Feature: Early PT challenge spurs Edwards chaplain to make AFMC marathon team

Published Sept. 8, 2011
By Kate Blais
95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- There are two choices an Airman can make after failing a physical training test: remain subpar or improve. For Capt. Joshua Stoley, failing his very first Air Force PT test served as motivation to change his life.

Stoley, 95th Air Base Wing protestant chaplain, went from failing to meet the one-and-a-half-mile run requirement to being selected by Air Force Materiel Command as a member of its Air Force Marathon team.

Between those two milestones came a lot of running.

"I had just gotten out of seminary and was significantly overweight," recalled Stoley of his first reserve PT test in 2006. "I could barely run half a mile and was told that it was unacceptable to fail a PT test. I knew I wanted to continue [my career] in the Air Force and I knew I wanted to be on active duty someday. But also not just for that, I didn't want to be overweight. I didn't want my kids growing up seeing me like that."

What began as a way to ensure a passing run time, Stoley started running on his treadmill every day in preparation for his retest until a blessing in disguise prompted him to change his workout habits.

"I actually broke my treadmill by spilling water all over it," laughed Stoley. "I had to start going outside to run, and I discovered it was easier. I pretty quickly went from a mile and a half, to three miles, to five miles all the way up to distance running."

Stoley recalls the moment when his attitude toward running changed from negative to positive.

"It was almost like someone flipped a switch," he said. "The first time I ran three miles, I thought 'Well that wasn't that bad.' I thought that I could probably run as long as I wanted to, and that's when I originally thought that someday I wanted to run the Air Force Marathon."

On Sept. 17, 2011, Stoley will join his AFMC teammates at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, for the 15th Annual Air Force Marathon, fulfilling his goal.

"I signed up for it [Air Force Marathon] and made my hotel arrangements and everything and just left it at that. Then I was at chapel one Sunday and somebody mentioned to me that a lot of [major] commands have marathon teams."

After an Airman from the 31st Test and Evaluation Squadron gave him all of the necessary paperwork to fill out and submit to AFMC, Stoley got all of the required signatures and turned the paperwork into the Rosburg Fitness Center and waited.

Stoley didn't expect to receive a spot on the AFMC team because he didn't think his previous race times were fast enough. He was originally offered a spot on the half-marathon team to compete the same day as the full marathon.

"The sports director wrote back on my behalf and said, 'No, he wants to do the full [marathon], and that what he's going to do,'" said the chaplain. "And they said 'OK.' The neat thing is now it's not just me doing it on my own. Now I can do it for the command."

While most people would shudder at the idea of running 26.2 miles, Stoley considers it a privilege and an honor to run for the AFMC Marathon Team and to represent Edwards, the Air Force Flight Test Center and also the Chaplain Corps.

For those who hesitate at the idea of running, the chaplain offers advice.

"The simplicity of running is that anybody can do it," said Stoley. "The neat thing I've found is that it doesn't take as long as you'd think. If you're persistent with the training schedule you can become a runner in eight weeks."

And becoming a runner doesn't mean one has to break records or compete in marathons to be successful.

"I'm not that fast, I just like to run," Stoley said.

"It's great time for reflection and prayer. I write a lot of my sermons while I'm running. A lot of times I can literally feel the stress melting off me as I'm running. I don't think about much, and enjoy what I'm doing," he said.

Stoley discovered that distance running just worked for him and says that he'd like to compete in at least three races a year so that he always has something to train for.

"Your body can do amazing things if you tell it to."

Stoley Marathon