McConnell Airmen to participate in Air Force Marathon

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Abigail Klein
  • 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  More than 40 Team McConnell members will participate with more than 10,000 registered runners during the 2010 Air Force Marathon Sept. 18.

In addition, two Team McConnell Airmen, Capt. Nicholas Williams, 384th Air Refueling Squadron executive officer, and Master Sgt. Chris Phillips, 22nd Maintenance Squadron first sergeant, were selected to represent the Air Mobility Command team.

The amount of McConnell members participating in the run was encouraging for Master Sgt. Jeremy Hughes, 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Green Aircraft Maintenance section chief and leader of McConnell's "Tanker Trotters."

"This is the largest group of runners from one base that I have ever seen or been a part of, and I have been doing this for more than three years," he said. "It's amazing because there are people in this group who have never even participated in 5Ks or 10Ks."

Of the 41 runners participating, 17 will run in the 10K also scheduled Sept. 18.

Most of the Airmen, including Captain Williams and Sergeant Phillips, are members of the "Tanker Trotters," McConnell's running group that trains primarily for this marathon, and have been in training since the group formed the first week of May.

Captain Williams, who has participated in marathons since 2003, has been training for the marathon since January.

"This run provides me the opportunity to run not just for myself, but to represent AMC," he said.

Despite the obvious challenges that come with training for a marathon, Captain Williams believes the benefits of marathon training are unlimited.

"Running really forces you into a [fitness] routine and something as challenging as a marathon really forces you to get in shape," he said. "The ability to run a marathon is more attainable than people think, if you can run five miles, you can easily build up to 26."

The Air Force Marathon will be held Sept. 18 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. A half marathon and 10K will also be held that day. Wright State University and the Air Force Marathon will co-host a 5K run Sept. 17 at the Ervin J. Nutter Center. The Sports and Fitness Expo will also be held at the Nutter Center Sept. 16 through 17.

For more information, visit www.usafmarathon.com.

The group of runners from McConnell will include:

22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Capt. Eric Inkenbrandt
Master Sgt. Jeremy Hughes
Master Sgt. Jeremy Polk
Senior Airman Giovanni Bosch
Airman 1st Class Richard Martin

22nd Air Refueling Wing
Capt. Quentin Genke
Chief Master Sgt. Michael Edwards
Staff Sgt. Marshall Brace

22nd Civil Engineer Squadron
Master Sgt. Roger Egley
Staff Sgt. Carolynn Gunter
Airman 1st Class Aaron Davis

22nd Logistics Readiness Squadron
Tech. Sgt. Chris Stevens
Airman 1st Class Thomas Krueger

22nd Maintenance Group
Col. Allan Day

22nd Maintenance Squadron
Master Sgt. Chris Philllips
Airman 1st Class Brian Magbitang

22nd Maintenance Operations Squadron
Tech. Sgt. Travis Yunker

22nd Medical Operations Squadron
Senior Airman Victor Solis
Airman 1st Class Matthew Santino
Airman 1st Class LuAnn Yang

22nd Medical Support Squadron
1st Lt. Anson Lloyd
Staff Sgt. Stacey Clouse
Airman 1st Class Justin Gassner
Greg Hennes
Brittany Inkenbrandt

22nd Mission Support Group
Col. Pat Rose

22nd Operations Support Squadron
Lt. Col. Paul Scott
Airman 1st Class Elizabeth Adams
Airman 1st Class Kevin Notah

22nd Security Forces Squadron
Master Sgt. Linda Thompson

184th Intelligence Support Squadron
Chief Master Sgt. Sidney Colliatie

349th Air Refueling Squadron
Lt. Col. Charles Powell
Senior Airman Michael Cerni
Airman 1st Class Justin Miller

384th Air Refueling Squadron
Capt. Cindy Finke
Capt. Nicholas Williams
1st Lt. Jennifer McCloskey

927th Air Refueling Wing
Lt. Col. Eric Anderson

Military Spouses
Michele Hennes
Allison Miller

Retiree
Sam Peluso