They are athletes second; soldiers, airmen, sailors and marines first

There are mornings when Marine Corps Maj. Andrew Christian wakes up before the sun in anticipation of a tough workout. The 40-year-old might lie in bed, dreading the three-hour bike ride and 90 minutes of running he's facing. Then he thinks about that morning in February 2006 when he and a team of Marines were traveling by convoy to a military compound in Karbala, Iraq, and a roadside bomb exploded, killing one of his comrades and severely wounding two others. "I want to make something good out of something tragic," he says. "It could have been me."

Christian thinks of those impacted by the blast -- the ftaherless children, the Marines' painful rehabilitations, their wives' struggles to pay the bills -- and he gets out of bed. They are the reason he trains. With each endurance event Christian competes in, he earns money from sponsors that he donates to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and to a college fund to benefit 6-year-old Kaiya Collado, the daughter of Staff Sgt. Jay Collado, who was killed in the attack. So far, he has raised more than $100,000 and completed two Ironman triathalons, a marathon and a half Ironman. In October, he was slated to compete in the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

Not all Masters athletes who serve in the military compete for such a dramatic reason. But many share his determination to be the best they can be at their sport. They also understand, as does Christian, who will soon leave for Afghanistan, that no matter how hard they train, country comes first. That means they may have to scale back their routines while serving in places where sniper fire, extreme heat and kidnappings are common. "It's not easy," Christian says, recalling that when he trained in Iraq he had to run after dark in a flak jacket and helmet.

When not stationed in a hot spot, though, he and other soldier athletes say the military offers an abundance of opportunities to compete and stay fit, everything from intramurals to high-profile road races. In addition, the Military World Games occurs every four years. This event brings together elite soldier athletes from the United States and its allies. Beyond that, the U.S. has a program to train soldiers who have a shot at the Olympics called the World Class Athlete Program.

Still, for every physically fit person, there are dozens more who struggle to pass their annual physical training test, a requirement for keeping their jobs -- and that number gets higher as they age. Each year, 10 percent of military personnel over the age of 40 fail the test, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Mark Cucuzzella, a top military marathoner and a family practitioner in West Virginia. Cucuzzella is trying to change that statistic by teaching the men and women at Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, where he is charge of health and fitness, how to start a running routine.

When Cucuzzella was 33, he developed arthritis in his feet and he began looking for ways to train more intelligently. He became a proponent of Chi running, a technique where runners use Tai Chi principles to run with better alignment and softer landings. Cucuzzella's good form has paid off: "I have just as much mobility now as I had right after surgery with thousands of more miles on my feet," he says. He also runs fewer miles than in his youth, logging no more than an hour a day on the C & O trail, an old tow path near his medical practice in Harper's Ferry, W.Va. Nevertheless, he has consistently run sub-2:35 minute marathons over the past 19 years.

Cucuzzella was a collegiate cross-country runner who joined the Air Force to pay for medical school and soon began racing in the Marine Corps Marathon, the Boston Marathon and the Air Force Marathon. The 41-year-old usually competes as part of an Air Force team, and during the 2006 Boston Marathon, his team came in second to the elite professional runners who make up the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. Not bad considering that at the end of the day the military runners have another job to do. "They're soldiers doing it because it's their passion," he says, "but unlike professional runners, they could be deployed tomorrow."

When military athletes are deployed, it can be difficult to keep up with their sport. Last year, Army Master Sgt. Jim Sharp was deployed to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, where he supervised mechanics working on humvees and tractor-trailers. Sharp is a competitive cyclist who in 2006 won the Masters division of the U.S. Forces Europe (USFE) cycling series and mountain bike championship. (The 46-year-old, who is stationed at an army base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, is now competing and winning in the open-class age division).

Sharp took up cycling 11 years ago and fell in love with the sport. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, he had few opportunities for athletics, so he doesn't take his mid-life transition to competitive athletics for granted. "I appreciate what I can do and the health that I have," he says. "One of the reasons I'm competing is to show my son that you're never too old to try something."

In Iraq, Sharp rode his bike along the perimeter of the base, despite concerns he could be an easy target for snipers. He squeezed in just 90 minutes a day of riding (compared with his usual three hours) during training sessions snuck in early in the morning and late at night when the temperatures were only in the 90s.

Shoehorning in workouts is something Naval Cmdr. Liz Breza knows well. The 44-year-old nurse who works at Naval Hospital Jacksonville in Florida rises at 4:30 a.m. to do cardiovascular, stretching and core training. After work, Breza heads to the golf course. A regular competitor in both military and civilian golf tournaments, Breza has competed in the Navy golf trials six times and has twice represented the Navy in the Military World Games.

Breza discovered golf while stationed on a naval base in Roto, Spain. Later, when she was transferred to San Diego, she began taking serious golf lessons, working to get her handicap under 10, a goal she attained after she was again transferred, first to Hawaii and then to Florida. As part of the Navy's world team, Breza has played on courses in Canada, Australia and Ireland.

Still she had to give up her sport for a year when in 2003 she was stationed near Kuwait City as part of a coalition staff for a three-star general who was planning the invasion north toward Baghdad. "I had no real opportunities to hit a golf ball," she says, adding: "It's hard, but you're out there to do a job."

