Sgt. 1st Class Stephen Lenhert, a 38-year-old platoon sergeant with Bravo Battery, 5th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, remembers the days while training for the 26.2-mile Fort Irwin, Calif., marathon in 2000.

Though he didn't make the starting line because he felt as though he wasn't ready, Lenhert was set for redemption at the 2003 Honolulu Marathon.

"We ran this as a unit," Lenhert said. "And ever since then, I have been hooked. I definitely like the longer distance"

Fast forward to September 2009, when Lenhert ran the 13.1-mile JBLM Half Marathon along with his battalion commander and chaplain. A few months later, doctors found a hernia in his leg. Surgery was set for January 2010. Distraught that he wouldn't be able to deploy with his unit to Iraq, the Soldier was looking forward to a quick surgery and recovery and getting back to work.

When he woke up from what he thought would be a routine surgery, Lenhert realized he could not move his left leg. The next four days in the hospital revealed that a surgical error had left him with nerve damage in his left quadriceps muscle, rendering his leg unusable for five months.

"It was even to the point where doctors told me they weren't sure if the Army would even keep me," he said.

Hearing this lit a fire under Lenhert.

"I thought, ‘No way. This is not happening,'" he said. "I was determined from that point, as soon as I started getting something - anything at all - that I would work and work to get healthy."

From there, Lenhert started meeting with a physical therapist, and out of curiosity asked if the JBLM half marathon in 2011 would be a good goal to set his sights on.

"(It) is exactly what I needed," Lenhert said of the goal.

At the time, both straightening and curling his leg was impossible. Using weights, doctors came to the conclusion that he had significant muscle loss, and had maybe 25 percent of his left quadriceps left.

For months, grueling physical therapy and strengthening the leg were a part of his daily regimen. With everything that Lenhert was going through, he recalls the most difficult and frustrating part of his journey.

"I was trying to play baseball with my son and physically could not," he said. "If I turned the wrong way to throw the ball, I would fall and hit the ground immediately. Not being able to do things with my kids was the hardest part."

After he runs the JBLM half marathon on Sept.17, Lenhert has yet to decide if future long distance races are for him.

"Right now, I cannot run pain free," he said. "It hurts from the first step to the last."

But the proud father won't be going at it alone, as his sons, Paul and Luke, are planning to run with him.