Sergeant Paul Higgason and Sergeant Frank Underlin at the race start.

I learned a lot about myself and my country while running the great Siberian marathon in Russia.

Cops Running For Charity is our local grass roots non profit organization that uses Marathons, Ultra Marathons and continental races to raise money for such needy organizations as Juvenile Diabetes Research, ALS, Make A Wish and Ventura County Hospice. We have raised nearly $150,000 in the past 6 years and this year we raised almost $40,000.

The six of us give 100% of raised money to the people who need it right here in Ventura County.

Simply put, we are a charity of 6 Sheriff's Deputies that gives to local charities that must benefit children right here in the community we serve. Our Leader and Chief Fundraiser is prior Fillmore Police Chief Randy Pentis. Randy is our driving force and insist that we have no costly office staff, public relation firms, heck we don't even have a website. We keep it that way and grassroots so we can give every penny we collect back to the children.

What about the Siberian race?

For starters, let’s look at the country. Democracy is alive and well in Russia, but it is being tainted by high levels of crime, corruption and thugs. However, signs of increased "Joe the Plummer" kind of freedom is everywhere, Any young 20-Something Russian can log on to M T.V, Facebook, Google and even our online versions of our Fillmore papers. They can walk into a McDonalds and drive in their Ford Fusion. The problem is it is still a land without a middle class, the have and have nots. Russians tend to want to immigrate to America but they are economically challenged by an annual income rarely exceeding $8,000 a year.

Now you have a quick primer on Russian life which is still very hard for the average citizen. They are a country ruled by a government still rife with paranoia. Each day as our group of cops traveled in Siberia we had to register within 2 hours with the local government and get our FSS Secret Police (KGB) permits. Our pockets were filled with permits, Visas and local travel documents.

Somewhere along the way, I asked myself what are we doing here? We had six flights on Aeroflot. They crashed one in the country when we were over there. At the end of every flight the entire plane erupted in boisterous cheering and clapping. I asked a Siberian passenger why? He told me that they expect to crash on Aeroflot, so every time they land, they celebrate.

I almost lost track of the real reason we challenged ourselves to run in 100 degree weather in a land that's not easy to navigate. Every step of the sweltering race, we repeated our mantra "it’s for the children." The 42 kilometer race was simply the single greatest physical and mental challenge of my life. It made me think of the strength a diabetic child must muster every day. I have run thousands of miles in the last 12 years, but the Siberian International Marathon was plagued with more than 500 fires that carpeted the sky. Visibility was less than a mile and the temperature hovered around 98 to 102 degrees.

In the USA, most ultra marathons are canceled when temperatures exceed 80. I suggested that to a Russian Race Official who just frowned at me.. Likely he is now writing an article for the Moscow Times on the "weak Americans." Let him do that, but we showed him and all fought to the finish as the carbon monoxide levels were killing twice as many Russians each day than they have ever experienced.

People were dropping like flies on the course. Russian Fire trucks were called out to hose us down as we passed by. Russian solders were posted about every 300 feet for 26 miles. I didn't really know if they were there to watch us or help us. As the race progressed, we chatted, or I guess it was more of grunted with one another about not wanting to have to go to a Russian hospital in an ambulance. Our group is made up of proven Ironmen, Tri-Athletes, and even a Boston qualified runner, but we were each challenged to just finish the race on our feet and vertical. Our finish times were about 20% slower than our other accomplishments, but all of us crossed that sweet finish line. Medals draped around our necks and every ounce of energy sapped from our veins, we huddled together, six cops from Ventura County, fist to fist and in unison, said one simple word.... USA.
Next year we are heading for an Andes challenge or even New Zealand to bag a 6th continent. We are going to run the Malibu Coast Marathon in a couple months to stay in shape, but its not really about that. It's about rasing money and community awareness of our children's needs and challenges that they face with medical issues. All of us thank Fillmore-Piru and our community for the support you have shown, this is a group children project and we always need your help.