That attitude permeates the armed forces athletic culture. Sgt. 1st Class Auggie Mendez, who coaches a variety of elite men's and women's soccer teams in the military, tells his players that they must see themselves as soldier athletes not athlete soldiers. In 2005, he had two players deployed to Iraq during (and just after) the U.S. Armed Forces Men's Soccer Championship tournament, when the team won a gold medal.

Mendez, who has been coaching for 12 years, is himself a competitive player. Before he was deployed to Korea this past August, the 49-year-old played in the La Tocadita Football League, a highly competitive adult league based in Washington, D.C. Mendez is old enough to be a father to many of his teammates but he says he doesn't intend to retire anytime soon. "I tell my wife that the day I'm being outrun by these 20-year-olds, I won't play. But so far I can still hang with them."

His continued speed on the field stems back to his youth in Mexico. At age 18, Mendez could run 100 meters in 10.8 seconds and might have competed for Mexico in the Olympics. But he had already been playing professional soccer for three years (his nickname was Rapidin, which means speedy in Spanish) and didn't feel he could afford to be an amateur athlete.

In 1989, when he was 30, Mendez's mother, who was American, urged him to play for a U.S. semi-pro team. In Los Angeles on his way to practice the first day, Mendez met an Army recruiter. He enlisted and soon became a standout player on the all-Army men's soccer team, scoring the only goal in the only Military World Cup Soccer Championship that the U.S. has ever won in 1993 against Tanzania.

Outside of his work as an assistant chaplain, Mendez spends his time communicating with players, making sure they are training on their bases and keeping their eyes out for potential players. His efforts have helped the Army's teams consistently win gold and silver medals at the armed forces tournaments and last year earned him the army's "Coach of the Year" award. He believes the soccer program made him and his players better soldiers, since none would be allowed to play if they weren't performing well in their units. "You have to be a good soldier, do your job right and stay out of trouble," he says. "And you have to remember that the mission comes first."

No one knows that better than Christian who expects to have few opportunities to keep up with his rigorous triathalon training once he arrives in Afghanistan next year. Christian, who's been a triathete since his early 20s, has seen action in Kosovo, Albania, and Africa in addition to Iraq. But it wasn't until some of his men were killed and injured that he felt the motivation to give his athleticism more meaning. His first endurance event dedicated to raising money was the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in June 2006.

Two months later, Christian wrote to Specialized Bicycles, a California bicycling company, asking if they would sponsor him. They agreed, throwing in a free bicycle and personal coach, Peter Reid, one of the world's best triathletes.

Reid coached Christian through his first Ironman, Ironman Arizona in 2007. After that, Christian joined the Marine Corps triathalon team and went on to compete in the Ironman New Zealand, where he qualified for Ironman Kona.

During the running portion of these events, Christian carries an American flag on a pole, though, he has yet to figure out an easy way to do it: He has scars on his collarbone from the pole rubbing against his shoulder and could clock faster times without it. But the flag is precious to him. It came from the back of the humvee that carried Collado and two other Marines who suffered grave injuries: Sgt Chris Claude, and 1st Lt. Justin Waldeck.

It reminds not just Christian of the human cost of the war but onlookers as well. When he carries it, he often hears shouts of encouragement such as "Go Flagman," "Semper Fi" and even just "Thank you." That's all needs, he says, to keep on running.

The Army's World Class Athlete Program

Fifteen years ago, Dremiel Byers won a state wrestling championship. As with many high school wrestlers that might well have been the end of his career. College wrestling scholarships are scarce, the professional circuit a farce.

But a year later, after Byers enlisted in the Army, he wrestled at a tournament held on his Army base in Ft. Lewis, Wash., and caught the eye of the company commander, who happened to be a four-time high school state wrestling champion.

Now, Byers is an Olympian and ranked seventh in the world in Greco-Roman wrestling. He placed fourth in Beijing, narrowly missing out on a medal.

Byers -- an affable 34-year-old who holds the rank of staff sergeant, loves motorcycles and competes in his grandfather's memory -- says it could not have happened without help from his employer, the U.S. Army. He has been a member of the Army's World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) throughout his adult wrestling career. It has given him access to top training centers and coaches. "It's a sponsorship you can only hope to have," he said. "The Army has met every training need, coaching need, equipment need ... Bottom line, I wouldn't be a wrestler if it weren't for the military." Most, if not all of the WCAP athletes would agree. The program is open to any Army recruit who has shown exceptional prowess in an Olympic sport.

Nevertheless, it's rare for an older athlete to be accepted into the program. Army Lt. Col. Heidi Grimm, a triathlete, had to argue her case when she applied two years ago at age 38. Grimm succeeded by pointing out that many endurance athletes don't reach their prime until their mid-to-late 30s and by illustrating that while she was aging, she was still getting faster at her sport, having won the national amateur title the year she applied. "A lot of it is a state
of mind," she said. "I don't think of myself as a 40 year old."

Within the WCAP, there are fencers, triathletes, bobsledders and rowers. Some practice at the Olympic training centers; others at different army bases, universities or athletic clubs. And while participants are unlikely to be deployed, they are still required to keep up with their military skills, in part, because they know their athletic career will one day come to a close. Byers is well aware that his career is limited, but he has promises to keep. He told his grandfather, who died in 2005, that he would earn an Olympic gold medal.

"It didn't go the way I wanted it to," he said of Beijing. "I want to fix it." He'll be 38 at the London Olympics in 2012. "I'm aware," he says. "That the clock is ticking."

-- Nancy Averett