Gratuitous, self-promoting photos from race day

Me, pre-race in my uber-cool USMC running suit.  Our medical officer is on the far left.

After I finished the 10k I had a little water then grabbed a beer and headed out a quarter mile from the finish line to cheer on the half-marathon runners.  A half hour later an Army SGT on an ATV brought me another beer.  Running 10k (6m) + standing in hot sun + drinking beer = 1 stoopid Marine.

Rustavi Races

Early this month a MSgt approached me about setting up a simple half-marathon (13m) here on our small-ish base.  He's a runner, he likes to run.  I said sure, but let's engage with the Georgians too, I'm sure some of the soldiers would want to run with us.  And let's include a 10k (6m) as well, we'll get more participation.
My overall guidance was 'think big and prepare for success'. 
Three weeks later, on Sunday 22 April we had over 300 runners from US military, US embassy, Georgian military, and local civilians.  The nearby City of Rustavi hosted what we hope will be an annual event.  The MSgt worked with the embassy for security notification and participation, with the Rustavi mayor's office for police cooperation and media, with a new Georgian brewery for sponsorship, with a local electronics shop for prizes, with a printing shop for t-shirts, and with a local restaurant for food.  I of course supervised.
It was a pretty simple course beginning with the 10k which ended at the starting point.  Those half-marathon runners circled back out for their remaining 7 miles. 

 ABOVE: Registration table
Running isn't a big exercise for most Georgians, not like what we're used to in the US.  A lot of the Georgians who were probably in their first race had an odd strategy of sprinting for 100 yards then walking for a few seconds, then sprinting again.  Every time I would catch up to a sprinter on his walking cycle he'd take off again.  This lasted for a mile or two then they pretty much realized slow & steady worked a whole lot better.

ABOVE: This is a race strategy?
What does it matter?  It was a beautiful day and the races went off without a single problem.  Really unbelievable for an event like this that had never happened before and was put together in about 10 days.

See, what a nice day.

I ran too.  Look at the HMMWV, and look at the guy to the left of it.  That's me.  I had to pee about 1/2 mile into the race.  Hey, when ya gotta go....ya gotta go.
But don't think that the Georgians are all slow.  Look at the next pic.

Georgians took 1-2-3 in the 10k.  1st prize was a Samsung Galaxy tablet, 2nd prize was a Nikon camera, 3rd prize was a MP3 player.  A Georgian also took 1st place in the half-marathon, a Marine Capt took 2nd place, and a DoD analyst took 3rd place.
OK, that's it, I'm tired.  The embassy has more photos on it's FB page.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150742855042954&set=a.10150742854562954.421118.55448127953&type=3&theater#!/tbilisi.usembassy

Kakheti pt2

Saturday we woke up and had a typical eastern European breakfast; meats & cheeses, bread & coffee. 
The day was beautiful with the Caucasus mountains in the background, here's me with Maj Birney, my deputy. 

Then back in the vans to the local castle in Telavi.  Begun in the mid 1600s Batonis-tsihe was a fortress built for the local tsar back in the day.  Unfortunately it was closed for renovations so we could only walk around the outside.

Next stop was the Gremi church, begun in 1517.  Built on a small hill it's still in operation.  I walked by the 'front door' and could see a service going on and smell the incense.  It's obviously been renovated, several times, but still interesting to see some of the original works including an incredibly steep, and dark, winding stone staircase leading up to the bell tower. 

Last stop was back to the winery.  It's one of the few winerys built into caves, a network of about 150 km (seems like a lot but that's what the lady said) Originally they made wine the traditional way in the big jugs buried in the ground but now they use regular wood barrels or huge steel tanks. 

We had a late lunch with great food, and wine of course, then back in the vans for the drive back to base.

Kakheti pt1

The Easter holiday is a big one for the Christian Orthodox church so we've got a long 4 day weekend.  I had one of the Army soldiers work on a trip and he put together an overnighter to eastern Georgia.  Kakheti is the easternmost province and is also Georgia's wine country.  Friday late morning we drove out for two and a half hours to an area that in some spots could be confused with New England.  Tree covered roads with rolling farmland, and also the vineyards.  Our first stop was a resort still prepping for the upcoming summer season.  We were the only ones there but they had the bar open so we had a few drinks and enjoyed the scenery.

Next stop was a winery, they were closed but said they'd be open the next day.  So we continued to the Nekresi monastery dating back to the 4th century. 
http://www.georgiatraveller.com/2011/01/nekresi-glimpse-into-history-of-georgia.html
The climb up is a one mile (1 1/2 km) walk on a very steep brick-paved incline.  Difficult enough just walking up, never mind thinking of hauling up all the building materials.

 

Late that afternoon we went to our hotel which, in all seriousness, looked like something out of an 80's John Carpenter horror-flick.  So we got back in our vans and went to downtown Telavi to a better hotel.  The hotel also operated a nearby bed & breakfast/winery so that's where we went for dinner.  While we were waiting for dinner the host gave us a short tour of the place and explained the Georgian method of winemaking.

The wooden box on the right holds the grapes and feeds them into a crusher.  The juice is then placed in big ceramic jugs buried in the floor and sealed for 2-3 months.  (see the circles in the background)  Then it gets bottled and stored.  

The Generals Visit

So two weeks ago the Commander of Marine Forces Europe came through with his entourage to visit the Caucuses.  Here's a picture of me explaining the intricacies of how a rifle range works.  "They point the rifle that way and bullets come out."