Challenges never stop as Air Force officer clocks up 20 '13s' in 2013

by Karen Abeyasekere
100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

1/7/2014 - RAF MILDENHALL, England -- To those who know him, Lt. Col. Chris Bennett, the former 100th Operations Support Squadron commander, isn't just a runner - he's a running machine.

While many dedicated runners run regularly, some may take a break every now and then. But not Bennett.

Not only has the Houston, Alaska, native and the Airlift and Tanker Requirements chief at Headquarters Air Force Reservist Directorate, Air Staff, Pentagon, run every single day for the last three years (as of Dec. 31, 2013), he recently completed his goal of running "20 13s" in 2013.

January 2014 had barely begun and he was off doing a 50 km race - completing it in 5 hours, 33 minutes.

To date, Bennett has amassed a veritable list of running achievements - 27 marathons, at least 35 half-marathons and four ultra-marathons. Most consider an ultra-marathon as anything more than a marathon, but not one to do anything by halves, two of those the lieutenant colonel ran were (in his words) "only 50-km races" - which he ran within a week of each other. The third was advertised at 57 miles, but in reality, ended up being 61 miles to the finish line. It was the London-to-Brighton ultra-marathon Bennett ran while he was stationed at RAF Mildenhall in England.

Keep on running

While most people's bodies would still be recovering for days after completing such races, Bennett just threw on his running shoes and hit the ground, each and every day.

When 2013 arrived, Bennett set himself a new challenge for the year - to make his own "2013." He decided to run 20 half marathons before the end of the year. On Dec. 8, he achieved his goal. He completed 13 of those "13s" (or, 13.1 miles, to be more specific) while he was at RAF Mildenhall.

Where it all began

High school was where he really took to running, transitioning from "riding the pine" (slang for sitting on the bench for most of the game) and not playing very much on the school soccer team, to running track and cross country. Bennett ran his first marathon in 1993, and his second in 1998, when he qualified for the Boston Marathon.

"I continued to run the occasional marathon, and balance that with job, family and church," Bennett said. "Running was and is one of many pillars in my life, but by no means the sole one."

Marathon achievement

During 2006 to 2007, while at intermediate developmental education in Norfolk, Va., he took advantage of school life and ran his first and second sub-three-hour marathons; he completed the Boston Marathon in 2:57. Soon after, he moved to Germany, where he began sharing his passion for running with others.

"The highlight in Germany was a group of approximately 10 from European Command Headquarters that travelled to Athens, Greece, to run the Athens Marathon, where it all began," he said. "I also ran my marathon (personal best) while in Germany, at the Koln Marathon, in 2:53."

After moving to England, Bennett continued to run heavily, encouraging and motivating others to push their limits as well.

"I recognized that I wasn't intimidated by the marathon - I was confident that I could show up at the starting line and was going to finish," he said. "That's what encouraged me to consider going longer; really long ... so I contacted the race director for London-to-Brighton, and they let me in the 2010 race - but I had to bow out due to an injury. But I reattacked for the 2012 race."

Bennett placed seventh out of 196 runners, in a time of 10:50. Only 88 runners finished the ultra-marathon in the required time limit of 13 hours.

What doesn't kill you

"That was my first attempt at really pushing into unknown territory, and I'll admit I didn't really know what I was doing, or how my body would react as I hit 40 or 50 miles," he said. "But, I liked the idea of entering a race not knowing if I had the ability to finish, and to find out how mentally and physically tough I was. It's mostly mental - just the ability to keep moving forward."

Bennett's running streak - which he began counting three years ago - hasn't been broken for a day since. He's logged 6,153 miles, run more than 831 hours and burned more than 611,000 calories. And he's still running every day.

"If you do the math, since (Jan. 1, 2011), I run approximately 5.5 miles each day," Bennett said. "Of course, some days it's more, some days it's less. My threshold is at least 30 minutes a day. In addition to the 20 '13s' in 2013, I set a goal to run 2013 miles, and passed that in mid-December. I did the same in 2012, and finished that year running 2119 miles."

Keep on running ... and running

For some people, doing any kind of running the day after you've just run a marathon is probably out of the question. Bennett does a "30 minute easy run - just to tick the box, if you will.

"My recollection of those runs, including the one after London-to-Brighton, it's usually a slow jog; perhaps a shuffle in some cases," he said. "For the half-marathons, it would normally be about 30 minutes, but could be longer. My longest run the 'next day' was another half-marathon ... yes, one weekend I did back-to-back half marathons!"

