I don't want to toot my own horn here... okay, maybe a little... I've run several marathons (26.2 miles) and participated twice in the Wasatch Back Relay Race aka Ragnar, a race in which a participant runs between 15 and 20 miles in split into three legs as part of a 12 person relay team; the team covers over 170 miles from Logan to Park City all along the Wasatch Back. You sleep very little if at all over the span of about 24 hours on average.
I marvel as I have read about the men marching unceasingly, Longstreet's men and Chamberlain's men among others, only to arrive at their destination and be told that they are to move again or prepare for battle. Often times soldiers, especially those of past days marched insane distances with little to no sleep and often times went immediately to battle. I cannot imagine this! Having run some fairly long distances myself on little sleep, lacking proper nutrition, if someone told me at the end of 26.2 miles that I would now have to defend my life and my country, I would probably either break down in tears or simply topple over dead on the spot. War truly brings out the super-human in people. The men of the North and the South, or any enemies for that matter, must truly have respected one another, because only a soldier understands what the life of another soldier is like.
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I know what you mean. The stories of their marathon marches amaze me. We did a kickoff for our Gold Medal program one year by walking 40 miles from a friend's house to school. We taught all day, drove to the house, walked the 40 miles, and got to school just as the bell rang the next morning. I was so exhausted I couldn't function. I feel asleep during math, and my awesome 5th graders woke me up to keep me from getting in trouble. That was just one night! These guys marched day after day, often times without shoes on. I would have given up on the second day. Truly amazing.
ReplyDeleteGreat connection to self. It is easy see why it was necessary to draft soldiers and why so many wanted to avoid it by paying others to go for them. You are my hero keep running.
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