Despite sun, sand and war, Lutz perseveres
Despite sun, sand and war, Lutz perseveres
By Mario Fraioli
Telegram & Gazette – August 7, 2005
If an athlete really wants something, he will persevere. Justin Lutz is living proof.
Lutz, 25, recently finished a stellar outdoor track season as a member of the Reebok Boston racing club, setting personal bests of 3:49 in the 1,500 meters (equivalent to a 4:06 mile) and 8:16 in the 3,000 meters – both national class performances. He finished fifth in the 1,500 at the USATF National Club Track & Field Championships in New York in July and also won the 22nd Annual Boston J.P. Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge this past June, a prestigious race featuring a field of more than 12,000 runners.
And that’s not even the remarkable part.
While most distance runners competing on the national level flee to such running meccas as Boulder, Colo., or Eugene, Ore., to gain an edge on their competition, Lutz, a Corporal in the Marine Reserves, took the road less traveled – all the way to Ar Ramadi, Iraq.
While certainly not excited by the prospect of heading back to war (it was his second deployment in nine months after a six-month stint in Kuwait in 2003), Lutz didn’t let it deter him one bit.
“The second time I was activated was July of 2004. When I received that news, I was devastated,” Lutz said. “I had only been home for 9 months, and I was already going back. But you have to stay motivated. A lot of people feel sorry for themselves and give up when the going gets tough. I could have easily packed it in and stopped running when I went to Iraq. It would have been a valid excuse. But I just used the experiences to make me a stronger and tougher runner. The key is to turn adverse situations into a motivator.”
Keeping in contact with his coach, Kevin Curtin, Lutz received his workouts weekly via e-mail and logged upward of 15 miles a day – all on the same 1-1/2 mile stretch of road within his company’s base, all under scorching sun, in the face of flying sand and with a pistol packed inside his Camelbak.
“I knew that I wanted to continue running and racing after I got home from my deployments, so I made a conscious effort to stay in shape,” Lutz said. “Plus, running happens to be a great diversion from being in a war-zone, as long as you don’t get blown up by incoming fire. It was really awful training in Iraq. Not only is the weather miserable, but it’s also a dangerous place.”
Since returning home just before the Boston Marathon in April, where he was honored as a special guest at the finish line by the Boston Athletic Association, Lutz has continued to balance his day job as a software engineer for the Raytheon Company in Sudbury with his demanding training regime.
“I usually run twice a day,” the 6-foot, 175-pound Lutz said. “On the weekend, I work in a long run and I lift weights several times per week. Training twice a day on top of a full-time job makes for a long day. It doesn’t leave room for too much else.”
So where does Lutz go from here? That’s a question that’s easily answered.
“I just want to run as fast as I possibly can,” Lutz said. “I don’t really have any specific number goals. I just want to feel that when I look back 10, 20, 30 years from now, I knew that I gave it my all and can smile when I think about all the experiences I had and the friends I made along the way. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey, you know?”