Some battles end when the deployment ends. Some don’t. We run for the men still inside them. — Four operators. Sixty-two miles. For Ryan.
Ryan came home from war and he did not come home — the way many men have not. The war that ends in deployment papers and ceremonies does not end inside the man. He died too soon. His father, Frank Larkin, has spent the years since fighting publicly for the veterans who follow.
This race is part of what came of that fight. We carry his name and we carry the load. The mountain doesn’t care.
The fight that started overseas doesn’t always end when deployment does. RLIAR raises money for the people doing the recovery work — veterans and first responders living with PTSD, sleep disruption, and the long quiet that comes after the uniform comes off.
Carry every gram. Sleep on the ground. No resupply. Start each morning as four. Finish each night as four. Or fail. Montrose to Telluride across the high country of southwestern Colorado.
Live coverage all 3 days on the official broadcast at rliar.org.
Four different lives, locking in for the same line in the dirt.
Twenty-two years in the Navy. Sixteen with Team Six. February 4, 2008 — a bullet hit him in Iraq. He’s still here. He runs because the men who didn’t come back can’t. Director of Operations now at a non-profit using retired SEALs to train law enforcement on active-shooter response.
US Army veteran. Intelligence Community. Husband. Father of seven. Knows the long quiet of bad sleep — the kind that doesn’t go away with rest. Found Rob Sweetman’s mission. Put this team together. Runs because the men still inside this fight don’t always get to.
The team’s Freedom Patriot — the fourth man on this fireteam. Bringing patriotic conviction and operational grit to the start line.
Six summits of Mount Shasta. Four successful — most leading other people up and down the mountain. Knows the math of getting four men up and four men down. Running point on the finish line and the record book for the first running of this race.
The race minimum to start is $5,000. The official team goal is $10,000. We’re going for $20,000 — twice the official goal — because this is the first running of the race and the bar hasn’t been set. We’d like to set it high. Pledge any amount. Tax-deductible to the dollar.
Our backers go on the team race shirts, on the rliar.org broadcast, and in the founding record of this race. We’ll honor every one of them here.
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