It’s training day for Rebecca Esparza, about a week away from her first half-marathon, the Cowtown Marathon. It’s a path she never expected to find herself on. “No athletic background, whatsoever,” Esparza said. But her big brother, Zach, sparked something. “He really wanted people to explore the outdoors and know that there was more to life than you thought there was,” she said. Esparza, a decade younger than her brother, watched him go through basic training, graduate, and climb the army ranks to CW 2. “He loved to push himself,” she said. She also joined him on a five-day trek across the Andes and Amazon to Machu Picchu. “I’m never going to forget when we were at the hotel at the end of all the walking, he looked at me, he says, ‘You know, I didn’t think you were going to make it, but I’m proud of you.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, thanks!” Esparza laughed. Not long after celebrating with her brother, Esparza was grieving him. “Very sudden. And it completely upheaved our lives,” she said. Esparza said her 36-year-old brother was on a training mission gone wrong in March of 2023. She said human error led to nine people killed on two helicopters. “He loved his job. And, truthfully, he died doing what he loved. He loved being in the air,” said Esparza, adding that he was promoted posthumously to CW3. But somehow, Zach opened another door for her. “When we went through his stuff with medals and bibs, I was like, ‘Wow, I didn’t even know he did this.’ So I was like, okay, I’m going to run,” Esparza recalled. A year later, he’s still what she runs for. “When I step out, I’m like, ‘All right, how far are we going to run today?’ Like, ‘Where are we going to run today? Are we going to go here? Are we going to go there?’” she said. As Esparza moves toward her first half-marathon, the beginning of her path has meant a continuation of Zach’s. “Every step I take is one he takes with me. His story didn’t end when his life did,” she said. And she makes sure of it, keeping his picture in her backpack. ‘It’s definitely more special when I can see his face in front of me and I can—he crosses the finish line with me,” she said. ...read more read less