Beginning

 I never thought of myself as a runner. Running was something I would do when needed, but not something that I ever sought out. While growing up, I preferred spending my time with my friends, playing video games, or searching out excitement. Running was boring, painful and exhausting.

When I joined the Army, running became a regular part of my life. I was ok at it--middle of the pack. In the Army we regularly did 3-4 mile runs at a 8 to 9 minute pace during morning physical training. I was a young man and never found these runs to difficult. But these morning Army physical training runs remained the only time I ever ran. 

This was all before I became a runner because I now now, at 45 years old, view myself as a runner. In becoming a runner, I have discovered the joys of benefit of running. Running has enabled me to transform my body and mind.

This is the story of how I went from being unfit to fit. How I went from being overweight, out of shape, and unhappy to being healthy, strong, and confident.

But before I tell you how I became a runner, I have to tell you how I got unfit.

It all started in 2008, when I was 30 years old. I had been in the Army since 18, but had been away from regular duties for three years completing law school. I attended the University of Arizona Law School as part of the Army's Funded Legal Education Program (FLEP). This is a program where the Army takes active duty Army officers and sends them to law school to become Army lawyers. I never thought I would become a lawyer, but the FLEP program was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

My first job as an Army lawyer was to serve as a prosecutor in XVIII Airborne Corps, the most prestigious unit in the United States Army. The XXVIII Airborne Corps is located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was a dream job for me. I got to serve in a highly professional Airborne Corps where part of my regular duties included jumping out of airplanes. I also got to serve as a prosecutor. I always wanted to be a prosecutor. Prosecutors protect society, vindicate victims, and ensure the rights of defendants are guaranteed. Prosecutors emblemize selfless service. They don't work to get rich, but work to make the world better. And it was self gratifying. Serving as a prosecutor for the Army's premier Corps level unit was prestigious and challenging. It was professionally fulfilling, but stressful.  

And there was a not of stress. The prosecutor job is one that is full of conflict, drama, and trauma. I had to deal with difficult witnesses, hostile defense attorneys, and complex rules of evidence. I had to handle sensitive and complex cases that involved life-and-death decisions and moral dilemmas. I had to relive with witnesses and victims the horrors and tragedies of violent crimes.

But despite all the challenges and hardships, I loved my job. I felt that I was doing justice. I was helping victims who had been harmed. I was protecting the rights of accused soldiers as a prosecutor by guaranteeing that they would receive a fair and timely trial. And I was moving criminal cases towards resolution to ensure that defendants, victims, and witnesses could obtain closure and move on with their lives.

I found my work meaningful and rewarding. But it also took a toll on me. It consumed my time, energy, and attention. It drained my emotions and spirit. It isolated me from my family and friends.

I had no balance in my life. I had no hobbies or interests outside of work. I had no fun or relaxation.

I had no life.

And this job--the job of being an Army prosecutor at the most prestigious Corps in the Army, was only part of my life. I was also a father of three triplet boys, born in 2008. They were wonderful blessings, but required constant care and attention. Luckily, my beautiful wife Becky took on most of the challenges of caring for our children. But she deserved my support when at home. With work and household duties, I quickly found that my fuel tank was perpetually on empty.

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.

Visiting the Ozarks in the New Sunseeker

Another one of our trips.  We bought a 33 foot Sunseeker, trading in our old Edge trailer.  First trip with the Sunseeker--well, we went to watch my niece graduate from basic training at Fort Sill Oklahoma.

On the way back, we stopped by the Ozarks.  Since my wife likes spelunking, we decided to stop by the Mystic Caverns in Arkansas.  Another motivation--check off another state from my "States Visited List."  The Mystic Caverns were the perfect level of physical exertion (low--as my wife was pregnant at the time)

RV worked great (though we missed our edge).  And the caves were fun.

More adventures to come.

Scipio.

