Day 71

I laid down last night and I could hear that voice: "You've never regretted getting up early for a run. Don't be a slacker. Set that alarm for 3:15am and get it done!" So be it! 3:15am alarm (currently set to church chimes...the old-fashioned kind), a hobble over to my fridge where I downed a Starbucks Doubleshot, then hopped online to perform my requisite e-mail checking/replying. Turns out, my "Flat Daddy" that my girls have of me was making its rounds around "Kansas"...and was most recently at a graduation party. I checked in on my friends running a 100-miler then laced up my own pair of Brooks and headed out the door, armed only with a bottled water and mini-Clif Bar (thanks, Jerod!).

It's only about 3 miles to my office and another 0.8 mile to the start of the Father's Day 5K run. Along the way, it was still only about 4am but out here, the sun rises very early and sets early. I'd never seen a sunrise before so today was the first. As I left my compound, first light was showing behind the mountains and about halfway to the race, I stopped right in front of the very head of the runway...looking straight down the runway lights and snapped a pic with my iPhone and here it is. Check out the silhouette of the mountain range and the coming sunrise behind it. Cool pic, eh? Once I got to the race site, everyone was signing in on a clipboard. No bibs, no fees, no clock, no recording of times...but a race nonetheless. As time approached 5am, we all (about 600+ of us) were briefed on the course and how the fathers got to be at the front of the field. We were also told that the Air Force shorted the race 300 race t-shirts and only 150 were made. So, if we wanted a shirt, we'd better scoot and finish in the top 150. They would hand poker chips out at the finish and when the chips were gone, so were the shirts.

I've got to set the stage here. This base is overrun by the Army first, then the Air Force. As for Navy and Marines, there are very few of us. Since we're all wearing our PT gear, the way I describe the crowd is "panning for gold." Why? Well, when you search for gold in a stream, for example, you pick up sediment and look for the gold specs in your pan among the dark colored sediment. Our Navy shirts are gold, or yellow, depending on who you ask. So there you have it..panning for "gold." Once we took off, I settled in to a steady pace and held strong throughout. I haven't trained fast so I was careful not to pull anything. Remaining steady, I picked people off all race long as so many went out too fast. There was even a Marine squad running in formation and singing cadence...carrying their flag, too. They were wearing their uniform boots, pants, and t-shirts. Awesome...just awesome to see those rock-hard Marines together like that. I also saw a lot of Vibram FiveFinger wearers out there. In the end, I ran an average 7:32 minute mile and finished the 5K+ (3.25 miles) race in 24min, 15sec., and in 102nd place so a t-shirt was mine! A Navy guy won the race, by the way...again...Navy beats Army!!! After picking up my shirt, I got back on the road and ran back to my compound for a cool 11 miles total for the morning...and it was just minutes back 6am. Uh oh...I'm in trouble! Gonna crash and burn tonight!

Back in my room, I had some Kashi cereal, brewed my espresso (I forgot I wanted to go back to sleep), uploaded some photos, and then actually got about an hour or hour and a half of sleep before heading into the office for the afternoon. Not much was accomplished today...just a few things even possible since nearly no one was around. I hung out until 7am eastern time because that's when I wanted to call my dad and see how he was doing. He was admitted to the hospital last night and the hospital doesn't turn on the room phones until 7am. Basically, the hospital and doctors are still guessing about what is wrong and has probably discharged him by now...but I haven't heard that yet. I'm quite sure my mom will be pursuing another doctor to find out what was causing the problems my dad was having. Regardless, he sounded good today and we had a good conversation. Once we said our goodbyes, I logged off and headed out to pick up the shuttle back to my room. I had but one goal left: FaceTime with my girls.

I got to my room, grabbed my iPad and zipped out to the WiFi hotspot. The iPad 2 is perfect for this...full screen, smooth, and priceless time with my girls. We were probably chatting for a half hour. We had great conversation, some laughs, talked about the handmade little purses from India that I sent them and the camel-hair blanket I sent back...handmade right here in Afghanistan. They loved the purses, too. Honestly, given the circumstances, my Father's Day couldn't be any more perfect. I needed nothing else! So, I headed off to dinner, grabbed some praline ice cream afterwards, then called it a night and returned to my room and here I am. Bonus? NASCAR is coming on LIVE at 9:30pm! Live TV over here is very rare, except for sporting events. (yea, yea, yea...some of you are rolling your eyes about NASCAR being a sport...) Every year on Father's Day, all of the drivers' kids sing the National Anthem before the race or some other song plus, who else has so much patriotism at a SPORTING EVENT and a "Gentlemen, start your engines!!!!" ?? So, I think I'll let NASCAR put me to sleep tonight. I'm pooped from the super early alarm so it's time to just chillax. I'm ready to call it a day and move on to 72.

Goodnight, everyone.