“Sit-Rep” .. No.51 Pt.2
(a.k.a. “Memories can be helpful”)

Days like today crop up whenever I get in one of these “gotta get in shape” modes.

It happens when, like today, I start asking myself “What the heck are you doing?”

There’s no prize money, no medal or anything similar on the line.
Your legs are aching and your back is starting to hurt. You don’t have to do this. Just stop!

That’s when a memory kicks in. It’s one that has worked time and again.

Some of you “Blackhorse-Ancients” might remember that How-Btry 1/11 was tasked with laying the course for the first “Blackhorse Marathon” held in Fulda, Germany (now the Fulda Marathon).

At the time I was in that Howitzer Battery. The Btry Cdr thought it only fitting that one of the Battery’s Officers participated in the event.
So .. there I was. I had run Cross-Country in High School, but only to build stamina in preparation for the basketball season. I had never run or trained for anything close to 26-Miles.

It showed.🤷🏽‍♂️
On race day, I came in dead last. No joke! I was the last person on the course, but I was determined to finish.

Imagine my surprise when I came down Haimbacher Strasse towards the back gate of Downs Barracks and the entire Battery was standing, waiting and cheering me across the finish line.

Since then, any time I do something that has to do with running or walking to get in shape; when things get tough and I feel like quitting… I remember the Marathon. I tell myself “You once ran 26 Miles, this is a piece of cake!”

No, there’s no troop waiting at my front door… there’s only “that guy in the mirror”. He knows what you did!

So … Cancer might eventually win this race…. but… “Not Today!”