This fall, Kyle Butler enters his junior year at Florida Southern College, where, at 26, he is older than his coach. His first attempt at college ended abruptly. A 9:46 2-miler in high school, he was part of three Florida cross country state championships. After earning a partial scholarship to Florida Atlantic University, he joined the cross country team in 2007, quickly became the No. 2 runner and over the course of the next year cut down his 8K PR down to 26:07. He didn't put that same kind of effort into his homework, however, and was kicked out of school his sophomore year. "I didn't really go to class," he says.
Butler's father, Doug, was also his high school coach. Doug had served in the Air Force, so Butler always imagined he would one day serve in the military as well. But it happened sooner than he expected. The week Butler left FAU, he filled out a notification of interest form on GoArmy.com. A few days later a recruiter sat in his family's living room, talking to him and his parents. "My parents thought I would join the National Guard, but I knew I wanted to go on active duty," Butler says. "I needed a bigger change."
In December 2009, Butler was accepted into the Army, after barely passing his fitness test. "I had to do 35 pushups, and I only did 35," says the 6-foot-1 beanpole who weighed 140 pounds at the time. "Then I ran an 11-minute 2-mile, and everyone was like, 'This kid is all right.'" He began serving in a military intelligence unit in 2010 and spent time stationed in South Carolina and Arizona until December of 2012, when he was deployed to Afghanistan. During the Chinook helicopter ride from the Kandahar airport to FOB Walton, the American base outside of the city, he could see Afghan people below--that's when it hit him. "This is not 'Call of Duty,'" he remembers thinking.
Butler lived at FOB Walton for six months. During that time, he provided surveillance reports and inspected incoming vehicles at the security checkpoint. "If there is a bomb on the vehicle, you're the first person to see it," he says. "It's very nerve-racking." Butler assumed his competitive racing career was over, but he had continued running 50 miles a week on a base treadmill. A typical week included a long run of up to 12 miles, a fartlek of 1 minute on, 1 minute off and a 4-mile tempo at 5:30 pace. "I worked eight to 12 hours a day, every day," Butler says. "To run 6 to 10 miles after a shift was pretty rough."
Despite hitting the weights and gaining 25 pounds, Butler figured he was the fastest person at FOB Walton. Then he competed in a 5K race around the base. "I ran 17:15, but I lost to a Kenyan contractor who finished in the low 17s," he says. (The base sits at 3,300 feet elevation.)
Butler returned from his deployment in May 2013 and left the military with an honorable discharge last September, after fulfilling his three-year, 30-week contract. By then he was itching to go back to college, though he figured he was too old to race again. A friend of his attended Florida Southern outside of Tampa and suggested Butler check out the Division II school. When Butler did, he realized that the coach, Ben Martucci, was someone he had competed against in high school. They discovered Butler had two years of eligibility left.
Over the winter, Butler ran 70-mile weeks and set PRs of 9:05 for the 3K and 15:38 for the 5K during outdoor track. Those results hint that Butler has more room to improve with a structured program. Martucci plans to raise Butler's weekly mileage to 85–90. "I have no doubt he can go sub-15:00 for the 5K and sub-25:30 for the 8K in cross country," Martucci says, adding, "Kyle is like having another assistant on the team."
Butler, who is down to 150 pounds, will look to become the team's top runner this fall. These days, he still feels pre-race jitters, but the anxiety he experienced during his military work in Afghanistan has given him a better appreciation for the sport. "I really started to enjoy every run while I was deployed, because the reality hit that I may not always have the opportunity to lace the shoes up," he says. "I now cherish every race, even the bad ones."
