Matt Venable doesn't consider himself a runner. Not yet anyway.

The Air National Guardsman recently finished his second half-marathon and is training for his first full marathon, but the major wants to accomplish more before he considers himself a runner.

"Right now I'm a guy who's running," Venable said.

Venable reports to Joint Base Lewis-McChord one weekend a month for his position as assistant flight commander in the Air National Guard, and also works as an air guard technician at Camp Murray. Never a big fan of the physical training run during his nearly 11 years of service, Venable picked up the sport beyond PT hours to make the mandatory runs more enjoyable.

Last year, Venable seized his first long-distance opportunity when a slot opened a week before a half-marathon. He made his decision to run it two days before race day.

"I thought it was a good opportunity," he said. "I get to do something that I always thought would be neat to do and I don't have to waste all the time that it takes to train for this like a normal person would do. I just get to have the fun experience of doing a big race and seeing if I could do it."

Venable had run seven miles with no training and no problems in preparation for a PT test three weeks prior to the race. He thought he'd be safe to run the 13.1 miles for the half-marathon with no training as well. He finished the race in 2 hours and 33 minutes, but his body paid for it.

"At about mile 11 or 12 there was something different feeling in my knees and quadriceps that indicated you should be done by now, but I of course was going to finish my last two miles," Venable said. He crossed the finish line to earn a medal and T-shirt, but was left with a knee strain that led to physical therapy for a couple months after.

Despite the pain left over from the half-marathon, Venable enjoyed his first big race.

"I was proud of being able to do something I've never been able to do before," he said.

Venable eased himself back into running to see if the physical therapy was working for his knee and gradually built himself back up to long-distance runs. When he felt ready he started to train for his second half-marathon. Venable chose the Over the Dam run May 12 in Grand Coulee, Wash. The 13.1-mile run took Venable across the 550-foot tall Grand Coulee Dam. The training paid off for Venable as he completed the race in 1 hour, 58 minutes, improving his time by 35 minutes. But more importantly, he finished injury free.

"I never would have predicted I would run it that fast and feel good," he said. "Accomplished maybe, but not good. It made me feel like maybe I'm a runner. I still haven't decided if I'm a runner."

Two days later Venable was hitting the pavement to start training for a full marathon on July 4. If he finishes the race without injury and without hating the 26.2 miles, he plans to run another marathon in November in which he'll try to better his time. If the two marathons fare well for him, Venable will try for his ultimate dream of a run - the Disney World Marathon in January.

"Who wouldn't want to run a marathon in Disney World?" he said. "I'd want to do almost anything that Disney World puts on, but particularly a marathon. Disney World is one of my favorite places on Earth."

It's only after he crosses the finish line at Disney World that he will even think about considering himself a runner.

"I will not determine my running freak status until after Disney World," Venable said. "That will be the decision point right there."