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Below
is the article from the San Diego
Union Tribune - Wednesday
January 12, 2000 on page D2 of the Sports Section.
Photo Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune
Born to run: In preparing for Sunday’s San Diego Marathon,
Jerry Dunn has run the course daily since Jan. 1.
His
plan: 200 Marathons in 2000
 Jerry
Dunn understands how bizarre his goal must sound. Two hundred marathons
in the year 2000. That's 5,240 miles of pounding on your legs. That's
100 miles a week. That's sick.
Dunn has completed 11/200ths of his goal. He has targeted 12 marathon
races he will officially enter. Around those events, he will run
another 188 marathons across the 12 courses.
Spearfish, S.D., is home for Dunn, which explains why Sunday’s San
Diego Marathon represents Dunn’s jumping-off point.
“I picked warm-weather sites early in the year,” said Dunn, 53,
proving the man does have some common sense.
He arrived here on Dec. 30. Starting Jan. 1, he says, he has run
the marathon course every day. He will continue to do so through
race day. By Sunday, it’ll be 16 down, 184 to go.
And so, the obvious question: Why?
Dunn talks about wanting to turn others to the spiritual high of
completing a marathon. He talks about challenging America to put
down the remote control and get in shape. And he admits some of
his reasons were selfish.
“I guess we all have the need to be remembered for something,” he
said while soaking up the sun at an Encinitas coffeehouse. “ A lot
of people find that with family, leaving somebody to carry on their
name. I don’t have any children. I’m an only child. Part of it’s
my ego. We all have one of those.”
His name will not go down in the Guinness Book of World Records.
He hasn’t hired anyone to chart his nonrace marathons, so there’s
no way of verifying whether he has covered 26.2 miles all 200 times.
Dunn will be the only one who knows for certain whether he has accomplished
the feat.
His goal will keep him away from his wife at least half the year,
not a wise strategy for a man working on marriage No. 4. He will
have the pleasure of sleeping in hotels, eating too many sit-by-yourself
restaurant meals. On the positive side, he will have plenty of time
to soak himself in Tiger Balm from his feet to his hips.
Dunn has lead an eventful life. He is a recovering alcoholic, having
not sampled a drink for nearly 17 years. He has worked as a bartender
– “not a good environment for an alcoholic,” he says – a letter
carrier and a massage therapist. He built log homes in South Dakota
for a while.
He figure his bout with alcoholism cost him one marriage, one Mercedes
and some lost skin when he dumped his motorcycle more than once.
The
obvious diagnosis is that Dunn replaced one addiction (alcohol)
with another (running). Completing his first marathon 17 years ago
gave Dunn a sense of accomplishment.
“It
confirmed to me that I was able to commit to something and follow
through,” he said. “That’s one of the trademarks of alcoholics and
drug users. They aren’t very good at long-term commitments. Completing
the training and crossing the finish line was a good boost for my
self-confidence.”
Two hundred marathons in 2000 isn’t Dunn’s first challenging running
adventure. To raise awareness for the Habitat for Humanity, he ran
from San Francisco to Washington D.C. in 1991. When he turned 47,
the same age his father died of a heart attack, Dunn vowed to run
93 marathons in 1993. He wound up running 104.
He still vividly recalls being home for Thanksgiving break his freshman
year at Ball State, listening to his father pull up in front of
the house, honk his horn and ask his son to get him a glass of water
and a cigarette while he rested.
“An hour later, he was dead,” Dunn said. “He was overweight, smoked
about three packs of Pall Malls a day and didn’t do anything physical
except mow the lawn.”
Running isn’t just Dunn’s avocation; it’s his employment. He hasn’t
worked a traditional job in more than five years. Instead, he hustles
sponsorships, his current ones ranging from a replenishment drink
and sunglasses to a cellular phone company.
During his routine five-hour marathon workouts, Dunn hardly resembles
the runner in solitude, at one with the universe. In case an idea
strikes, he carries a notebook and pen. So he can reach his wife
or sponsors, he carries a cellular phone.
He knows his body can’t withstand this type of punishment forever.
He envisions writing a book, booking speaking engagements, doing
something that’s related to fitness.
“And if that doesn’t work,” he said, “I guess I’ll have to get a
real job.”
Don
Norcross can be reached at (619) 293-1803 or don.norcross@uniontrib.com
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