Washington man keeps up 50-year running streak

Through rainstorms and blizzards, surgeries and illness, and now through a worldwide pandemic, Jim Pearson of Marysville, Washington, has run every day for over 50 years.

With 18,300 straight days of running, his is the second-longest active streak in the country, behind the 18,570 of 69-yearold Jon Sutherland of West Hills, California.

“Every day I run, and I haven’t gained a day on him,” Pearson said.

Pearson prefers to call his streak a “commitment” rather than an obsession. He believes he has developed a sense of when his body is about to break down, and he backs off accordingly.

“I’ve never thought of not running on problem days,” he said. “I just thought, ‘How can I do this and not make things worse?’”

He persevered after suffering prostate cancer in 2004. The day of the surgery, he got his run in during the morning, just to be safe.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t run that day [after the surgery],” he said. “But I was fine. I jogged across the yard in the evening just to test it out.”

Pearson’s friends and family threw a party for him in February when he reached 50 years. The lead-up to the milestone was one of the toughest stretches he’s ever had, including a bout with pneumonia. He can’t help but even wonder if he had one of the earliest cases of COVID19, well before it was on most people’s radar.

Pearson knows his streak will eventually end. He once told an interviewer that when it does come to a halt, he’ll be momentarily disappointed. “Then I’ll start running again and have one day in a row.”