So, does this seemingly super-human runner ever break a sweat?

"Well, I'm usually pretty wiped after a half-marathon, but it depends a little on how hard I ran it," Bennett said. "Yes, I break a sweat; definitely when the weather is hot - August on the east coast of the U.S. - but even in cold temperatures, you still sweat. Over the course of the year, I was able to recover better from a half-marathon effort. With one or two easy days afterwards, I'd be back to 100 percent."

According to Bennett, his goal of running 20 half-marathons in 2013 came from a moment of insanity as he pondered a running goal for the year. His wife, Molly, also had something to do with it when she set about researching half-marathons all around the U.K. after the British ultra-marathon and before the family was to move in July 2013. Her husband wanted a challenge, and she was going to make sure he got it ...

Everyone needs a challenge

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, albeit a bit ambitious when considering it would be a race approximately every 2.5 weeks," Bennett said. "I was a sitting squadron commander, getting ready to (move) in July. It took some planning to find enough races to meet the requirement, and I tried to 'front-load' the year, as I knew I'd have some attrition (one race was cancelled due to bad weather)."

There would also be periods where he wouldn't be able to race due to moving to the U.S., so he didn't schedule races in July.

"In truth, the goal was 20 races of a half-marathon or longer," Bennett admitted. "Seventeen of the 20 were designated half-marathons; three were other distances, to meet the 20; in fact, the first two were a 19-miler and a 15-miler respectively. Race 17 was my contribution to a 200-mile relay (where one of his teammates was Col. Chad Manske, formerly the 100th Air Refueling Wing commander at RAF Mildenhall) from Cumberland, Md., to Washington D.C."

His team took a total of approximately 28 hours to run the relay race; Bennett's contribution was a total of 22.3 miles, divided into legs of 8.8, 9.2 and 4.3 miles.

"It took some creative scheduling to meet the goal, but I inquired with my running colleagues, including Molly, and all said 'yes' that my contributions to the relay were worthy of being counted toward the goal."

Wherever in the world they are held, surely many half-marathons must be the same to run?

"Indeed not," Bennett said firmly. "Assuming the distance is the same, which is often plus or minus a little for a half-marathon, the variables are the terrain (road versus trail, flat versus hilly) and weather (hot, cold, rain or wind). All those factor in to make each reason unique. I really enjoy the trail ones, but they are naturally slower and require a lot of concentrated focus due to rocks, roots, and foot placement to stay on your feet, and to watch for trail markers to make sure you don't get lost. Road races for the most part don't require a focus on the terrain and course, and allow more focus on (things such as) pace and mile splits."

When the going gets tough, the tough get running

One of Bennett's toughest half-marathons in England was at the Cheddar Gorge, in Somerset, England.

"It was more-or-less a two-loop event, but to get to the start we had to climb up about a 600-foot hill - and I do mean climb!. At the end of loop one, we were back down at the bottom of that hill, and to start loop two, we were back to climbing - walking was the only option - to get back to the 'flat' portion where we could run again. But it was also great, as two of my kids were running the 5 km simultaneously, and I saw them near the 5 km finish as I was completing loop one, and getting ready to ascend the 'cliff!'"

Running a half-marathon at his former base, RAF Mildenhall, was a highlight for Bennett.

"We were a small community of runners, and it was great to see so many people finish their first half-marathon; one of the highlights for me is sharing my love and the benefit of running with others," he said.

Running in the family

Having such a dedicated runner for a dad and husband has certainly encouraged his family to get their running shoes on.

"But I don't force them!" Bennett said, delightedly sharing their achievements. "Molly is a veteran of two half-marathons, and she'll be toeing the line at this spring's 'Rock and Roll' half-marathon in D.C., along with my 15-year-old daughter, Katie Reed (her first half-marathon). Katie Reed was also a team member of our Ragner Relay last fall, a track and cross-country letterman in her freshman year at Lakenheath High School, and most recently a third-place overall female at the Blue and Gray 5 km (23:25) in Fredericksburg, Va.

"My 11-year-old son, Eli, has a natural gift to be a runner as well - he currently runs about a 6.50 mile and doesn't do much training," he said. "Both Katie Reed and Eli ran the Cheddar Gorge 5 km, and his tenacity enabled him to edge Katie Reed at the finish line. We have healthy competition in the family!"