Running into 2024 and Celebrating 50 Years as a Runner

For the most part, this blog has sat dormant for the past few years. During that time, I underwent a career change and became a grandfather four times. My focus since 2020 has been on my family and my job. During 2022, I had made it a goal to run and/or bike every day of the year. I made it about 260 days before life changed and I left the field of law and became Director of Faith Formation at a Catholic church in Indiana. Since then, I've been focused on my ministry with young people and spending time with my family. I'm three months away from turning 59 and can't deny the white hair I see in my beard. Yes, just in the past week I've started to grow out my whiskers -- something I've not done since I shaved my beard off 33 years ago. As the white hairs appear more each day in my beard, I can't help but to admit that I am indeed getting older. I'm entering the final year of my 50's and seeing my children starting to have children of their own definitely tells me that time is moving forward. That's not a bad thing at all. In fact, I'm embracing it. It's wonderful to see how life changes as the years go by. There may be a few more wrinkles and white hairs as I look in the mirror, but it's all good. God has been very good to me.

With that said, I do believe that I need to become more active again. For the past 18 months, my running shoes have sat under my bed and my bike has been on a hook in my garage. Some know that I had kicked around an idea for another adventure run, something I've not done since age 46 in 2011 when I ran solo across the Mojave Desert. However, I discerned that God didn't want me to embark on an ultra-endurance journey at this particular time in my life. For those of you familiar with my running background, the 2006 BOB support stroller that I use on all of my solo runs across states and countries has been rebuilt and is in my garage. Yes, "BOB" (Beast of Burden) could definitely do another adventure. The fact is, I'm not sure what the future holds for another mega-mileage run. Somewhere down in my heart, I believe there is still a stirring... that there may indeed be something that God has planned for me in running. Honestly, I'm not really pondering it that much. I'm simply loving my life... my wife... my family... my ministry... and this season of wrapping up my 50s.

Running caught my eye at the age of 9. It was 1974 and I was in the 4th grade when my elementary school participated in the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. You had to be at least age 10 to take the test and try to get The Presidential Physical Fitness Award -- the highest award given for performance on the AAHPER (American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation) Youth Fitness Test. I watched the 5th and 6th grade students take the test, which included running, and I knew that I wanted to do well on it when I was in the fifth grade. Running became my sport in the mid-1970s and it has been my primary sport for the past 50 years. The year 2024 will take me into the end of my 50s and will mark 40 years since I first began running distances beyond the marathon (26.2 miles). Back then, I was sponsored by such companies as New Balance, Gatorade, Timex, and a newly-formed eyewear company called Oakley. Today, I'm not sponsored by any companies.

I'm going to aim to keep this blog more up to date, especially as I become more active by running and cycling through 2024. For those new to this blog, I invite you to explore some of the writings I've placed here. I've shared many stories about my adventure runs, as well as writings pertinent to family and fitness. For those of you who have been here before, thanks for coming back! I do want everyone to know that running will never be the priority in my life. My family will always come first. Always. What's the point of reaching for life's mileposts alone? To me, life's mileposts should be shared with those you love. I am truly blessed to have a loving and supportive family, for which I am very grateful.

Gotta Run,

Paul J. Staso

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Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past

A Priceless Drawing That I Will Always Treasure

I was looking through some old files today and came across this drawing my eldest son, Kyler, made for me back in 2006 when he was 8 years old. Priceless!

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

_______________________________________

Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past

"How Hard Was It To Run Across America?"

A colleague at my office recently asked me what she considered to be a rather simple question: "How hard was it to run across America?" I've been asked a lot of questions in the nearly 12 years since I completed my solo coast-to-coast adventure, but that is a question I'm not actually asked very often. I'm used to being asked how many pairs of running shoes I went through (six), or how long it took me to run the 3,260 miles (108 days). Those are easy answers to toss out. However, trying to describe how "hard" it was to run across the country is very difficult.

For some people, it's "hard" just to make it to the end of the work week, or it's "hard" to take the stairs rather than the elevator. Trying to sum up the difficulty of the 6 million strides between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean seems nearly as difficult as it was to get myself to the starting line to begin that endeavor. How hard was that run? Well, it took every ounce of strength, determination, perseverance and faith that I had within me. It hurt -- every day! It beat me into the ground and there were times that I thought it might break me. How "hard" was it? Let me put it this way: It redefined the word "hard" in my life!

The picture above was taken on the hottest day of the run across America... in 105-degree heat in eastern Washington state on Highway 14 along the Columbia River. I was in the middle of a 30-mile day and was battling tendinitis in my lower right leg. There were rattlesnakes in the bushes along the road's edge, the pavement was radiating heat at over 140 degrees, and the stroller of gear, food and water weighed over half of my body weight (and I weighed 145 pounds at the time). If you look at my left shoulder in the photo you'll see that my skin had bubbled up... literally cooking in the searing heat. It may appear to be sweat, but it is blistered skin because the sun typically rotated around my left side as I ran east. My feet were blistered, my back and shoulders ached, and I typically didn't see a car on that particular highway for up to an hour. That was just ONE day of the run across America... and the entire journey took a total of 108 days on the pavement.

How hard was it to run across America? It was far more demanding than I ever imagined it would be. Most people who cross the country on foot have support vehicles with air conditioning, cold beverages, good food, and other people to encourage and assist. When you're running across the country alone, as I did, you have to be completely self sufficient -- and there is no escaping the weather. My water supply would get very warm, like bath water. Any food that I carried would lose its consistency in the relentless heat, and often lose its taste. Grasshoppers and flies were constantly coming at my sweat-covered body. Blisters would break, bleed, and hurt as the skin on the balls of my feet tore away while I pushed the heavy stroller down the road. My hands would ache from gripping the stroller's handlebar and blisters formed on my palms.

How hard was it to run across America? Many days, it was agony. Sure, there were easier days... but countless days were filled with pain and complete solitude. I'll never be able to fully describe how hard it was to run between 30 to 50 miles every day for nearly 4 months across the country. It has been nearly a dozen years since I did it and I still can't accurately and completely describe all that I experienced physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Running across America during the second hottest summer ever recorded in the United States highly magnified parts of my character and human spirit that I had never fully experienced before in my life. It made me learn so many things about myself, about what I can endure, and about the capabilities of the human body and spirit.

How hard was it to run across America? Simply stated, it was absolutely the most physically demanding, challenging and painful thing I've ever done in my life. Absolutely!

From Him, Through Him, For Him (Romans 11:36),

Paul J. Staso

_______________________________________

Visit my YouTube channel -- https://www.youtube.com/user/pacetrek

Click on any of the links below to see some of my adventure photos:

• United States in 2006 (3,260 miles solo in 108 days at age 41)
• Montana in 2008 (620 miles solo in 20 days at age 43)
• Alaska in 2009 (500 miles solo in 18 days at age 44)
• Germany in 2010 (500 miles solo in 21 days at age 45)
• The Mojave Desert in 2011 (506 miles solo in 17 days at age 46)
• Various Photos From Mileposts Gone By
• Students Worldwide Who Ran With Me Virtually
• Roadside Sights From My Running Adventures
• Some Cycling Moments From The Past