CASEY GARRISON South Korea - More than140 Soldiers came to Casey Garrison asking for more than they anticipated during the 8th Army Half /Full Marathon Championship, April 24 at Casey Garrison's Carey Fitness Center. A half marathon equals 13.1 miles while a marathon is 26.2 miles.

Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation gathered runners early in the morning for registration followed by a safety briefing as well as a briefing describing the course. The course had more than five different points where the runners could grab their choice of water or Gatorade and take a minute to catch their breath before continuing on the marathon. FMWR sports employees were at the water points as well as military police monitoring cars and buses to make sure they were keeping a slow pace and watching for runners.

Though runners stretched prior to the run and looked at the course, there were many difficulties ahead.

"The longest I ever ran was 6 miles, so the goal was to finish the run," said Stefanie Schnose who placed 1 in the Women's Open Division with a time of 2:00:59.

I do like to run and I kind of wanted to do it just to see if I could actually complete it, Schnose said.

"The hardest portion of the run was the hill," said Shane Davis, who finished 1 in the Men's Master Division with a time of 1:31:19.

"When I saw that big hill that is about a mile and a half straight up, I was regretting I made it to the marathon and was thinking maybe I should have done more hill work," he said.

That hill can take the wind out of anybody's sails, said Thomas Marnoch who placed 1 in the Men's Sub-master Division with a time of 1:27:01.

"I knew it was coming and I had hoped to make a move on the hill and use it as an advantage. Unfortunately, it dampened my spirits a little bit, too," he said.

Mark Sullivan ran the fastest time of the day at 1:26:11 and placed 1 in the Men's Senior Division. He said a tricky portion of the course was the hill.

"I have run the course before a couple of years ago when I was a Soldier, but that hill has always been a hard part of the course," Sullivan said.

Despite the remarks toward the hill, Sullivan later said he felt he ran the course a lot better than he did in the past because of his training.

"I finally understand why people enter in these events," Schnose said. "Although your body's hurting and screaming bloody murder you feel good about finishing."

This was Schnose's first marathon.

"Just coming to the event and having the courage to start the run is an achievement in itself, because running a half or a full marathon is a huge accomplishment; all of the participants should be proud," Marnoch said.

Red Cloud Garrison sports offers many opportunities for marathon runners to sharpen their running skills and abilities throughout the year. The Rucksack Challenge is held ever year during the Fall and is a precursor to the Bataan Memorial Death March Qualifier which is held during the month of February.There are many duathlons, triathlons and other types of marathons, some engage competitors in unusual ways. See the FMWR sports calendar for details.