7K

Previous blogs I had playlists with music for your entertainment while reading so I leave you the option to click play as you read instead of it playing automatically. Here's a band called Shurs "Just Once" (Honne Remix)

Instead of sleeping the whole night from my somewhat 24 hour day I ended up sleeping 2 hours and made it to the gym to stay awake and keep the night routine going. I had the next day off and there was an Army 7K run at 0530 and I told myself I would run it. After the gym just chilled in the room and got drawn into my book Deception Point so far so good.

26SEP14

0530 Was the Army 7K run in honor of COP Keating. There are several runs organized throughout the month in honor of fallen personnel or celebration of military services. I didn’t know what the run was in honor of just knew I wanted the experience to run on a 7K on base in AFG.  As they did opening remarks they gave a quick background of COP Keating and it was moving to hear the circumstances. Here is a quick summary via Wikipedia you can scroll down to the battle and aftermath section to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kamdesh

Being an Army sponsored run It was a wave of silver and black Army PT gear and less than 5 Navy blue and gold sticking out like a ray of light. I haven’t ran outdoors since Columbia, SC but have been using the treadmill so was worried about how my legs would hold up for this 7K (4.4 miles). Started and a decent pace air was clean free of dust and there was no odor of burning trash.  The route was mostly flat with a few inclines along the way and the first half was fairly easy. 2^nd half ran into more dirt so dust kicked up and odors started to creep into my mouth. At one point of the race we even ran right past the base poo pond it’s exactly what you think it is. The last 1.5 miles were tough but like all runs it’s mental and just had to push through. Admired the sunrise along the course and appreciated the fact that I had an opportunity to be running a race in AFG.

Finished with a time of 33 minutes and 55 seconds. One of the incentives to run quickly was the free t-shirt, which was limited. It’s a nice dri-fit type of material remembering the fallen soldiers names and a picture of AFG. Glad I did the race since there might not be too many opportunities with my schedule.

I was looking forward to a days worth of sleep but got a phone call on my cell phone they call it roshn phone here for some reason. The call was for me to come in and pick up my base I.D. Interesting fact with these phones you can set your alarm for prayer times. If you didn’t know Muslims pray at least 5 times per day. Something you don’t see with phone’s in the U.S. Made my way to the hospital got my I.D. and figured since I was already up might as well take care of more admin stuff. Stuck around and got shit done and even helped in the pharmacist a little bit.

Made my way to dinner at the chow hall solo. With less people in our roto and everyone on opposite or certain schedules it’s hard to find a buddy to eat with luckily for me I don’t mind going solo. You wouldn’t believe what we had on the menu tonight…steak and crab legs! Most would be afraid to touch the crab legs considering the journey it took to get here but operations gets food in fairly quickly from vendors. Also I know I have a slew of medicine at my disposal to take as remedy for any sickness I would get. The steak is decent it’s no Ruth Chris but it’s a steak so I can’t complain. Crab legs were just as good as it would get at barona except there was not hot butter.

Was sitting there just about finished with my meal and a gentleman across from me we both laughed at a news headline we heard on the TV above us. “Politcal candidate smokes pot in political ad” I made the comment must be Oregon or Colorado. He then asks if I was from California and in my mind “WTF how did he know?” He just guessed form my last name and the fact that I looked Filipino. Got into each others life stories and he’s married to a Filipino wife, has a daughter who mistiza (half and half, kinda wished he’d show me a picture of her J understands tagalog, was in the navy and is now working as a contract worker out here. Good dude to talk to and get to know, unfortunately it was his last day here and will be going to Kuwait to work. These type of moments are one’s I enjoy or appreciate because we all have our own story coming from different backgrounds, upbringings, and values. We may not agree on certain things with the people we come across but for that one moment it’s nice to enjoy a story or two when you’re eating solo.

Made my way to the USO (United Service Organization) on base after dinner. Funny story on the way there is I was riding my bike and it’s pretty dark at night with visibility to whatever light can radiate from buildings and tents. I have a light on the front of my bike but it’s only bright enough to flash and warn oncoming traffic can’t even project 2 feet of light form it. I was biking struggling to hold my headphones in my hand and suddenly wham! Hit a concrete divider similar to those you see on freeways. There were people 6 feet away walking in my direction and saw me crash into the divider. Luckily I was able to break with a second to spare I didn’t go flying off the bike and no damage was done to the bike only to my pride. As I biked away I heard the deep laughs which didn't surprise me as I would have done the same.

Eventually found the USO and it’s a lot nicer than the MWR tent and less crowded on top of that.  Free phones to call back in the states so took advantage to call my dad who is visiting his mom, sisters and brothers in Chicago. It’s a birthday celebration for my Grandma this weekend and I got the chance to speak with her, which was lovely. She left the sweetest voice mail on my phone before I left the sates that I will never delete.

A few of the nurses showed up and my favorite one LT Car (will only use nicknames for whatever personal security purposes) he’s the one prior enlisted now officer. We ended up watching “That Awkward Moment” with Zac Braff/Michael B. Jordan and others. Was a decent movie overall it’s the two actresses that kept my attention going Imogen Boots and Mackenzie Davis.

Made our way back to the barracks after and realized I forgot my tablet, biked back quickly and luckily someone turned it in. Since I didn’t sleep much from the day decided against my better judgment and slept. Only slept for 4 hours though as I woke up 4AM (27SEP14) and it felt like a nap not a nights sleep. It’s interesting to see how my body has adapted to this up and down like a yoyo-sleeping schedule but it has worked so far been able to function to my best capability.

Continued reading my book and it’s to the point where I’m always wanting to see what’s on the next page or tell myself one more chapter till I put it down. I see why Dan Brown is a successful writer with Angels and Demons/The Da Vinci Code. My writing in this blog may reflect my reading too at times I feel as I may shift from narrative to descriptive maybe biographical style.

Since I was awake figured I’d go to spin class at 0600AM. I’ve done spin class over dozens of times back in the sates even have my own pair of cycling shoes since I enjoy it. Now the instructor is a Danish (Denmark) male fit built, tattooed arm sleeves, baldhead, and proudly sports the bicycle spandex look. It’s no surprise to see women gush over this guy, as he is a handsome specimen if I must say...no homo though. What I enjoyed about him as a spin instructor coming from Europe is he brought a different style of music to the routine. It was a house/electronic/ EDM/Chill wave mix but songs I’ve never heard before. Most cycling classes I’ve taken are pop oriented/80’s-90’s rock type but he brought some heavy electronic songs. One or two of the songs were hard electronic comparable to Marylin Manson/Korn type of hard scream rock but for electronica with heavy fast beats. Normally I’d hate this type but when you’re pushing yourself on that cycle it does motivate you. When it was all said and done I was dripping sweat and having done a 7K the day prior and probably biked 10K stationary all I need is a pool to swim in to complete triathlon training. After listening to predominantly electronic music through the class he went busted a whole 180 with the cool down song as Earth Wind and Fire “Reasons” haha caught me off guard but now I know this instructor has good tastes in music and has got me hooked as a new student to the class. Kind of surprising to hear a spin class in AFG but like I said this base has a lot of amenities and I’m grateful for that to keep busy with. Finally caught up on slept for the most of the day, as it was my night to return to work.