thedrifter
11-18-07, 06:44 AM
With both legs strong, soldier joins marathon
Home from Afghanistan, he'll run the Phila. race for those who can't.
By Kathy Matheson
Associated Press
The course for today's Philadelphia Marathon winds past historic buildings, through urban neighborhoods, and between two rivers - terrain nothing like the dusty hills of Afghanistan, where Army Capt. Michael Keilty trained for the race.
> Keilty, who has been stationed outside Kabul on a one-year tour, will use a few hours of his treasured two-week leave to run the 26.2-mile course. So much for R&R.
> He said it was for a good cause: He'll be running his first marathon in support of the Wounded Warrior Project, a private veterans' assistance group in Jacksonville, Fla.
> "If I could help raise some money and, more importantly, awareness . . . to help these guys who've done so much for us, it would definitely be worth it," Keilty said. "We've become sort of desensitized by all these numbers of all these casualties."
> Keilty, 30, of Plainview, N.Y., has been in Afghanistan since April as an embedded tactical trainer, working with the Afghan army to help it become a self-sufficient force. He squeezed in marathon training at 5 a.m. each day, a routine made more difficult by the 6,500-foot altitude.
> "The hills here are killer," Keilty wrote this month in an e-mail interview from Afghanistan. "I run through the Afghan army camp, so I often get amused looks from the Afghan soldiers."
> The idea to run for the Wounded Warrior Project came on a really tough hill, he wrote.
> "I was about to quit when I thought of all those wounded service members who no longer have the ability to walk or run," he wrote. "How could I give up when I still had two good legs?"
> Keilty, who earned a Bronze Star in Iraq before being sent to Afghanistan, calls his run "A Race for Heroes." He will run it in memory of two Marines and a soldier who were alumni of his high school, Chaminade, in the Long Island suburbs of New York. All three died in Iraq.
> Keilty is soliciting donations and raising money through T-shirts sold by TakePride, a New York organization that aims to raise awareness of military service through specialty shirts. So far, the effort has raised about $60,000, TakePride cofounder Patrick Gray said.
> "Small gestures make all the difference in the world," Gray said. "Everybody wants the world to be peaceful. . . . The difference is to take an action."
> John Fernandez, a spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project, attended West Point with Keilty. An injured Iraq vet, Fernandez expressed admiration for Keilty's focus and willingness to help others.
> "He's got a heck of a marathon-training environment," Fernandez said. "It takes someone with a big heart to keep this in mind while he's going through his own experiences in Afghanistan."
> Keilty returned to the United States on Tuesday. It was hard to train with the whirlwind of attention from family and friends, but he said he had gotten a few miles of running in, including around the reservoir in New York's Central Park.
> He planned to travel yesterday to Philadelphia, where, he said, 30 or 40 people were expected to cheer him on today. He'll be one of 16,000 running either the marathon, a half-marathon or an 8-kilometer run.
> If Keilty finishes in less than 3 hours, 10 minutes, he'll meet his goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon - a race famous for its Heartbreak Hill.
> The hills of Afghanistan should give him excellent practice.
Ellie
Home from Afghanistan, he'll run the Phila. race for those who can't.
By Kathy Matheson
Associated Press
The course for today's Philadelphia Marathon winds past historic buildings, through urban neighborhoods, and between two rivers - terrain nothing like the dusty hills of Afghanistan, where Army Capt. Michael Keilty trained for the race.
> Keilty, who has been stationed outside Kabul on a one-year tour, will use a few hours of his treasured two-week leave to run the 26.2-mile course. So much for R&R.
> He said it was for a good cause: He'll be running his first marathon in support of the Wounded Warrior Project, a private veterans' assistance group in Jacksonville, Fla.
> "If I could help raise some money and, more importantly, awareness . . . to help these guys who've done so much for us, it would definitely be worth it," Keilty said. "We've become sort of desensitized by all these numbers of all these casualties."
> Keilty, 30, of Plainview, N.Y., has been in Afghanistan since April as an embedded tactical trainer, working with the Afghan army to help it become a self-sufficient force. He squeezed in marathon training at 5 a.m. each day, a routine made more difficult by the 6,500-foot altitude.
> "The hills here are killer," Keilty wrote this month in an e-mail interview from Afghanistan. "I run through the Afghan army camp, so I often get amused looks from the Afghan soldiers."
> The idea to run for the Wounded Warrior Project came on a really tough hill, he wrote.
> "I was about to quit when I thought of all those wounded service members who no longer have the ability to walk or run," he wrote. "How could I give up when I still had two good legs?"
> Keilty, who earned a Bronze Star in Iraq before being sent to Afghanistan, calls his run "A Race for Heroes." He will run it in memory of two Marines and a soldier who were alumni of his high school, Chaminade, in the Long Island suburbs of New York. All three died in Iraq.
> Keilty is soliciting donations and raising money through T-shirts sold by TakePride, a New York organization that aims to raise awareness of military service through specialty shirts. So far, the effort has raised about $60,000, TakePride cofounder Patrick Gray said.
> "Small gestures make all the difference in the world," Gray said. "Everybody wants the world to be peaceful. . . . The difference is to take an action."
> John Fernandez, a spokesman for the Wounded Warrior Project, attended West Point with Keilty. An injured Iraq vet, Fernandez expressed admiration for Keilty's focus and willingness to help others.
> "He's got a heck of a marathon-training environment," Fernandez said. "It takes someone with a big heart to keep this in mind while he's going through his own experiences in Afghanistan."
> Keilty returned to the United States on Tuesday. It was hard to train with the whirlwind of attention from family and friends, but he said he had gotten a few miles of running in, including around the reservoir in New York's Central Park.
> He planned to travel yesterday to Philadelphia, where, he said, 30 or 40 people were expected to cheer him on today. He'll be one of 16,000 running either the marathon, a half-marathon or an 8-kilometer run.
> If Keilty finishes in less than 3 hours, 10 minutes, he'll meet his goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon - a race famous for its Heartbreak Hill.
> The hills of Afghanistan should give him excellent practice.
Ellie