Duo runs L.A. race 8,000 miles apart

SOUTHWEST ASIA — Most people would never want to run a full marathon, but even fewer would think of running one in the desert with a dust storm looming.

"Looks like I might have to run the whole 26 miles on a treadmill," joked 1st Lt. Jessica Lopez, a Charleston Air Force Base pilot deployed in Southwest Asia, where she flies missions over Iraq and Afghanistan. "The last time I ran in a dust storm, it was miserable."

Domonique Simmons /U.S. Air Force

1st Lt. Jessica Lopez runs the first three miles of her 26.2-mile marathon March 2 in Southwest Asia. The C-17A pilot from Charleston Air Force Base was training to run the Los Angeles Marathon with her mother when she got deployment orders. The pair decided to run at the same time anyway: mother in California and daughter at the desert air base.

Lopez was keeping an eye on the weather as the days approached before the March 2 Los Angeles Marathon, an event she had planned to run with her 52-year-old mom, Dawn. The fact that Jessica was deployed late last year and that they're more than 8,000 miles apart wasn't an issue for the duo. "We both wanted to run the marathon, and we eventually came to the conclusion that we could make it happen in our own special way," says the Orange County, Calif., native.

Lopez decided to start her race in the desert at 6 p.m. March 2 in Southwest Asia, at roughly the same time her mother would be running in Los Angeles. She was joined for her Los Angeles Marathon-Southwest Asia challenge by two other Globemaster III pilots assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, Capt. Matthew Jarrett and 1st Lt. David Tomlinson.

The night of the run was calm and cool. About 30 other airmen ran the first 5 kilometers with the marathoners, encouraging the trio as they ran by. Support trucks stopped along the road with water and energy drinks. Later, a crowd gathered at the finish line. "I didn't finish in the time I expected to," Lopez said, after running it in 3:39, "but I'm just glad I made it."

Lopez has been running with her mother since she was a little girl.

"My mom started to run long distance races in the mid-'80s when I was growing up," the 25-year-old said. "When I was little, I liked running in small road races because I enjoyed being able to compete in races like my mom."

Lopez competed in track all four years of high school as a discus and shot-put thrower, but went away from running until her junior year of high school, when she joined the cross-country team.

In 2004, the new lieutenant was looking for a way to get into better shape and found herself running again. Her mother was running around six or seven marathons a year and had qualified for the Boston Marathon. "Even though I had gone to college, gotten married, joined the military, and moved clear across the country, running enabled me and my mom to remain close," Lopez said."

They began racing together, mom running full marathons and daughter running halves. In 2007, Lopez ran her first full marathon.

With Lopez expected to return from her deployment in April, she and her mom now have their sights on running Boston on April 21.

-- Senior Airman Carolyn Viss, 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs