Men's Journal

Capt. Jeremy Jackson and Capt. Peter Norris jog past an Abrams tank on Forward Operating Base Marez in Iraq. Photo credit: photo by Master Sgt. Tim Volkert

In December, more than 60 soldiers serving in Iraq will run a marathon simultaneously with 17,000 others in Dallas.

by Martin Mulkeen

Captain Jeremy Jackson will run his first marathon this month, and he will run it in a war zone.

At 8 a.m. on December 14, Jackson and 60 other soldiers will participate in the Dallas White Rock Marathon on Forward Operating Base Marez, outside of Mosul, Iraq, seven thousand miles from Dallas.

For Jackson and his buddies in the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, marathon training is a great escape from the monotony of day-to-day operations; indeed, the race date itself just so happens to coincide with the triumphant end to a long tour of duty.

The training “gives you something else to do,” Jackson says. “Because otherwise, we’re working every day — 12 or 13 hours every single day. It’s like Groundhog Day.”

For the regiment, displaced from Fort Hood, Texas, White Rock is their local marathon, and with it comes a link to home and loved ones in Texas.

“It helps us feel connected,” says Major Robert Behrman, a squadron physician training to race in a 10-K event also taking place that day. “Some soldiers have a need to watch the Super Bowl, for some it is reading a book simultaneously with a spouse. For those training for this race, it is to be part of accomplishing a goal with thousands of others.”

Running in the desert poses a slew of unique challenges. Most problematic is the “dust, dust, and more dust,” as Behrman puts it. “Sometimes you get caught behind a trail of tanks. Besides the obvious need to avoid the 70-ton vehicles, you have to try not to suffocate in a cloud.” This means maneuvering quickly and strategically to find positions upwind from passing vehicles. Running on dirt tears through shoes, and running on loose gravel feels “like you are running up a down escalator,” says Captain Gretchen Garcia, who is also training for her first marathon.

The marathon’s 6.5-mile loop snakes past rows of tanks, a tactical operations center, an old Iraqi ammo storage facility, a garbage burn pit, and the ruins of the 6th-century St. Elijah’s Monastery, the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq.

Soldiers say the grueling exercise increases their focus and boosts their morale. Indeed, sports have always played an extracurricular role in military operations where conditions have permitted, from the military boxing competitions of WWII to pick-up basketball and football games in Vietnam.

But for many, racing is just a good way to stay in shape. “They actually feed the troops pretty well out here, and running helps keep off unwanted pounds,” says Behrman. “Got to look good for my wife when I get home.”

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