Fort Bliss, Texas -- Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 363rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Black Scorpion, 5th Armored Brigade, Division West, along with over about 336 Soldiers and Family members laced up their running shoes to prepare for a grueling 10 mile race in the desert heat here Aug 3.
As an annual tradition, Fort Bliss Morale Welfare Recreation has organized a "10 miler in the heat" run.
"This is the second qualifier for our active duty Soldiers to qualify for the Fort Bliss Ten
Miler Team, however this race is also open to the El Paso community," said Holly Imbriaco, the Varsity & Intramural Coordinator at Fort Bliss. "We had approximately 100 more runners than we did in 2012, a testament of our fitness community."
This would be Task Force Black Scorpion's first attempt at participating in this summer run.
"At first I was pretty nervous having to run in the dead of summer," said Staff Sgt. Malissa Ebeling, Task Force Black Scorpion trainer/mentor. "However, being from Phoenix, Az I figured no matter how hot it got here in El Paso, it wouldn't be as bad as Phoenix."
Despite her initial reservations, Ebeling completed the race in the top 50 percent of her age group with a total time of 1:50:20.6.
Other Soldiers from TF Black Scorpion were more confident about the race from the very start.
"I only really trained once with a 6 mile long run," said Staff Sgt. Alonzo Tohtsonie, a small arms instructor with TF Black Scorpion. "I knew it was just for fun."
Tohtsonie was able finish the race in the top 36 percent of his age group with a total time of 1:27:25.
However, from all the Black Scorpion Soldiers that participated in the run, Sgt. Felicia Jackson, a medic and combat lifesaver instructor had the best age group finish. She finished 4th overall in her age group, less than 2 minutes shy of medaling.
"I was ahead of the 3rd place finisher coming back from the turn around," said Jackson. "The uphill bridge was what got me."
The race itself took Soldiers on a 10-mile loop around Biggs Airfield with a turn-around point at about 6 ½ miles.
"It was a good route. Having to go up and down an over-pass close to the mid-point breaks up the race nicely," said Capt. Angel Winstanley, a TF Black Scorpion team chief.
Winstanley completed the race in the top 33 percent of her age group.
Capt. James Billingsley, TF Black Scorpion operations officer, was able to summarize the race the best.
"It was hard, but in the end the feeling of accomplishment was worth it," said Billingsley.
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