{"id":60088,"date":"2011-12-09T13:02:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T18:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=60088"},"modified":"2011-12-27T16:22:06","modified_gmt":"2011-12-27T21:22:06","slug":"marathoner-runs-for-the-honor-of-fellow-fallen-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/12\/marathoner-runs-for-the-honor-of-fellow-fallen-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Marathoner Nick Williams Runs for Fallen Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We runners run for a plethora of reasons. For health, stress relief, for competition, and often times, simply because we can. Among the many great reasons to run is running in honor of those who cannot. There are many fantastic organizations that dedicate the sport solely to those who can not lace up their shoes. I have the honor of running side by side with one who\u2019s got more than the finish line in his sights.<\/p>\n

Nick Williams is surprising. He\u2019s an Air Force pilot, a phenomenal runner, a dancer, and a talented chef. It\u2019s hard to learn these things about him because he\u2019s such a kind and caring individual, an excellent friend, and devoted son- qualities that are the loudest parts of his personality. I\u2019ve had the pleasure of getting to know Nick as we\u2019ve trained on the streets of Wichita, Kansas together. In a short time, I’ve made more than a great running buddy. I’ve made a life-long friend.<\/p>\n

Nick and I even ran the 2026 Boston Marathon<\/a><\/strong> side-by-side. We laughed, pushed, and fought our way to the famous finish line on Boylston Street together. We\u2019re like \u201cwar buddies\u201d now. We\u2019ve been to \u201chell and back\u201d together, the hell we call the marathon.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, Nick knows much more about the perils of real war than I could ever dream of. He\u2019s an active duty pilot in the Air Force. Our training has been paused multiple times in our short friendship when he\u2019s been deployed. It\u2019s hard explaining to my son why our buddy Nick is off in the desert being the \u201cflying gas station,\u201d but it\u2019s over joyous to tell him \u201cNick\u2019s coming home this week!\u201d I know that not all military friends and family get to deliver such news. The fact that our soldiers fall is heartbreaking. This is why Nick runs.<\/p>\n

Currently Nick is fundraising for the Operation Freedom Memorial in Wichita through his training efforts. The memorial is planned as a tribute to honor the fallen soldiers of Operation Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. Nick has been accepting donations in the form of pledges per mile he runs each month leading up to the January 14, 2026 Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Arizona Marathon<\/a><\/strong>. He\u2019s also been accepting flat donations as well. So far he\u2019s raised nearly $3,500 and hopes to reach the $5,000 mark before he toes the line in Phoenix next month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In return to his donors, Nick has let them all in in on the everyday ups and downs of marathon training<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cBy reading my posts, you will observe days when running feels great and days when running feels difficult,” Nick told me. “You\u2019ll observe runs on insufficient sleep and runs where everything inside me clicks and I feel on top of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The memorial has not begun construction as of yet due to funding. He explains \u201cBy most estimates, the construction of our memorial will cost around $300,000, so this campaign is just one step in our process towards creating a lasting impression of our gratitude to the fallen soldiers of Operation Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick has just a few weeks left before he begins his taper and begins conserving energy for the battle he\u2019ll face on the streets of Phoenix. If you\u2019d like to follow his journey and donate to the worthy cause, you can visit his page<\/a><\/strong> at the Operation Freedom Memorial website.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you decide to donate and join my team, it\u2019s my prayer that the entire effort involved with being a distance runner becomes evident while our team supports the memory of those who don\u2019t have the opportunity to run free anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We runners run for a plethora of reasons. For health, stress relief, for competition, and often times, simply because we can. Among the many great reasons to run is running in honor of those who cannot. There are many fantastic … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[3018,5089,9150,5663],"class_list":["post-60088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness","tag-charity","tag-marathon","tag-operation-freedom-memorial","tag-soldier"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60088"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60090,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60088\/revisions\/60090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}