WASHBURNE JUST CAN'T STOP - RUNNING
It began innocently enough. When Mark Washburne, 51, of Mendham saw in his running log that he had once run for fifty days straight, he thought it would be interesting to see if he could do that again, and maybe go even longer, just for fun.
"Now it has turned into six thousand three hundred days," said
Washburne.
Actually it is six thousand three hundred and eight days as of today since his streak started December 31, 1989. That is 17 years and one hundred days, or just over 900 weeks.
"As soon as I started it was a challenge to try to keep it up," he said. "I just try to do one day after the next."
Running through New Jersey winters can be difficult for any runner but a streaker has to run no matter the conditions.
"I ran in the blizzards of '93 and '96," he said. "In those blizzards it was kind of like that Nike commercial. I waited for the snow plow and went running right after the snow plow came. The other blizzard in 2000 I got up at four in the morning so I could run before the heavy snows came."
So weather is not a problem but as might be expected injuries become an issue. Washburne has had to deal with plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis and a groin injury. He kept on running through the pain.
"Eventually they all go away," said Washburne. "But there are days when I am wondering 'what the heck am I doing?'"
Washburne is a member of the United
States Running Streak Association where
he is listed as streaker
number 95, but he is actually tied at 93rd place's
with two other runners who began the same day. The top five have streaks
that are longer than thirty-five years. Washburne's personal minimum is
three miles per day although the association's minimum is one mile.
He has been doing more than just three as he has been training for the Boston Marathon, which is next Monday the 16th,.
"For me, it's kind of interesting that when I was younger I would never have qualified for Boston," he said. "But because I do run every day and kept getting older I eventually made the qualifier."
Washburne got his qualifier at the Steamtown Marathon in 2004 when he ran 3:23 while he was in the 45 to 49 age division. The standards for Boston were lowered a few years ago also making it a little easier. Washburne runs on the roads near his home in Mendham and on Tuesday evenings with the Sneaker Factory in Morristown. Saturday he runs with the Rose City Runners in Loantaka Park.
Washburne is an associate professor at County College of Morris, which gives him more flexibility to his schedule. Still there are those days when most people would not be able to fit in a run, like plane flights for instance.
"I would sometimes get up at four in the morning, before everyone else, do my run and then fly somewhere or travel somewhere," he said. "Whenever I can fit it in, I go out there and run."
Washburne began running in 1984 to lose a little weight and get in shape. Friends told him about a race coming up, the now defunct Patriots Path 10K. Checking his running log, he can tell you that it was on April 8th, 1984 and he finished in 50:43, the slowest he would ever run a 10K.
While it is not unusual to have running logs going all the way back to your first race Washburne also has the race applications and bib numbers for every race he has ever run. He also has the post cards that the computer scoring companies used to send giving him his time and place in the race.
Will he ever retire from his streak? He said that the running streak association has reported that those runners who retire and break their streaks can't seem to stop and soon are back on the roads again. It's a habit they cannot break.
"I'm just grateful for the opportunity to run every day and I love it," said Washburne. "I'm still enjoying my running streak."
Originally published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey on Sunday, April 8, 2007
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2007
