In the US Army

Fort Sill, OK 1988

Los Angeles Military Entrance Processing Station

8th Los Angeles Marathon 1993

From the USMEPCOM Newspaper, "Messenger"

Fort Bragg, NC 1997

I left Guam in 1988 after graduating from the University of Guam and received my commission in the US Army.  I was a Field Artillery officer then became an Adjutant General officer.  No, I wasn't a General!  The Adjutant General Corps is primarily the personnel and administration of an organization.  During my service of 10 1/2 years, I didn't do much racing.  I wasn't as competitive as I was on Guam.  I remember participating in different races in Germany, Los Angeles and North Carolina, but never really trained for them like I did when I was on Guam.  The only running I did was in formation during our morning physical training and preparing for the two mile event that was part of the Army Physical Fitness Test.  Those formation runs normally were at a 9-minute per mile pace.  I did train more during my free time and was still able to finish the two mile portion of the APFT in just over 11 minutes.  I ran a 10K race while stationed in Germany (at that time it was still "West Germany"), but that was it!
While stationed at the Los Angeles Military Entrance Processing Station, I was "peered pressured" by the servicemen and women to run the Los Angeles Marathon in 1993 and 1994.  The main motivator was USMC Major Bill Mimiaga, the Operations Officer and my boss!  He told everyone, "C'mon, let's run it for fun!  Besides, we can run for free since it'll come from the MWR Fund (Morale, Welfare and Recreation).  I sure didn't think that it was going to improve my morale and welfare and I sure didn't think of running 26.2 miles as "recreation"!  I gave in, as well as a few other crazy soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen and one civilian.  That civilian, Kartez Leslie, was in her 60's!  We were all inexperienced and none of us really properly trained.  I crossed the finish line just over 4 hours later both times.  We were in pain, but we sure had fun and showed off our medals the next working day!

Always a Runner...