Troops Have Own Version Of Rock 'N' Roll Marathon In Afghanistan

DENVER (CBS4) - More than 15,000 runners are getting ready for this weekend's Sports Authority Rock 'n' Roll Denver Marathon & ½ Marathon in Denver.

They've got it easy -- at least compared to the men and women who will run their own version of the half marathon at a base in Jalalabad in Eastern Afghanistan.

"We were battling most with the heat this summer," said Dan Ruge, a field program officer for USAID, the government's development agency working to help people in Afghanistan. "In July and August it was getting pushed up over 130 degrees every day, so it was kind of brutal, I'm not used to that."

Ruge is from Colorado where he ran track in high school and college. He started running around the inside of the base and others started joining him. They would often run at night on a rocky, gravel road.

"We would try to wait until night to run around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. It would still be about 100 degrees and it's pitch black dark around here and we obviously don't light up the base at night, so trying to run blindly in the middle of the night presented some interesting challenges."

But they stuck with it.

Then Ruge shot an email out of the blue to the people running this year's Rock n' Roll Marathon in Denver. They bought in immediately. Ruge's idea is to run his own version of the half marathon in Afghanistan the same day it's run in Denver on Sunday.

"When I originally thought of just running this myself it was more of a connection just for people back home in Denver, and then as I talked to some of the guys here and they were interested in it," Ruge said. "It just gives everyone something to focus on outside of their daily rhythm of life here and going on missions and just something to look forward to."

"Unfortunately we can't send them the bands but we'll send them the t-shirts and the medals to make them feel included as much as possible," said marathon spokeswoman Amana Miyamae. "From our end we look at it as something really easy that we can do that makes a really big difference for them."

It's been good for the troops stuck on base and running dangerous missions. Dan said it's been a big boost for older military members looking to get back into shape. At least October is starting to cool off.

Ruge has friends back home who will run. He'll miss the marathon's Denver route as he and more than 20 runners, mostly military members, go around their dusty track 33 times to equal a half marathon distance.

Back home runners will think about them. Expect to hear announcements at the starting line.

"Things do get a little intense out here, so it's nice to know that people are thinking about us," said Dan via Skype from Afghanistan. "And I'm really thankful for these Denver Rock 'n' Roll people/ They've sent us t-shirts and so it's been very nice for me to motivate me but also just for some of the other guys to know that people are that excited about what we're doing out here and supporting us."

LINK: Rock 'n' Roll Marathon