{"id":317462,"date":"2024-11-03T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=317462"},"modified":"2024-11-04T17:57:25","modified_gmt":"2024-11-04T17:57:25","slug":"soldier-takes-third-in-49th-marine-corps-marathon-bronze-in-armed-forces-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=317462","title":{"rendered":"Soldier takes third in 49th Marine Corps Marathon, bronze in Armed Forces Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Capt. Kyle Smith, from Linden, Michigan, and Air Force Capt. George Henry Crist, from Sacramento, California, pace in a pack at mile marker 16 during the 2024 Marine Corps Marathon, held in conjunction with the 2024 Armed Forces Marathon Championships Oct. 27, 2024. Service members from the Army, Marines, Navy (with Coast Guard runners), and Air Force (with Space Force runners) ran for gold. Visit www.ArmedForcesSports.defense.gov to learn more about the Armed Forces Sports program and the other sports offered. (Department of Defense photo by MC2 Colby Mothershead \u2013 released).
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Armed Forces Sports<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 As the Olympic trials hopeful Soldier passed the capitol, he steadied his pace, sharing water and gels with a Marine and Airman as they traversed small hills, enjoying 50-degree, sunny weather and focusing on the who was going to win bragging rights, winning the 49th Marine Corps Marathon and the Armed Forces Championship Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

Capt. Kyle Smith, a logistics officer from the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, held his pace as Marine Maj. Kyle King increased his pace at mile 20 to take the lead for the win. Smith, Kyle and Air Force Capt. George Henry Crist finished one minute apart from each other.<\/p>\n

With a time of 2:27:03, Smith took third place overall in the marathon and earned bronze in the Men\u2019s Division of the Armed Forces Championship.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s first MCM<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a tough battle,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI spent a long time in the Hurt Locker. But I enjoyed the course. It goes all over the city, and the crowd always pumps you up, maybe too much sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the competition was strong, with nine men in the pack up to the first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it started getting gritty,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone started making moves and attacking. Having one, two and three be in the services, that drove me to get to the finish line.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was Smith\u2019s first MCM, and he said the Blue Mile, a mile that honors the fallen, was his favorite part of the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an iconic mile to run through and know that these people have sacrificed so much more than we have just running a marathon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Smith said he also loves that it\u2019s the People\u2019s Marathon, one of the largest marathons in the world that doesn\u2019t offer cash prizes. More than 22,000 runners ages 14 to 85 from all U.S. states and more than 60 countries pushed themselves 26.2 miles to earn their medals.<\/p>\n

Call to Lead<\/strong><\/p>\n

Smith, the first to serve in the military in his family, said he joined the Army to lead by example and to help develop the leaders of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

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\n Col. Andy Kiser, right, commander of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, congratulates Capt. Kyle Smith, a logistics officer with 4th ID, for receiving an Army Commendation after a National Training Center rotation. (Courtesy photo)
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\u201cI want to help lead and develop Soldiers,\u201d he said. \u201cLeadership development was instilled in me when I was a young child by my father. I\u2019m very passionate about it. As leaders, we have a platform to help and encourage Soldiers on a daily basis and engage with them and problem solve. I want to help Soldiers be better tomorrow than they thought possible today.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said everyone in his chain of command has inspired him to become a better leader and a better person.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough to be like them one day,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt drives me to keep pushing to be better every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith said his friend and mentor Mike Franco has also been a huge help to him over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has really pushed me to reach my highest potential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Born to Run<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing up in Linden, Michigan, Smith said he caught the running bug his junior year of high school when a friend asked him to run on the cross-country team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t stopped since,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He broke three high school records. He finished All-State three times, earning second in track, fourth in indoor and outdoor track in the 3,200-meter, sixth in cross-country. While attending Siena University in Adrian, Michigan, he qualified for Nationals five times and earned All-American in the 4 X 800 meters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked up the sport pretty quick. We had a good team, and I gained a lot of lifelong friends,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Smith met his wife, Mariah, in college. They take turns pushing their kids, Ryker and Kylah in a stroller while running Smith\u2019s shorter runs.<\/p>\n

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\n Army Capt. Kyle Smith, a logistics officer, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado, poses for a photo with his wife, Mariah, daughter, Kylah, and son, Ryker, after graduating from the Captain Career Course at Fort Greg-Adam, Virginia, Aug. 24, 2023. He and his wife would take turns pushing their children in a baby jogger while he would run some of his shorter three- to seven-mile runs during marathon training. (Courtesy photo)
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\u201cWe push them in the baby jogger; it\u2019s an extra 150 pounds,\u201d Smith said. \u201cShe\u2019s the main reason I\u2019m still able to keep driving toward my dream to make the Olympic Trials. She\u2019s so supportive. When I\u2019m going for a peak training block, I\u2019ll be hitting around 100 or so miles a week. It\u2019s hard to maintain that work-life balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the Army isn\u2019t a traditional job for people training for marathons. They could run 100 miles one week or 20 the next because the job requires five days of field training.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a unique work environment,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019m a fulltime Soldier and a fulltime dad. It\u2019s a tough balance but I do the best I can. It\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith won the Charlotte Marathon in North Carolina in 2013, and the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in 2014. His current PR time is 2:19:52, with a 5:20 pace, at Grandma\u2019s Marathon, Duluth, Minnesota, in June.<\/p>\n

He said his goal for as long as he can remember is to qualify for the Olympic Trials. The 2028 Olympics will be held at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, in Los Angeles. The Olympic Trials location hasn\u2019t been announced yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s becoming a close realization,\u201d he said. I\u2019ll keep chasing it until I can\u2019t run anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army Capt. Kyle Smith, from Linden, Michigan, and Air Force Capt. George Henry Crist, from Sacramento, California, pace in a pack at mile marker 16 during the 2024 Marine Corps Marathon, held in conjunction with the 2024 Armed Forces Marathon Championships Oct. 27, 2024. Service members from the Army, Marines, Navy (with Coast Guard runners), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317464,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=317462"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317468,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317462\/revisions\/317468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/317464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=317462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=317462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=317462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}