4 members of the 38th Sustainment Brigade of the Indiana National Guard and one member of the Pennsylvania National Guard participated in this year's Mississippi 50 Trail Run. The 38th Brigade deployed from Kokomo IN to Kuwait in August 2012. The runners entered are experienced marathoners and ultra runners, and at least one has previously run the MS50. This is the MS50's first ever shadow run, and we are honored to have these servicemen, heroes all, participate in our event.
Mission Statement: The 38th Sustainment Brigade provides command and control for all units and provides sustainment in an area of operations as defined by the higher sustainment command.
In deployment the 38th Sustainment Brigade plans and executes theater opening, distribution, sustainment, reception, staging, and onward movement of military forces in full spectrum operations as directed by the expeditionary or theater sustainment command. State or nation-side, the 38th Sustainment Brigade alerts, assembles, and conducts support operations to civil authorities for homeland defense or disaster relief.
Race Report: Thanks again for allowing us to run your race here in Kuwait. It was a day that all of us will always remember. I was suprised at our results due to several of our runners having little time to train recently because of illness and injury. Every one of us really apprecated the opportunity you gave us and really took advantage of it. I have been running Ultras for over 31 years (since I was 17) and the best part for me nowadays is to be a part of these folks accomplishing what they never have before. They exemplify what is good with the military today, and you and your staff exemplify the support for the military that keeps us doing what we do.
See the Shadow Run Album. In the pictures the participants are:
680 - Chris Jennings (Finished 50 Miles - 10:03:27)
681 - Moriah Addington (Finished 50 Miles - 10:03:27)
682 - Matt Reilly (Finished 50 Miles - 9:01:40)
683 - Jeramie Baty (Finished 50 km - 5:42:18)
684 - Darren Minnemann (Finished 50 Miles - 10:03:27)
The Kuwait running of the Mississippi 50-Mile Trail Run started on a bright morning at Camp Arifjan with 5 excited runners and a bunch of by-standers shaking their heads. It was 56° at the start but the forecast called for the hottest day of the year so far. Later in the day it did indeed get up to 82° which made for a bit of a challenge. The runners also faced fairly constant winds of 20 MPH with gusts up to 30 MPH. Most of the runners ended up walking the stretches going directly into the wind. As it will do in the desert, the wind kicked up a bit of a dust storm later in the day which added to the rest of the challenges. One runner (Minnemann) even got attacked by a tumbleweed.
The runners all started out together being very cautious about pacing early on. As time went by, Matt Reilly and Jeramie Baty went on ahead followed by Chris Jennings and then Darren Minnemann and Moriah Addington. During the later stages of the race Baty decided to call it quits after reaching the 50km mark while Reilly continued a rapid pace and Jennings fell back to run with Minnemann and Addington. Reilly ended up coming in first for the race in Kuwait at 9:01:40 while Addington, Minnemann, and Jennings finished the 50 miles together in 10:03:27.
It was a great effort for all with Reilly, Addington, and Minnemann completing their first ever 50-mile race with energy to spare. Baty, who hadn't even run a marathon before coming to Kuwait, also did extremely well completing the 50km after being plagued with foot problems for the past few months. Throughout it all we had a wonderful support staff that assisted immensely.
Thanks Again. Hope to see you next year in Mississippi.
Chris Jennings (KRM - The Godfather of the Kuwait Running Mafia)
Chris sent us a souvenir USA Flag that had flown over Camp Arifjan:
