Airman finishes in top 15 overall in first marathon appearance Published Nov. 4, 2010 By Steve Pivnick 81st Medical Group Public Affiars KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Justin Hyde, a dietician with the 81st Diagnostics and Therapeutics Squadron's nutritional medicine flight, completed his first marathon Oct. 9 in Madison, Miss., about 5 miles north of Jackson. His time for the "Run for Life" event was 3:48:29, which placed him 11th among the 98 men who participated and 13th overall among the 233 men and women runners. Hyde began training in July using the 18- week Hal Higdon marathon training program, which consists of four short runs and one long run each week, increasing in distance weekly. Hyde said he had hoped to run in the half marathon of last year's Air Force Marathon at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, but was unable to compete because he was deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq, from July 2009 to January of this year. He continued to train during his deployment and plans to compete in future marathons. "There's one coming up in about six months, but I want to prepare for my physical training test which requires a different type of training," he said. Hyde, who calls Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., home, served as an enlisted member of the Minnesota Air National Guard before receiving a direct active-duty commission in May 2007. He arrived at Keesler in June 2008 following completion of a one-year dietetics internship at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.