Organizing annual Air Force Marathon takes teamwork

  • Published
  • By Amy Rollins
  • Skywrighter Staff
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  A survey of what goes on behind the scenes before, during and after the Air Force Marathon reinforces one thing: It takes a driven director, a very talented staff and a full 12 months to produce it. It's almost like Rob Aguiar and his staff run a marathon year-round.

The Skywrighter talked with Aguiar, who has worked in the marathon office since 2008 and has been director of the Air Force Marathon since 2012, to rough out a loose timeline for the popular event.

Q: Obviously your focus is on the 20th running of the Air Force Marathon on Sept. 17, but you've previously mentioned you never stop thinking about the event and how it can be improved.
Aguiar: That's true. We are already forming ideas for the 21st race. We're thinking, "This is a big stage in our lives. The 20th was fantastic; now we almost have to redo ourselves." That means we may have a new logo in the works; we're thinking about how we're going to conduct registration starting January 2017, incorporating the lessons that we've learned. We're waiting to see what the aircraft will be. We're even thinking about guest speakers. I'm considering vendors, the route and more. I'm not much of a procrastinator.

Q: What's your rough timeline for the year?
Aguiar: Immediately following the race, we clean up. I brief senior leadership and then we hit the road, traveling to different fall expos and running events to promote our race. We're all over the place from the month of October through, at times, December. We're also working on our marketing plans for the next race - which publications and social media we'll use. We have to get all that into base contracting.
 
We're talking to sponsors and meeting with people who might not be a sponsor today but might well be in the future. We're constantly cultivating relationships. We're also sending out runners' age group awards in October, packaging and labeling them. It's quite a project.  In November and December we're preparing our registration site. When you get 5,000 to 6,000 registrations within a 24-hour period, you have to make sure that site is ready to go. We also prepare the team to respond to any questions that might arise.

Once we find out which airplane we're using we start on design work for the shirts and determine our choices for other products like towels and hats. If there are going to be any course changes, I'm in meetings with police and fire departments.

We changed the route in Fairborn a little bit this year and before I made it known to anybody I asked the police department for their thoughts and reaction. You can't do this sort of business without having people involved, especially off-base. I really want their blessing on what we're going to do. This is a community event.

January is when registration begins, and it's also time to write statements of work for vendors. It is nonstop contracting - who will do our medals, who will do our shirts, patches, hats. It's not like the civilian world. We have to solicit bids.

In February and March, we continue to monitor registration and make sure our system is working correctly. We also prepare for volunteers. We're working on weekends to promote the race at spring events. It's always a team effort. From March 31 to May 15 we were out every weekend.

We do course certification starting at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday. That's when the police are available.

Now contracts are coming through and we're making payments and preparing for shipments to come in. We're prepping our warehouse to receive shipments. In June, we're getting completely prepped for the race, and we're turning the corner. But first we try to go on vacation because it's been nonstop and we want to be well-rested before the home stretch of July and August. We're receiving product and everything is being executed. The registration program is coming to a close and we're potentially doing a transfer program. Once we hit July we're working for the third Saturday in September. We're waiting for the remainder of our team to come in. We typically have individual mobilization augmentees assist. In August, as the race approaches and intensity builds, the staff works 12- to 14-hour days. Starting the second or third weekend in August, the staff won't see a day off until after the marathon.

Q: How does the staff keep up with that pace?
Aguiar: My staff are true professionals. They know what needs to be done. I'm there to assist with hiccups. It takes all of us at the marathon office to do our jobs and do it well. I'm very replaceable, but my staff is not. They know the mission and what needs to be done.

As you can imagine, there are so many pieces that are moving. There is no time to sit back and just let it happen. I don't believe in "letting" anything happen.

If you're not in there driving that car, getting to where you have to go, I don't want to be a passenger. I want to make sure I can write on my board that it is done.