MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- When 13,000 runners cross the start line at the Air Force Marathon events Sept. 17, Team Moody will be there.

Groups of Airmen from multiple units, including the 372nd Training Squadron, Det. 9, and 23rd Medical Group, will join the race at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in celebration of the Air Force's 64th birthday.

The 26.2-mile course is more than 17 times longer than the mile and a half required for PT tests, so what made these modern-day Pheidippideses decide to tackle it?

For U.S. Air Force Staff Sgts. Thomas Heinig and Aaron Williams, 372nd TRS instructors who also ran the course last year, it was a joint effort.

"An email came out last year announcing a team would be training for the AF marathon, and I kind of thought 'Why not?'" said Heinig. "Neither of us had really run farther than a 5k. I told Williams I would train until I couldn't handle it. I was secretly hoping he would drop out, but he never did.

"This year, we just wanted to do it again," he added, "so we got a few more of our co-workers to make a team."

Another one of the 372nd runners, Master Sgt. John Kimpan, said he joined the team this year for the challenge.

"Running a marathon can be a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said. "It feels good to have improved so much on my running since we started. I've shaved 80 seconds off my time already."

The team has been waking up before the sun rises every other day since late April to fit in their training. They complete speed workouts Tuesday and Thursdays, and long runs on Saturdays.

"Getting up early got old pretty quickly, but running marathons takes a lot of motivation," said Heinig. "I couldn't have done this alone- it definitely takes the support of a team."

Along with team support, it also took a smart training plan.

"Last year, each week was a new distance and a new personal record," said Williams, who developed the team's marathon plan for this year. "To come up with our 22-week training plan, I pulled plans from online and compiled what would work for us and would let our training build progressively."

While there haven't been any major injuries on the team, Staff Sgt. Eric Weinfurter got shin splints and had to take off a month from running. He decided to run a half marathon instead, and has since been following a training plan developed by Heinig.

One factor that will give Moody runners an edge in September is training in the South Georgia heat and humidity. After the September race, some of the runners will take a break while some, like Kimpan, plan to continue training for other races.