Afghanistan a warm-up for marathon

You'll pardon Jill Stevens if, when she runs the Deseret Morning News Marathon this summer, her mind wanders.

The last time Jill, 22, ran a marathon she was 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan.

Talk about an unforgettable run.

• It's hard to forget running in the first marathon ever held in Afghanistan.

• It's hard to forget standing at the starting line and getting instructions to make sure to stay on the designated path because Afghanistan is a world-leader in land mines per square inch. "Just stay on course and you should be OK," Jill remembers them saying.

• And it's pretty much impossible to forget that you — Jill Stevens of Kaysville, Utah — were the first woman to finish the first-ever Afghan marathon.

She ran the 26.2-mile race in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Of the six marathons she's already run in her young life, it was her slowest. She clocked a 3:13 at St. George, and the slowest she'd previously covered the distance was a 3:32 on the Deseret Morning News course.

But none of her previous marathons had as many distractions. And we're not talking just about the ubiquitous land mines. Just getting to the starting line was something of a marathon, requiring two plane rides and numerous security checks. Also, the U.S. Army didn't lighten the workload for any of its marathon men and women. Duty shifts kept going around the clock. Jill remembers getting to the starting line barely ahead of the starter's pistol.

The important part, though, was that they held it. With American and other coalition troops stationed all over the country that was invaded in 2001 for the purpose of toppling Taliban-rule, and with Afghanistan's new government feeling its way, the U.S. military paused long enough to stage a bona fide marathon. Let freedom ring.

The idea was hatched by the Army's 25th Infantry Division, which was the outfit that Jill, as a combat medic with the Utah Army National Guard, was assigned to after being posted to Afghanistan in April of 2004. Many members of the 25th were runners from Hawaii, training to run in the Honolulu Marathon in December. Since the Army has this thing about not letting its soldiers just scoot home every time they feel like it, instead of going to the marathon the Hawaii runners decided to bring the marathon to them. The Honolulu Marathon in Afghanistan was born.

Entry was open to all, and one Afghan native took them up on it. But after one lap around the 5.29-mile half-dirt, half-asphalt course (which was run five times), the man stopped and said, "You Americans are crazy."