At the end of last month, Navy service member Zach King left home for a military deployment. This Sunday, he’ll be foremost on the mind of his wife, Kelsey, as she runs the 7.1-mile Falmouth Road Race.
“While I don’t mind being alone, I definitely miss him and miss doing life with him when he’s away,” said Kelsey, who started dating Zachary in 2018 — nine days later, he was deployed for seven months.
Deployments and being away from a loved one are among the significant challenges facing military couples like Kelsey and Zach. It’s why Kelsey jumped at the chance to run this year’s race for Heroes In Transition (HIT).
“This cause is very near and dear to my heart,” said Kelsey, who currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband. “I wish we lived closer so we could participate in a lot of the events HIT holds. I’m definitely happy that military families on the Cape have access to this kind of support.”
It was on the Cape where Kelsey and Zach first met. The pair grew up here – Kelsey graduated from Sandwich High School in 2013 and Zach graduated from Mashpee High School in 2011. Zach enlisted in the Navy immediately after high school.
“I am so very proud of him,” said Kelsey. “I am definitely his biggest supporter. He loves his job and he loves what he does. I wouldn’t want him to do anything else.”
Kelsey, whose dad Mark Lawrence owns Polar Cave Ice Cream in Mashpee, received her bachelor’s degree in marketing and MBA from Endicott College. She currently works as an account manager for a financial technology company.
“I love the Cape and dream of it every day. I miss the ocean so much. It is magical and I try to explain to my colleagues at my company, which is based in California, but you can’t describe it,” Kelsey said. “It will always be my home.”
It’s one of the reasons she’s so excited to give back by running the road race for HIT. This will mark the second time she has done so; in 2020, she ran the race with Team HIT virtually in Virginia, with her husband Zach by her side. “He came home a week before the race and he biked it with me which was really nice,” she said.
That year ended up being a special one for the couple as they were married at a courthouse in Arlington, six days before Zach left on another deployment. The following year, they celebrated their nuptials with friends and family at the Wychmere Beach Club in Harwich Port.
Sunday will mark the first time Kelsey has run the road race in-person. “I’ve wanted to run it ever since I was a kid,” she said.
It will be even more meaningful because of why she is doing it and because of her deep understanding of the need for organizations like HIT. “HIT is so great with everything they do. It means a lot to all of us in the military community,” she said.
Click here to support Team HIT in this year’s Falmouth Road Race.
