Everett, Wash.
Published: Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Still crazy about running after all these years

He's run marathons. He's run in different countries. And he's run for fun. But for nearly 38 years, Jim Pearson has laced up his running shoes and set out to do one thing every single day: Run.

By Larry Henry
Special to the Herald

 BELLINGHAM -- The track coach recognized talent, and this lad didn't have much.

Not in the events he was specializing in anyway.

Jim Pearson was a sprinter and long jumper.

"I told him one time," Keith Gilbertson recalled, "that you're not good enough to compete in those events. You're going to have to start running a little further."

Then Gilbertson chuckled. "He took me up on it."

Did he ever.

"Gilby had the weird idea that I was a distance runner," Pearson said.

Gilby was right, as he so often was when it came to judging a kid's talent. Though this kid -- Pearson -- took distance running to the outer limits.

The time was the 1960s. Gilbertson was coach of the Everett Elks Club track team which competed during the summer. Pearson was a student at Lake Stevens High School.

A self-described "ho-hum" middle-distance runner in high school, Pearson would later make a name for himself in ultra-distance races, that is, 30 miles and above.

In 1975, he would set the U.S. record for 50 miles, five hours, 12 minutes and 41 seconds, the third-fastest clocking ever in the world at the time. Four years later, he ran 62.1 miles in 7:15, the second fastest ever by an American. "Ice on the trees when we started," he said of the race that was run in Yakima, "temperature in the 90s when we finished."

He wasn't bad in the shorter distances either. Twice he qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon (26.2 miles), in 1972 and '76. Though he didn't make it to the Olympics, he did have the distinction of being only one of three Americans to crack 2:30 in the marathon five times in '76. The others -- Frank Shorter, the gold medalist at the Munich Games in '72, and Kenny Moore, the fourth-place finisher that year.

But for all the races he won (he took first in the Birch Bay Marathon 16 times) and all the records he set, Pearson's most illustrious feat is still ongoing. At the age of 63, he has not missed a day of running in almost 38 years, dating back to Feb. 16, 1970.

Assuming he makes it to his anniversary date on Saturday, he'll have run 13,880 consecutive days and more than 153,130 miles, an average of better than 11 miles a day. If you think that's impressive, consider this: During one stretch in the early '80s, he averaged more than 100 miles a week for 78 weeks.

For the past three months, he's been limited to about 1.1 miles a day due to a sprained ligament in his right knee. In order to keep the streak going, he had to cover at least a mile a day, and the day he got hurt he tried five times to run without being able to take a step.

His son, Joel, a distance runner himself, pleaded with him to keep trying. "You've got to run," Joel said.

Finally, he did.

"Why would I do that?" Jim asked rhetorically. "I don't know if it's a matter of pride or what."

Of course it is. That and the competitive fires that burn within.

If Pearson hadn't persisted, he'd have regretted it. You see, as of Dec.1, 2007, he had the third longest running streak going in the country. Mark Covert of Lancaster, Calif., was No.1 with 39 years and 131 days. Jon Sutherland of West Hills, Calif., was second at 38 years and 189 days. And Pearson was third at 37 years and 289 days.

Where would he be without Keith Gilbertson? "I'd still be jumping," he said with a laugh.

He was sitting in an office in the gymnasium at Whatcom Community College, where his son Joel initiated cross country and track programs in 2006. Joel's unpaid assistant is a man of much knowledge and many miles: his father. "All the workouts I do, I learned from him over the last 22 years," Joel said.

He has that same toughness and discipline his father possesses. A runner since the age of 7, Joel has laced up his running shoes and braved the elements every day for more than 14 years.

His older brother, Hopper, 25, doesn't run, but he was a very good wrestler for Lake Stevens, winning a state championship in 2001. He works construction.

Pearson's daughter, Paige, a senior at Ferndale, missed state by one place in cross country last fall.

It was while Jim was helping on the set of his daughter's play, the Rocky Horror Show, that he got injured. "I was climbing over a table and my heel hit my butt," he said ruefully.

At the time, he was training for a distance race in Renton. "Now I'm just hoping I can run again," he said.

When healthy, he can still run a respectable 6:10 mile. He has to be careful when he works out his Whatcom women's cross country team not to run too fast. "The purpose is to help them," Joel said, "not destroy them."

In a different era, Jim Pearson might have been one of those guys who bragged to his kids, "I used to run five miles to school every day."

In truth, he often did, and that was when he was a teacher/coach at Ferndale High School. Then, in the afternoon, he would train with his cross country team. He retired in 2002 after 35 years there.

He became so well known that Ferndale residents would shout his name when they saw him running through the streets, even sometimes at 1:30 in the morning.

While wearing out hundreds of running shoes, Pearson raced in 27 states, 27 Washington counties, and 97 Washington towns. And in a few countries overseas, including England in 1977. He was there on vacation and in "terrible shape." That may be. But he became the answer to a trivia question: Who was the first American to run the Milk Marathon?

If you were to ask him how he felt that day, he could tell you not only that, but describe the course in detail, who he ran with, what the weather was, and probably what he did to celebrate. Like many runners, he keeps a detailed account of his daily runs.

It in many ways describes his life.

The life of a runner.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA