Chuckanut Baghdad.  After my first week of 20-hour days I needed a 5 hour run like you wouldn't believe.  So my boss gave me an extra hour off so I could do it.  Then I was back to work straight away for the next 20.  All good, at least when you have the Ridge Trail in short-term memory.
	One of several mosques on my Chuckanut course.  Five times a day, the call to prayer from each minaret.  Slightly asynchronous.  Amazing.
	The St. Patrick's Day 5k/10k on Camp Slayer, Baghdad.  I'm standing there dripping sweat on the people in front of me, with the first 45km of Chuckanut in my legs.  None of them ever found out why I was wearing the 395 on my shirt.
	The Boston Start.  Tallil Air Base, Nasiriyah, Iraq.  A different kind of lead vehicle for sure.
	Headed for the Ziggurat.  Me and Francesco from Sardegna, the first leg runner for one of the Italian Special Forces relay teams.
	Boston - 4-mile turnaround at the Ziggurat om Ur.  Wow.
	The heat of a Boston afternoon.  16 miles.  107 in the Nasiriyah shade.  If there was any.
	The Boston finish.  I had it easy.  The tough runners?  The ones who were out there baking in that 40C heat four hours longer than me.
	The next marathon.  Tikrit, two weeks later.  Coalition Forward Operating Base Speicher.  This time, some comp.  Major Jimmy Blackmon, Army running team.  2:20something marathoner.  Rolled through half in 1:21 after hitting 1:26 in Nasiriyah two weeks earlier.
	Tikrit marathon.  And then some.  Realized something was wrong when we hit their measured half marathon and Jimmy's GPS said 15.5 miles.  Distance on watches at the finish read 28.8.  More for your money.
	Wild Wild West Half Marathon, Camp Striker Iraq.  Me and Army Sergeant Jesus Rodriguez.  I train with him in the mornings sometimes, and he's got a P. Oakley streak in him where, at 5:30AM, he'll launch out of the parking lot where we've been stretching at 5:45 pace and just hold it there.  Nice kid, though.  This is the mile mark, and we ran together through about 5 miles before I went on alone.
	Wild Wild West Half Marathon.  The field.  You can see me and Jesus headed back from the 3.275-mile turnaround, now chasing the 10k race leaders who had turned at 3.1.
	July 4th 5k/10k fun run, Camp Slayer.  This Army kid was running for 3rd place in the 5k.  I ran with him so his buddy could go ahead for the win, and everything was cool until he looked at me with 300m to go and took off.  I laughed and told him just because I was doing the 10k didn't mean I wouldn't sprint with him.  For fun.
	Peachtree Baghdad 10k.  The next day.  Me doing the pre-race briefing - 767 runners double-knotting and getting ready to go.
	Peachtree Baghdad 10k.  My peeps.
	Peachtree.  Race Director can't stand it and changes as the field makes its way to the start.  Gives the final instructions over a megaphone.  Chaplain gives a prayer.  Brass band plays the national anthem.  I squeeze my way onto the front row.  Giddyup.
	Peachtree.  Race Director in Atlanta Julia Emmons calls on my cell phone and passes start commands to my co-Race Director, Sergeant Julia Ruck.  Runners, take your marks...
	Beach to Beacon Baghdad.  A Humvee passes through the start just before the gun (okay, it was just "ready, go", since there were only three of us doing it).
	Beach to Beacon Baghdad.  Rosie will tell you the story.  Hooked up with Army Sergeant Paul Tormey, an employee of the bank back in Maine that sponsors this race, and ran it with him.  He'd run Peachtree in 56:00 and wanted to beat that.  We ran 49:30 together.  Sweet.
	DanCon March.  The heat must be getting to me.  The Danish Contingent here sponsored this, a 20km march (nominally) in uniform with weapon.  Note my use of the handbottle strap to hold my 9mm.  Magazine in the other hand.  Combat boots double-knotted.  And a stupid idea about running for the course record, held by a Danish special forces commando who ran 1:29 flat.  Ran 40:30 for the first 10k, then blisters slowed me but I got it.  1:26:10.  Fellow Ft. Lewis reservist and Iraq roommate TJ (left) from Bend was 4th (of 308).  Fellow Ft. Lewis Reservist Clair (middle) from Eugene was top 10 among the women.