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Madisonville Marathon Man Dave Jones Completes 50 States, 8 Continents in 1 Year

Eternal Endurance, via Facebook

Last February, we caught up with Madisonville area marathon man Dave Jones, who had just finished the Triple 7 Quest: seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. Not one to slow down, Jones has since run a marathon in each U.S. state... and capped off his journey with a run on the 8th continent, 'Zealandia.' He did all of this in just under one year. On Sounds Good, Matt Markgraf caught up with Jones, who is now back home in west Kentucky resting his feet, to learn more about his accomplishment. 

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Extended version

Dave Jones said after he finished the Triple 7 Quest in early 2017 he began looking for a new goal. He took some time off and ran some marathons here and there, but eventually landed on a goal to add to the seven continents marathons in each state in under a year time frame. He calculated that adding up the marathons he had done since Triple 7 Quest, that he needed 32 more and had 4.5 months to accomplish the feat. And he did.

All 58 marathons are public and tracked on his website and other marathon sites. He said there are more marathons than one might think and recommended the site RunningInTheUSA.com. He said he also lucked out as the Spring and Fall seasons are when most marathons happen.

Highlights

Running so many marathons can be a blur, but Jones said there were some personal highlights that he remembers fondly.

One is a run with his mother. He said she had no real training other than the walking trail by her house. She joined him in Mississippi and completed her first marathon at the age of 63.

Another highlight is a run with his 8-year-old daughter. He said she 'hammered down' on the last two miles and ended up out-running him by 40 seconds.

For the last U.S. race, in Hawaii, his wife completed her first half marathon and his best friend from college finished his first marathon. He said he and his friends had been smokers back then and that no one would have guessed they'd be running marathons and breaking a marathon record. He felt sentimental near the end of the Hawaii race, feeling grateful for having had the opportunity and for the support.

'Zealandia'

After completing the Triple 7 Quest, Jones said he got word of recent studies that determined the existence of 'Zealandia,' a continent mostly submerged in the ocean with the exception of New Zealand and surrounding islands.

Prior to Hawaii, he had already decided to finish the year-long effort in New Zealand after encouragement and ribbing from his friend. "I felt like a seven-continent slacker in an eight continent world," he said.

The Triple 7 Quest started on January 25, 2017 - so to meet the goal of eight continents and 50 states in one year, he had to find a marathon in New Zealand before that deadline.

He eventually found the fittingly-named "8th Continent Marathon" in Auckland on January 23 and flew from Hawaii to run.

Jones said it's the dead of summer in New Zealand, which made the run hot and humid. He also said he ran on a broken foot, from an incident in an earlier marathon in Louisiana. He limped across the finish line and is now back home in the Madisonville area resting his foot.

Seeing the Country

Jones left for the Triple 7 Quest on the day President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Over the past year, he's visited all 50 states. He said as politically divided as the country seems to be, he found that the running community seemed unified, where people generally avoided politics and were "able to be human."

"I ran in Iowa and South Dakota. I ran in the upper Northwest. I ran in New England and in Florida. I ran across Texas," He said. These places often have preconceived stereotypes as being either "so blue" or "so red" or lacking in diversity. He said he didn't find these notions to be true.

"What I found are that people are people and we're all living lives, setting goals, having big dreams, want to be inspired and need to be able to shed some of these limits and preconceptions and go out and accomplish everything that we possibly can and go out and make our communities a better place." He said he found people have the drive and desire to meet these goals and found that to be the case in story after story, in place after place.

This ideal made him feel 'buoyant' in the divisive political year. He didn't see the 'hate' and 'animosity' often seen on television. He also noted that he didn't watch much television in the past year.

He recommends taking kids to see the country - and world - if possible. In the past year, he had loaded up his family in a 1995 motorhome to go on the 'Great American Road Trip.' He also said he read the Bible cover to cover.

"If you want to know what people are really thinking and what the other places in this country are really about, get to know other people and have a real perspective - go out and see it. You may be really amazed by what you find," he said.

What's next:

For now, Jones is resting his foot and reflecting back on his successful endeavor. A book is in the works, as is a documentary. He's also mentoring a young person who reached out and wants to run a marathon.

Jones says he's available for speaking engagements. People can find him on his websiteor on social media as 'eternal endurance.' 

Matt Markgraf joined the WKMS team as a student in January 2007. He's served in a variety of roles over the years: as News Director March 2016-September 2019 and previously as the New Media & Promotions Coordinator beginning in 2011. Prior to that, he was a graduate and undergraduate assistant. He is currently the host of the international music show Imported on Sunday nights at 10 p.m.
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