I’m out for walk with the rest of our group at 5am. It’s cooled off to 105°F. I was the last one to arrive in the lobby. Two minutes late. Everyone else was right on time. Frank Shorter was walking up to my room to retrieve me but I met him in the stairwell.

We have a one-hour van transport to APOD a military base near Kuwait International airport. When we transport by van we have a security vehicle shadowing us.  It’s official. We’ve received our kevlar helmets and flack jackets.

Now we have about a 3-hour wait for our C130 to transport us to western Iraq. Sandra Magnus, Sandy, had us captivated with her stories on returningto Earth  from space. We totally take gravity for granted. She shares stories of not being able to judge while simply walking around corners. She forgot how to jump even it was only jumping 10 inches off the ground. 

We have to get used to the hurry up and wait game. We always have to be ready when the plane shows up.We just found out our flight will not leave until 3 pm 6 hours later than anticipated. We have no control over anything. We just wait until someone will escort us to our plane.

Lunch at the mess hall is rice and cabbage. All we need to do is show our military orders and they feed us. I’m sitting in the mess hall and a soldier next to me is reading the July issue of Runner’s World.He sees the giant photo of me near the front of the magazine and freaks out. “That’s you!”

It’s amazing to me how many of our soldiers read the magazine and know all about me. He escorts me around APOD introducing me to all runners he knew on base.

It’s time. Our C130 shows up and off we go to Western Iraq. We sit sideways in the back of the plane with the cargo. Flack jacket, helmut, ear plugs and strong stomach required.

We land at a base in western Iraq and the back of the plane opens up. They unload a a few pallets then we jump off the back of the plane.This was so cool. I’m ruined for life. Commercial flying will never be fun again.

We get escorted to some fancy barracks they call Camp Cupcake. Our escort tells me he’s been following my training plan from our July issue. He’ll be running the satellite race they hold here in conjuction with the Marine Corps Marathon.

I met a Captain at the barracks. He says to me: “Sir, I meet you at the Air Force Marathon last year.” It was his first marathon and he’s hooked on running.

We head over to the rec center to open registration for tomorrow’s 5K race. Sandy, Frank and I sign posters for all the runners as they register for the race.

It’s a very humbling experience because they all thank us for being here in Iraq. We thank them for all they are doing. They are a bunch of really strong, hard-working Americans who are protecting the liberties and freedoms that we enjoy at home every day.

Frank and I look at each other and say the same thing: We are getting more out of this then they are.