ECO Challenge

(Senior Airman Jonathan Abraham is assigned to the 16th Air Support Operation Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.)

A week ago I heard that Elmendorf was going to have the ECO Challenge. A of majority of my squadron was going to enter, so naturally this piqued my interest. The ECO Challenge consists of a 4 ½ mile run, 9 mile bike, ½ mile kayak, and a 4 mile hike. Initially I wasn’t going to do the Challenge due to the fact that I don’t have a bike and I’ve only mountain biked once before, I also have never kayaked. However, one of the guys lent me his bike so I had no excuses not to do it...

I have never participated in a multi-sport race of any kind before so I was pretty excited about it. The 4 ½ mile run wasn’t bad, it was rather enjoyable. Next was the mountain bike section. I was pretty nervous about this section, because of my lack of experience, my goal was not to crash and stay on the bike. I accomplished this, however to my regret, I got passed several times by more proficient riders.

After finishing that I headed to the kayaks. I’d heard about some of the people flipping their kayaks, so I was determined not to have this happen to me. Also because of not having a clue about how to steer, I was all over the place. On the turnaround point I had to come to a full stop to avoid hitting another kayaker. After not capsizing or hitting anyone with the kayak, I moved on to the hike.

I put on my ruck with the mandatory 35lbs and started. In my eagerness to catch up to some of the people that passed me I refused something to drink and started right away. This was a huge mistake. Half-way up the first hill my right leg goes in to a full cramp: good start to the 4 miles! At this point all I wanted to do was finish, so I sat down and stretched for 5 minutes. This helped quite a bit. Around mile three both legs start to cramp this time. So I took another break. Finally I crossed the finish line and headed straight for the Gatorade!