365 days and nothing better to do

The Langley to Baghdad out and back, Phase II

Camp McCrady, SC	A next to last run in America.  Long tour of the Camp McCrady woods.  Absolutely perfect weather for a run in the trails.  And, even with a little razor wire run-in and the trip hazard fall I took trying to hurdle a downed pine tree, it was ALL good.	Ali Al Salem, Kuwait	Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait.  My tent K5.  5:09 AM.  Landed at 4A after a 5-hour flight from Sicily.  About to embark on my first desert 8 out 7 back.  Clear and 50-degrees cool at this time of night.  You want inky blackness?  They've got inky blackness.  You want desert?  Right outside my, correction, our door.  Giddyup.  And the reflectors?  An Army requirement when you run on or around a base.
Camp McCrady, SC	A last run in America.  A solo 5k in the humid warmth of a South Carolina morning.  Just what I needed before the long flight today, Sunday 2/26.	Ali Al Salem, Kuwait	"Tent City".  After the sun comes up, it's a little warmer.  And a LOT brighter.  Never experienced anything quite like the moment when I stumbled out of the pitch dark tent to find, well, THIS out there.
St. John's, Newfoundland	Newfoundland.  Quite the spot to stop for fuel.	Ali Al Salem, Kuwait	The perimeter road.  12k it is.  St. Andrews it isn't.  That's the Iraqi border, by the way, 25k across the desert.  One lap of the long run loop and you're there.
St. John's, Newfoundland	The airfield at St. John's.  Awesome conditions -- minus 3 wind chill, snowing, and blowing hard across the tarmac.  That's me wistfully thinking about the next time these boots might touch snow.	Ali Al Salem, Kuwait	The first hard training day.  The full 12k loop tempo in the morning.  Then 4 miles with 2 controlled and 2 hard in the afternoon (this picture is from the first controlled mile).  Only problem was the fine sand in the air - my respiration rate was elevated during the intervals and from sucking down all that sand I couldn't stop coughing for about 10 minutes after the run.  Still fun, though.
Sigonella, Sicily, Italy	In the shadow of Mt. Etna.  Here for a 12-hour crew rest stopover in Sicily.  Skies clearing exposing the flank of this incredible mountain not 20km away.  Just about to embark on a 7.5k loop of the Naval Air Station at Sigonella (near Motta del Sant Anastasia, Catania, Sicily, IT).	Ali Al Salem, Kuwait	Back at the tent for a little taebo.  Pushups and crunches in the dirt between tents just to pass the time.  Sun just starting to set.
Sigonella, Sicily, Italy	The Sicilian coastline.  Not too many places in the world, besides the place we're all fortunate to call home, where you see this looking one way on your run route and a snow-capped 3000m peak when you turn your head.	Ali Al Salem, Kuwait	Sun.  And wind.  And sand.  And dust.  Two guys from our group heading out for an evening run.
Sigonella, Sicily, Italy	Ran by and had to take a picture.  Only at a Navy base in Italy.  How cool is this?		Sunset over Tent City.  All kinds of surreal effects like this with so much dust and sand in the air.