Stopping By Mystic Cavern

A River of Calcite in Crystal Dome Cavern

Beautiful Calcite Formation in Crystal Dome Cavern

Traveling the ALCAN in our Travel Trailer

The greatest RV trip we ever took with our Edge trailer was a trip up the Alaskan Canadian Highway, or ALCAN, in 2014.  We were living in Virginia at the time and had three weeks to make it from Virginia to Fairbanks, Alaska.  Having already RV'd across the United States, we decided that I would take the Edge and drive from Virginia to Seattle, Washington, as quick as I could.  My family would then fly to Seattle to join me.  This way, we would be able to meander along the ALCAN.

With long days on the road, and sleeping at night in Walmart Parking lots, my two dogs and I were able to travel about 700 miles per day and cross the United States from Virginia to Seattle in four days.  Along the way, I drove through Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, which to this day I think has to be one of the most beautiful locations in the United States. 

Since I had budgeted five days for crossing the United States, I had a full day to rest and recoup before my family flew into Sea-Tac International Airport.  I spent the day cleaning up the trailer and walking along the coastline.

Once my wife and boys arrived, along with my wife's parents (yes, planned to travel the ALCAN in a 24ft travel trailer with five adults, three kids, and two dogs), we promptly began our trip north.  We decided to cross over the U.S. / Canadian Border at Sumas, Washington.  We had hoped that, by getting off of I-5, we could avoid any heavy border traffic.  We were wrong.  It took us hours to get across the border at Sumas.

Once we got across the border, our pace quickly picked up.  We drove for hours through British Columbia, making our way into the Great Basin area of British Columbia.  Though people typically think of green trees when they think of British Columbia, large portion of British Columbia actually lie within the Great Basin, a relatively dry area of the continent extending from the Southwestern United States into Canada.  Growing up in the Western United States, I had been traveling in and out of the Great Basin for most of my life.  My father always noted that our family had a long history of living on the edged of the Great Basin.  The Canadian Great Basin was a mirror imagine of the Great Basin region within the United States--few people, living in rusty structured that appear to have been lost in a time.  There is a peacefulness to the Great Basin that comes from existing outside of the hectic progress of more developed areas.

The ALCAN highway begins in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.  Dawson Creek is near the British Columbia / Alberta border, within the plains region of the North American Continent.  Though it is a relatively small community, it was the closest thing to urban that we would see for the next 1,459 miles, when we would conclude our travels in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The ALCAN was amazing in its beauty.  During our trip we saw moose, elk, brown bear, black bear, buffalo, a linx (it moved before we could get a photo), and miles and miles of beautiful scenery.  The first night on the ALCAN, we stopped near the beautiful green and blue waters of Muncho Lake.  The next day, we drove on, stopping for lunch at Coal River Lodge.  Our stop at Coal River Lodge was made memorable by the machismo of a local dog, boldly facing off with a large buffalo bull.  The restaurant served buffalo burgers, but the owner assured us that the meat was not locally harvested (the buffalo apparently are protected by local laws).  After eating lunch, we traveled on to Laird Hot Springs for a nice, relaxing dip in its hot, sulfur waters.  It was a relaxing afternoon. 

That night, we made it to Watson Lake, which was on our "must see" list of placed to along the ALCAN.  Watson Lake is the home of the famous Signpost Forest.  The Signpost Forest started when a couple guys working on the the original ALCAN highway, which was being built as a military road, put some signs up pointing to their hometowns back in the United States.  My mother-in-law had traveled the ALCAN with her father and mother during the 1960s and had put a sign up at the Signpost Forest.  After hours of looking, we never did find my mother-in-law's old sign.  I imagine it has long since rotted away.  Nonetheless, it was still fun to look at all the signs put up from all over the world.  That night, we stopped outside of Watson Lake at the Nugget City RV park.

