Peter and I ran with Jason from about 12:45pm to 5:30pm today, and I figured out how he does it (well, part of it anyway)... He simply doesn't stop...
We called Tom Bunk when we got within 10 miles of Westfield, WI where we thought Jason would be, to get a fix on his location... Marquette County, coming down Cty CH, East on Dover, then South on 7th Ave... So armed with our Wisconsin Gazetteer, we start driving backwards on that route.
Along Dover we see someone off in the distance in a red jacket running towards us in the rain. That's gotta be Jason... So we back into a driveway and get out of the car and wait for him... as he approaches he says "Hey guys, great to to see you" and keeps jogging right on by... ok, that makes sense... if you stop and talk all the time you'll never get done with 50+ miles everyday!
Jason and Tom called us before we left Madison and asked if we could bring some soft shoe inserts for him to try? Size 14 please. So I stopped and
Fleet Feet in Madison to buy them.When I told Matt Anderson that I was taking these to Jason, he said, "Really? Just take them, we want to help Jason out." Jason said thanks a lot Jessica and Matt.
The pace Jason maintains is very determined, but actually much slower than I imagined it would be... Jason would jog maybe 400 yards, then walk for a bit. Jason and Tom figured that it was best to change his stride often so as not to cause repetition injuries. And he pretty much walks up the hills, even the little ones.
It rained today and there was a bit of an East wind - it wasn't too bad since we were mostly going South, and the temperature was ok. Any more rain, a little colder, or windier and it might have been miserable.
Tom moves the car ahead about 1.5 to 2 miles and then waits for Jason - each time we approached the car Tom would ask "What do you need?" and Jason would usually say "I don't know." This is why Tom is the man... Tom would then go down the list. "Did you eat your gel?" "How about your water?" And so it went, Tom made sure Jason had what he needed... An electrolyte tab, a sandwich, dry gloves, dry shirt, turn here...
Tom also completely understands the mental aspect of this endeavor - without Tom, this would be much more difficult for Jason. As Tim Y explained a few days ago, Tom is an experienced Ultra runner, but he said to me, "Before we started this thing, it's something I would have considered doing, but now... no way. But I would like to run all the trail segments sometime."
We finished the day with a 2-mile segment in the
John Muir park,and we pretty much jogged the whole trail. Then Tom gets the ice bags out to put on Jason's legs for the drive to the Hotel where Jason takes his nightly ice bath, then a shower. In the morning Tom has Jason take a hot bath to help loosen up the legs before he starts out.
Friday Jason will be finishing with the Devils lake loop. Saturday across the Merrimac Ferry and into Cross Plains, then Sunday through Verona and stopping around Monticello. Check the Google map (first post) - I now have the whole route and will add way points for those looking to find Jason. Just be ready to run with him if you want to chat!
After running with Jason today, I have very little doubt that he can complete his journey - heck, just look at the progress map in the very first post - he's over half done. Friday he will cross the 600 mile mark and Sunday he will cross the 700 mile mark!
