'Triple Threat' members run Jesolo half marathon Published June 3, 2011 By Staff Sgt. Julius Delos Reyes 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- A group of 555th Fighter Squadron pilots and their wives recently challenged each other -- individually complete 555 miles of running, jogging, walking, bicycling, rollerblading or other physical fitness means. "It's just to help keep us active," said Tisha Krajicek, one of the spouses participating in the challenge. "It's a good goal to focus on while they are gone." July 21, a group of 10 spouses, who call themselves the "Triple Threat," added another 13.1 miles to their counts as they completed the first Moonlight Half Marathon May 21 in Jesolo, Italy. "I thought the half marathon was well organized," said Tracy Brockhaus, one of the spouses. "It was a beautiful course. I enjoyed having friends there to share the experience with." Though running as a group, this was the first time the spouses ran together. Prior to the event, some group members trained individually while a few ran with other members. The members have their own training plans; some increased their mileage while other seasoned members stuck with their accustomed training plans. "I did one long run every week, some tempo runs and sprints to keep a consistent pace because I have certain goal in mind - I want to beat the half marathon in two hours," Mrs. Brockhaus said. "For some people, their goal was to finish." For Mrs. Krajicek, this was the first time she competed in a half marathon. "I wasn't sure how to train for one because I have never done one before," she said. "However, you can go on running websites and get training programs for a full or half marathon or other running categories. You follow them differently depending on if you are already conditioned or you've done races before." According to Mrs. Brockhaus, running the marathon was a great opportunity for the spouses to bond together and to provide boost in reaching their goals. "It helped us finish the half marathon," she said. "It was definitely motivating. If it weren't for some of the other girls cheering, 'you can do it,' cheering them on, it would be difficult. It was great to have somebody beside you even if you weren't talking to each other, it was just encouraging." The following are the spouses who finished the half marathon: Christina Anderson Lindsey Baker Felicia Boudreaux Tracy Brockhaus Cassy Gruenther Tisha Krajicek Kelia Lewis Amy Niebuhr Jessica Swiger Rachel Wynn