Our next major goal along the ALCAN was Whitehorse , Yukon.  Built along the Yukon River, Whitehorse is a beautiful town.  For anyone traveling the ALCAN, I highly recommend making time to walk along Whitehorse's river walk.  While walking around Whitehorse, I learned that Whitehorse is the home of the legend of Sam McGee.  Remarking upon this to my wife, she asked, "Who is Sam McGee?"  I was amazed that she had never heard the poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee.  I thought it was mandatory elementary school reading.  Apparently not.

Onward we traveled, making it to Haines Junction, Yukon.  By this time, the light of day lasted well into the night.  We had to put cardboard on the RV door window in order to to make our RV trailer dark enough to sleep in.

The next day, we traveled north from Haines Junction.  Actually, at first we missed the turn north and continued west toward Haines, Alaska.  My boys still give me a hard time about missing the only turn on the ALCAN.  Once we got on the right road, we continued through the beautiful and remote Yukon, stopping for lunch at Kluane Lake.  When I say we stopped at Kluane Lake for lunch, I mean we prepared some food from the RV and ate lakeside, since there were no stores anywhere in sight.  It is a beautiful and peaceful lake.  If you have a pair of binoculars, you can see Dall Sheep dotting the mountain side near the lake.

From Kluane Lake, we continued on to Beaver Creek, Yukon.  Once you pass Kluane Lake on your way to Beaver Creek, the ALCAN turns into a dirt road with a lot of potholes.  The bumpiness of the road was a fair price to pay for the nature we got to see, to include seeing numerous brown bears in the wild.  Unlike the black bears in British Columbia, these brown bears didn't seem very intimidated by humans. 

Beaver Creek is the last stop in the Yukon Territory before you cross back into the United States.  There's not much there, but the small cultural center did serve as a nice reprieve from the road.

Once we crossed into Alaska, the road immediately improved.  By the time we go back to the paved roads of Alaska, our car and trailer had become caked in dirt.  That night, we stopped in Tok, Alaska.  By this time, the mosquitoes ruled the dusk (I say dusk, because it never got dark).

After Tok, we headed on to the end of the ALCAN at Delta Junction.  Delta Junction is a neat little community.  The cultural center was a fun stop  Right next to the cultural center there was a neat old road house that was used by prospectors trekking north from Valdez in search of gold.  From Delta Junction, it is an easy drive north to Fairbanks.  My family would fall in love with Fairbanks.  For a small town, there is an amazing amount of stuff to do.  While in Fairbanks, we would even drive the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle.  Without a doubt, the Arctic Circle  was the most remote place I have ever been in my life.

All in all, traveling the ALCAN was a life event.  I know that my children will talk about it their whole lives.  I imagine that one day, they may even take their own children on the trek, remembering along their first trip up the ALCAN with the own parents.

The reason we took up RVing was to spend time with family, and to give our kids a childhood full of happy memories that they can draw upon when life gets tough.  I think our ALCAN trip will be a memory my children will recall throughout their lives when in need of a smile.

Happy Travels,

Scipio

    

While Driving Through British Columbia,
we Saw a Brave Dog Trying to Take On a Buffalo

Pulled Off on the Side of the ALCAN

GRIZZLY BEAR!!

Them Moose are BIG!!

The Last Part of the ALCAN is Unpaved

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

I wrote the below article for a graduate-level leadership course I recently completed.  During the course, we examined the art and science of organizational leadership.  I've posted the article on this website to help explain the motivations that ultimately led my family and I toward vacation Rving.  The article talks about how my grandfather's death in 2007 changed the way I view life.  My family and I bought our first RV a couple months after my grandfather's death.

Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas, in their essay, Crucibles in Leadership, argue that good leaders use crucible events to “force . . . deep self-reflection, where they examine their values, question their assumptions, and hone their judgment.”[i] Within my own professional career, the crucible event that caused me to critically reexamine the way I viewed my role and responsibilities as a leader was the death of my grandfather 2007.  My grandfather’s death, and the missed opportunities to spend more time with him in his later years, made me reexamine my “work first, family later” approach to work and leadership.  In recognition of my regrets over the missed opportunities to spend time with my grandfather, and in honor of the extraordinary support my grandfather always gave me, I have strove, and will continue to strive, as an organizational leader, to be an exemplar for subordinates, peers, and superiors of a work-life balanced lifestyle.

