Iraq War veteran prepares for ING Miami Marathon

He had been in Iraq for only four months, but already the daily threat of mortar attacks was beating down on him like the Baghdad sun.

So Jeff Ferris did the only thing he could think of to relieve his growing stress.

He started running.

More than four years later, Ferris will make his debut in the ING Miami Marathon on Sunday, his 11th marathon since returning in 2005 from a 13-month tour of duty in Iraq.

But instead of running to escape the burden of life in a war zone, he will be running toward a specific goal.

Ferris, 27, a former staff sergeant in the Army National Guard, is hoping to qualify for the Super Bowl of U.S. races: the Boston Marathon.

''I've let this dream kind of overtake my life,'' said Ferris, now a police officer in Brookfield, Wis.

``I can't sustain a normal relationship for more than a month or two because I put running before everybody else. I'm just so locked in right now. I have to do it.''

NOT A TYPICAL RUNNER

At 5-11 and 190 pounds, Ferris doesn't have the typical runner's build. He looks more like a weightlifter mixing in some cardio than a serious runner.

But other runners beware: The guy who will wear the No. 1120 bib Sunday is faster than he looks.

Ferris finished the Berlin Marathon in September in 3 hours, 13 minutes and 21 seconds -- just 2:22 slower than the time he needs to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which will be run on April 20.

''It's not easy for someone his size to run,'' said Marek Kotrly, Ferris' friend and fellow officer, who will run with him Sunday. ``But I think that's part of his drive, to show anyone can do it. You don't have to be born as a marathon runner or have that type of body.''

Or have the typical story.

At a base at Baghdad International Airport, Ferris manned at a security checkpoint, working 12-hour shifts with few days off.

It was mundane work, except when, suddenly, it wasn't: Insurgents would ambush the checkpoint, or mortars and rockets would land not far from Ferris inside the base.

His deployment began in September 2004, and by Christmas the experience was wearing on him.

''When he would come back from a day's work, he would pretty much just go lay in his bed and watch movies,'' said Victor Pollak, Ferris' roommate in Iraq. ``He was kind of quiet and kind of down. You could just tell he was going through a tough time.''

That changed the day after Christmas, when Ferris returned to his trailer after working a grueling night-day double shift with no sleep.

'We had tennis shoes over there, and I looked at them and was like, `I'm going to put these on and go run around,' '' Ferris said. ``It was one of the best runs I'll ever have in my life.''

It was the first of many.

Every day -- sometimes twice -- Ferris went on a 5K run around Z Lake, a man-made water body inside the airport complex that was built as a backdrop to one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT

Ferris had to get up at 3 a.m. and run in the dark to make it to work on time, occasionally dodging mortar fire as he made his way around the lake. But it was cathartic.

By the end of his deployment, Ferris had logged 671 miles.

''You could see he was really into it,'' Pollak said. ``There was a major attitude change when he started. We had more fun when he was running.''

Even before he returned to Wisconsin in October 2005, Ferris started thinking seriously about running in marathons. And it has consumed him ever since.

He has traveled to marathons throughout the United States, trying to earn a spot in the Boston Marathon -- and the validation that would give him as an elite runner -- but he has come up short in his first 10 tries.

On Sunday, a quest that began in Baghdad will continue in Miami.

''You learn real quick when you're over there: Life is short,'' Ferris said. ``I want to do what I dream about. And I dream of running the Boston Marathon.''


Source: miamiherald.com