Author: Mark Gudgel

The Kandahar Marathon: Week Forty-Two

“Whoa! And I feel good, I knew that I would, nowI feel good, I knew that I would.” ~ From “I got you” by James Brown A tree fell on our house Sunday evening. We were driving away—Sonja and I and two of our best friends in the backseat, and I saw it in the…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Weeks Forty and Forty-One

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt It was Monday morning, during my run, when I realized that I had failed to write a post for the previous week about my running. The oversight wasn’t intentional. I was on a work trip in California and was keeping such crazy hours…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Nine

DEAR FRIENDS: AS I ENTER THE FOURTH QUARTER OF A YEAR DEFINED LARGELY BY REDEFINING MYSELF AS A RUNNER, I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT. I ALSO ASK THAT YOU CONSIDER SPONSORING ME FOR THE REMAINING THREE MONTHS OF 2022. FROM NOW THROUGH DECEMBER 31, I HOPE TO RUN THREE MORE…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Eight

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” ~Desmond Tutu On Tuesday, I looked at the weather for Sunday, decided it was acceptable, and more or less on a lark signed up for the Heartland Marathon, which begins on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River before…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Seven

“I believe alien life is quite common in the universe, though intelligent life is less so. Some say it has yet to appear on planet earth.” ~Stephen Hawking As running goes, it was a scheduled off week as far as mileage was concerned, which didn’t keep the big toenail on my right foot from trying…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Six

“To the ones who’ve left: you’re never truly gone. The candle’s in the window and the kettle’s always on.” ~Ensemble, Come From Away Running was a side note this week, as was any thought I had of reading up on current goings on in Afghanistan if I’m being honest. I got my fifty-five miles in,…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Five

“No work of charity can be more productive of good to society than the careful instruction of women.” ~Catherine McAuley It rained hard around five o’clock Monday morning, never mind the previous night’s weather report, and so I resigned myself begrudgingly to the treadmill. Six miles at an 8:34 pace felt like speed work after…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Four

“I’m actually the picture of everything the Taliban don’t want women to be.” ~Nadia Nadim Predictably, the frequent mentions of Afghanistan in the news died down after the anniversary of the disastrous American troop withdrawal passed. In fact, between the New York Times, CNN, the Napa Valley Register, and NPR, I don’t think I caught…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Three

“Since the Taliban takeover, a financial crisis has rendered a significant amount of the Afghan population unable to access a sufficient amount of water, food, shelter, and health care services. Women and girls are suffering under repressive policies that ban them from secondary and higher education, force them out of employment, and subject them to strict regulations on what they…
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The Kandahar Marathon: Week Thirty-Two

“Mawwiage is whot bwings us too-gethah too-day!” ~The Impressive Clergyman, played by Peter Cook, in The Princess Bride All week long, it seemed, my runs were abbreviated by the need to prepare for my new job. Monday, I got eight miles in and a bit of core before heading to campus. Tuesday, I could manage…
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