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Four Yellow Ribbons

A Project to Honor our Soldiers Who Have Died in Iraq

by Karl Rysted

Current Project

In April, 2004, here at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, I decided to run or racewalk a mile for every American soldier who has died in Iraq. I already had several marathons under my belt and coach people who are training for one, but even so, when the death toll reached 1,000, I wondered if I could do it. I strengthened my resolve and kept going.

I kept this project private for a long time. It wasn’t until October of that year that I decided to share it. It was the fall racing season, and although I wasn't running a marathon, I entered the racewalking competition for the Tulsa Run on October 30^th, and it seemed like to a good time to let people know. I wore four yellow ribbons on the back of my shirt, honoring the first 400 soldiers, one ribbon for each 100. I temporarily named the project Four Yellow Ribbons and created this website. Then when I hit 500 miles, I wore five for the first 500 soldiers and for each branch of the service.

• April, 2005. A year later, I find myself at a crossroads. My sports doctor has diagnosed me with piriformus syndrome and upper IT band syndrome, so I will be unable to run long distance for a while, which will slow my progress on this project significantly.
• July, 2005. I'm back on (the) track! I've been cross-training and stopped running completely for a while, but now I'm running again and starting to increase my mileage but working cross-training into my schedule more.
• November, 2005. It's the fall racing season. I loved the Race for the Cure and set a Personal Record (PR) for the 5k. More importantly, it brought me to 1300 miles. Had another good 5k at White Rock Lake in Dallas.
• December, 2005. Back in Dallas and ran a PR for the half marathon.
• April, 2006. Two years now. Thanks to everyone for the support!
• June, 2006. A marathon PR.
• March, 2007. Another marathon PR. My mileage is increasing dramatically. This month alone I ran 193 miles. So my cap was covered with yellow ribbons and there was no room for any more. I switched from a ribbon for every 100 to 1,000.
• May, 2007. Amother marathon PR.
• July, 2007. Amother half marathon PR. Back to 4 ribbons.
• March, 2008. The last several months have brought incredible change to my running. I got 3rd place in my age group at a 5k here, got another marathon PR, and am now sponsored by Brooks as part of their Inspire Daily program. This project is evolving in ways I can't even forsee. For example, I just found out about Run For The Fallen, a group project much like this individual one. Maybe I can become a part of it this summer. Go to www.runforthefallen.org to learn more about it.
• July, 2008. I drove out to Amarillo to take part in the run. Here are some pictures:

4000-5000 miles

Biographical Information

Karl Rysted is a graduate of Colorado College and received his Juris Doctor degree from Oklahoma City University in 1992, when he became an attorney. He works at Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Inc., a non-profit organization providing civil legal services to the poor.

He has run many short races and the Baltimore Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon ('03 and '06), the Motorola Austin Half Marathon, the Freescale Austin Marathon, the Columbus Capital City Half Marathon (in the snow), the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon, the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, the Lost Dutchman Half Marathon, the Red Bud Half Marathon, the Vancouver International Marathon, the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon, the Royal Victoria Marathon, the Tulsa Route 66 Marathon Relay. the OC Marathon, the Ft. Worth Cowtown Marathon Relay, the Olathe Marathon, the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon Relay, the Avenue of the Giants Marathon, the Olympia Capital City Marathon, the Missoula Half Marathon, the Haulin' Aspen Trail Marathon, the Bellingham Bay Marathon, the Rock Creek/Lake Perry Trail Ultra, the Carlsbad Marathon, the Lost Dutchman Marathon, the Grasslands Trail Marathon, the Knoxville Marathon, and the Eugene Marathon. His relay team earned a 3rd place medal in the Ft. Worth Cowtown Marathon Relay in February, 2007. He has been featured twice in The Oklahoman newspaper and has appeared on several radio shows. At the 2005 Freescale Austin Marathon, he was interviewed by KXAN television about this story. He was featured in a national publication, Equal Justice, in the Spring, 2005 issue.