Grayslake reservist runs marathon in Afghan war zone

Olympic marathon runners will have to endure Beijing's brutal triple threat of heat, humidity and smog.

The marathon Grayslake runner John Rousseau completed this month in an even more hostile climate also added a degree of difficulty by way of the Taliban's specter of Improvised Explosive Devices, Rocket-Propelled Grenades and small-arms fire.

"The marathon site-was a little more stressful considering we were so close to the Pakistan border and the Taliban were right next door," Rousseau confesses in an e-mail from his base in Afghanistan. "There are certain safeguards as far as walls and observation areas to protect the base. But the risk is there, and we chose to run anyway."

The 41-year-old Navy Reservist administrative officer even shed his 50 pounds of body armor as he circled the one-third-mile supply road "inside the wire" of Forward Operating Base Fiaz. Just in case he forgot he was in a combat zone, running past a fleet of 1151 Up-Armored Humvees with mounted .50-caliber M2 machine guns were a constant reminder.

"We occasionally get rockets or mortars aimed at our base, but most are fired by unskilled insurgents from the Taliban or al-Qaida," says Rousseau, who adds that he feels his Provincial Reconstruction Team at Camp Wright in Asadabad brings "hope and promise" to war-weary Afghans.

Rousseau was one of four military personnel in Afghanistan to run a "remote" race this month as part of an agreement with the San Francisco Marathon. Rousseau and Staff Sgt. Robert Cortez of Miami, Petty Officer Alex Tabayoyon of West Richland, Wash., and Lt. Col. Loren Weeks of Sunnyvale, Calif., ran in Afghanistan, but their times were listed alongside runners in San Francisco.

While the Bay Area runners enjoyed a perfectly cool day as they zipped along the Embarcadero, past the noisy sea lions of Fisherman's Wharf, through the Presidio and across the Golden Gate Bridge, the heat sapped Rousseau's energy and the rocks ravaged his new shoes.

"After about two hours of running, I realized that I wasn't going to have a personal best and just focused on keeping it under four hours," says Rousseau, who recorded the best time in the Afghanistan run. "I did it in 3:58. I had to do a sprint on the last half-mile to make sure. We all used Garmin GPS watches to keep us honest."

The sailor is "living in another world, experiencing a different way of life, and seeing how the U.S. is trying to help the Afghan people," says his proud wife, Donna Rousseau, a math teacher at Big Hollow Middle School in Ingleside. A "walker, not a runner," she misses her husband of 16 years, but says neighbors, family and friends "have been very supportive."

They also expect Rousseau, who has won military promotions and awards in Afghanistan, to take on additional challenges, such as running a marathon in the Taliban's shadow.

"It doesn't surprise me," says Lupe Kathrens-Gallardo, founder of the Grayslake Running Club (www.grayslakerunning.com). The 46-year-old Allstate employee and mother of four says the man known as J.R. has the physical ability and "mental strength" of a "great runner," but also "makes sure everybody is running safe."

"J.R. is a real team player. He's the glue that's held our club together," says John Feuerborn, 37, an accountant from Hainesville who runs with the club. "J.R. is an inspiration for all Americans. Like J.R., Americans need to continue to live life to the fullest, regardless of the roadblocks, physical or mental, in our way."

On his last leave home before he shipped out for Afghanistan, Rousseau left a dinner with his wife to help Feuerborn with a flat tire on a freezing night.

At his job with Segeredahl Graphics in Wheeling, where he was promoted to night shift manager before he left for Afghanistan, Rousseau is "a real go-to guy, always looking to do things above and beyond," says Bob Lozano, the printing company's director of pre-press operations. "He's always up for a challenge."

Even if that challenge includes a climate where the forecast can call for temperatures of 120 degrees with an intermittent chance of deadly force.

"A few obstacles to overcome, eh?" says Greg Walters, a 58-year-old Air Force veteran from Grayslake and member of the running club. "He's a dedicated guy - dedicated to his country and dedicated to running. He's a good guy to have on your side."

Even when Rousseau was doing his "two weeks a year" on a Navy ship, "he'd do 15 miles on a treadmill," says Bill Galluzzo, 49, a retired Marine sergeant and member of the Grayslake Running Club.

Rousseau saw plenty of landscape while training in Afghanistan.

"We logged over 400 miles of rocky and hilly terrain along with morning runs of 85 degrees and quite a few afternoon runs at close to 100 degrees - not to mention attacks that happened here, too," Rousseau writes. "I usually did my training runs at 4 or 4:30 in the morning before it got too hot and the wind kicks up the fine dust and dirt."

They kicked off their marathon at 4:45 a.m. with high humidity and temperatures in the mid-80s. As soon as the last man finished, the temperature cracked the 100-degree mark.

"As far as 'cheerleaders,' it was just the 10 or so guys, including my commanding officer, who came to cheer me on during the one day off a week we get," Rousseau adds.

That's a far cry from the attention runners got in the last marathon he attempted - the 2007 Chicago Marathon - where he dropped out because of the heat after 13 miles.

"I vowed to seek personal revenge on that, and train hard here (in Afghanistan) to acclimate myself to run in repressive heat," Rousseau says. "It was more rewarding to finish the race out here than any race back in the states.

"I'm very proud of the fact that I completed a race in combat conditions; not against the guys I was running with, but for the freedom we Americans enjoy and against the oppression the anti-Afghan forces try to force on the peaceful people of Afghanistan," Rousseau says.

His wife and the army of supporters he has waiting for him here are the inspiration for his next big run - hopefully before the end of this year.

"I am really looking forward to getting to run with my friends through the streets of Grayslake," Rousseau concludes, "without the threat of an enemy."

Daily Herald Staff Writer Bob Susnjara contributed to this report.