Chapter 1

 Running Home from Iraqi

Chapter 1 -- Becoming A runner

• My name is John Longley. I am a 45 year old Army lawyer. This book is about how I became a runner. Specifically, it is about how I went from someone who only ran when the Army made me to a frequent marathoner. It will talk about how I went from being tired and overweight to qualifying in and running in the Boston Marathon in 2012.
• I graduated from the University of Arizona Law School in 2008. I attended under a program that sent active duty officers to law school to become lawyers in the Army. So upon graduating, I went right back to the Army.
• We call Army Laws JAGs, or Judge Advocate Generals.
• Near the same time of graduation from law school, my wife gave birth to three baby boys--Jack, Robbie, and Joey.
• My first job as an Army JAG was prosecutor. I spent three years as a prosecutor. I was a good prosecutor. With a strong belief that victims and accused deserved timely resolution of criminal cases, I worked 16 plus hours a day trying to resolve criminal cases.
• When home, infant triplets proved tiresome. My wife Rebecca took on most of the child caring duties, but it goes without saying, there was never any opportunity for rest.
• With a demanding job and a chaotic home life, for the first time in my life, I started getting heavier. I am 5'10 and typically my weight remained around 160 lbs. As the years of being a prosecutor passed, I quickly saw my weight balloon by 30 lbs. I has heavier than I had ever been. I was chronically tired, frequently sick, and had no energy beyond what was needed to push through each day.
• I remember my boss at the time, Colonel Berg, once told me that though I was a good prosecutor, I wasn't taking care of myself.
• My weight was a problem. Professionally, for the first time in my career I no longer met Army height/weight standards. I had to lose weight or suffer a premature end to my career.
• But I loved eating. Throughout my whole life, eating is how my family has dealt with stress. It is the lesson I learned as a child. Eating is what provides comfort when stressed.
• My go to stress food was Twinkies. I fondly remember Twinkies in my lunch when growing up, and still turned to them for sugar infused happiness when live became challenging.
• After three years of watching the weight line expand, I had no answers to my weight problem. Life's challenges were in control. I was in total reaction mode.
• And then, in 2010, my boss came into my office and told me that he was going to deploy with to Iraq with the 20th Engineer Brigade. I would be the Chief Lawyer for the Brigade. I was overweight, tired, and now I was heading to Iraq.