Running strong: Airman celebrates 50th birthday with 50-mile run Published May 22, 2006 By Senior Airman Patrice Clarke 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey (AFPN) -- Most people eat cake and ice cream on their birthday, have a nice quiet family dinner, go out to the club, or have a birthday party at their house. Master Sgt. Paul Roeske, 39th Communications Squadron base communication security manager, on the other hand, decided to run 50 miles around the track for his 50th birthday. “I used to run marathons and triathlons,” said the Portland, Ore., native. “Running a 50- or 100-mile race was something I always wanted to do when I was still in the states but never got a chance.” While stationed at Incirlik 10 years ago, he was planning on running 40 miles for his 40th birthday but a basketball knee injury killed the idea. Sergeant Roeske started talking about running 50 miles about two years ago and he started training for it. “I really didn’t do anything that special,” he said. “To do any endurance event you just train longer at a slower pace. I shot for a 13- to 14- minute mile so I could finish the 50 miles in 12 hours.” Sergeant Roeske ran the Tarsus half marathon with his daughter, Kara, in early April, and ran 15 miles on the track two weeks before his birthday as a last-minute tuneup. At 12:01 a.m., April 25, Sergeant Roeske was at the base high school track attempting to make his 200 laps. He didn’t do the whole run alone though. He had a lot of support. “My son Kris and daughter Kara ran with me during the early morning parts and my wife, Patty, walked periodically throughout,” Sergeant Roeske said. His coworkers ran with him during the day. “I even had a few elementary and high school physical education classes on the track with me,” he said, “It was without a doubt easier during the later miles to keep going when other people were running with me.” Although Sergeant Roeske didn’t make his 50 miles, he is still very proud of his accomplishments. “I did what I wanted to do. I didn’t get to my goal, but 44 miles was as far as my legs would take me,” he said. All in all, Sergeant Roeske did get something out of his 10 hours of running. “I got a lot of personal satisfaction out of this experience. I’ve always like challenging myself with physical and sports-related activities.” For all those who are wondering, is it going to be 51 miles next year? “Next year, I’ll probably try again,” he said. “I treated my preparation for this and the run as a kick start to get back into running shape. I’ll do the run, just somewhere other than the track.”