41
     73        14  4:48:44    11:01 Kevin    Mulalley     42
     73        15  4:48:44    11:01 Anthony  Wilcher      44
     77        16  4:53:11    11:11 Romeo    Montez       40
     89        17  5:09:06    11:48 Brad     Springer     47
     92        18  5:16:01    12:04 Carl     Phillips     44
     114       19  5:48:31    13:18 Timothy  Lamb         47
     116       20  5:52:06    13:26 dianna   Roberson     40
     124       21  6:19:35    14:29 Ricky    Adams        46

   50 Over
     29        1   4:18:17     9:51 Antonio  Rusciano     54

Female Results

  29 Under
     31        1   4:19:07     9:53 Josielyn Carrasquill  29
     31        2   4:19:07     9:53 Kimberly Soer         23
     42        3   4:25:16    10:07 Lyndsey  Hodgekins    25
     51        4   4:30:25    10:19 Angela   George       26
     61        5   4:38:58    10:39 Ann MarieBielefeld    26
     71        6   4:47:06    10:57 Traci    Varrasso     27
     75        7   4:49:21    11:03 Edna     Cureton      26
     96        8   5:19:44    12:12 Monica   Robelley     27
     96        9   5:19:44    12:12 Kristin  Nelson       23
     108       10  5:39:15    12:57 Tambra   Puro         21
     112       11  5:42:24    13:04 Apryl    Watroba      27
     122       12  6:08:05    14:03 Michelle Valdez       28
     123       13  6:15:30    14:20 Shane    Chandler     28
     125       14  6:28:04    14:49 Gloria   Hernandez    25

    30-39
     35        1   4:21:39     9:59 Heidi    Mon          35
     59        2   4:38:40    10:38 Jeana    Johnson      38
     66        3   4:43:47    10:50 Dianne   Pannes       37

    40-49
     76        1   4:52:20    11:09  Liz      Borelli      43

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