            For me, my grandfather was a giant.  He was the patriarch of my family and an unwavering advocate of everything I did.  During the early years of my professional career, my grandfather wrote me almost daily, despite the fact that my letters in return were few and far between.  My grandfather always had a way of bringing perspective to life's frustrations.  He was my greatest supporter.

            It is easy to take for granted such unconditional support and devotion.  My grandfather would give me his time, his ear, his compassion and his understanding, and yet I frequently failed to reciprocate.  As a young, ambitious professional, I often found that I had little time for family.  I was trying to establish my professional reputation; and in my mind, there would always be time for family later.

            My “work now, family later” mentality was not uncommon among the mid and senior level managers that I worked for during my early career.  I worked for an impersonal, result oriented executive.  Though my immediate supervisor was a devoted family man, he was held in low regard by his peers and superiors.  Since I desired to have a successful career, I tried to emulate the hard work ethic and long hours shown by the successful professionals at my workplace.  My efforts were rewarded with good evaluations and with more than one supervisor commenting approvingly of my strong work ethic.

            On 4 October 2007, I was struck broadside by the inevitable failings of my “work now, family later” lifestyle when I received a phone call from my mother informing me that my grandfather was in the hospital dying.  My grandfather’s health had been poor for some time.  I had been meaning to visit him, but there was always so much work that needed to get done.  I was proud that my superiors relied on me, and I continuously looked to validate their trust.  I believed that validating their trust meant working long hours and always being available.  Upon receiving that phone call, for the first time in my young professional career, I immediately dropped everything and traveled to California to see him.  I was scared that I would not make it before he died. 

            When I got to the hospital, my grandfather was lying in a bed, suffering from the pain of a failing body.  When I walked into the room, my sister said, “Look who's here, Grandpa!”  My grandfather responded with his familiar, “Hey Partner!”  My sister told me that my grandfather had been so happy when he heard that I was on the way.  That final “Hey Partner” were the last words my grandfather ever said to me.

            I am comforted in knowing that my grandfather lived a long and well-lived life.  His death nonetheless had a profound effect on me.  I felt, and continue to feel, regret over the missed opportunities to spend time with him during the last years of his life.  My grandfather’s death became a crucible event within my life because it helped crystallize within my mind an understanding that a “work now, family later” lifestyle would never provide a meaningful and happy life.

             As I look back upon the early years of my career, I recall that all my supervisors dutifully repeating a professed belief in work-life balance.  Yet, as a young professional, I, and many of my peers, failed to live work-life balance lives.  Our failure mirrored the failures of our leaders, who themselves preached, but failed to maintain, balance in their lives.  It was accepted orthodoxy that long hours on the job was the cost of a successful professional career.        

It is a commonly accepted axiom that the best way to bring change within an organization is for leaders to live the values they preach.  Actions speak louder than words, and therefore successful leaders must serve as role models of the professional culture they wish to impart upon their organizations.  The importance of personal example as a tool to institutionalize organizational values is particularly true for the organizational leader, whose daily interactions with the rank- and-file is far more limited than that of day-to-day supervisors. 

            I am a better leader and a better family man than I was when my grandfather died in 2007.  I still believe work is important; I just no longer believe it to be all important.  My grandfather’s death helped me realize the importance of living a work-life balanced lifestyle.  As a leader, I will strive to be an exemplar of work-life balance for others to follow; and to demonstrate that working long hours is not the only way to enjoy professional success.

---

[i] Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas, “Crucibles of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, September 2002, Web, 18 Jan. 2016 <https://hbr.org/2002/09/crucibles-of-leadershiup>.