6.66mi, 58:45, 2 NOV 14, Kabul, Afghanistan

Today is day 345 of the campaign.

iThink:
Above and Beyond feat. Oceanlab, "On A Good Day"
Bear McCreary, "Assault on the Colony"

WX at 10 AM (15) Nov 02 48 (9) 41 (5) 30.27 (1025) N 2 RH 75

Odometer 14B: 119.8mi

Z3 high. Average/max heart rate = 152/163

Today is the last day of the Day of the Dead. It's been a while since I really thought about it, but I was hell bent on getting a run in today since it's been a while since I've communed with the dead. Of all the people I had thought about, the first thought was of my dog Thor, who has been dead nine and a half years now. I remember him mostly because he used to go running with me, and while the pain is mostly gone, I still grieve his loss.

I've been resistant to getting pets because I know their loss will be hard, very hard. The Elder's guinea pigs were family, of sorts, and while I tried to stress how important it was to take care of them, they sort of kept to themselves. One died in 2010. The other died this past September. I wasn't close to them, but I did think of them. I don't want any more pets.

The next person I thought about was Tom Witt, my classmate from the Armor Officer Basic Course, who like me would've hit 20 years in the Army. I think he would've stayed in to this point.

The other people I thought about tonight were three former soldiers. Gary Vasquez was killed in action during my last combat tour here in Afghanistan, a little over a year after Jason Swiger was killed by an IED in Iraq. Eric Holke was killed in Iraq when his vehicle rolled over.

The dead, perhaps with the sole exception of Thor, are mostly abstractions now. I commune with them occasionally when I feel reflective, but Thor was different, perhaps, because he was family.

One of my friends wrote a while back that so long as they live in our memories, they are not really dead. But the living eventually move on. The question I have to ask is whether I really want to move on or not. Usually, the answer is yes. I don't know why Thor is different.

Splits

SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:19 09:19 ----- ----- 1.00
0.11 09:53 00:35 08:55 08:55 1.11
1.00 19:17 09:24 ----- ----- 2.11
0.11 19:49 00:32 08:57 08:56 2.22
1.00 29:14 09:25 ----- ----- 3.22
0.11 29:46 00:32 08:58 08:56 3.33
1.00 39:01 09:15 ----- ----- 4.33
0.11 39:32 00:31 08:48 08:54 4.44
1.00 48:53 09:21 ----- ----- 5.44
0.11 49:13 00:20 08:44 08:52 5.55
1.00 58:29 09:16 ----- ----- 6.55
0.11 58:45 00:16 08:35 08:49 6.66