Madisonville area marathon man Dave Jones recently completed the Triple 7 Quest: seven marathons in seven continents in seven days. He's now back home in Hanson, Kentucky and speaks with Matt Markgraf about his unique experience, which was just a few hours shy of making the Guinness Book of World Records.
Jones said four people completed the quest. His time was 6 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 5 seconds for a total of 183.4 miles.
In his last run in Antarctica, he said the remote landing strip was about 2.5 miles from the camp site and start line, which caused a bit of anxiety in making the quest under time. He said it was "far and away" the hardest course with elevation, loose footing, stream crossings, hopping over rocks, etc.
It was over 102 degrees in Perth, Australia, he said, which presented a challenge. He said his water boiled during the run. Singapore was also difficult as the humidity was very high, as he had predicted before the run.
Cairo, Egypt was the most welcoming of places running, Jones said. "I have never seen such gracious and welcoming people as I found in the heart of the Arab Middle East in Egypt." He recounts people wanting to take pictures with the runners, including a young man named Michel who was running his first marathon and bonded with Jones. He said Michel dreams of working for NASA but feared he'd never get the chance to do so because he's Egyptian.
When landing in New York for the U.S. marathon, Jones arrived right as protests against President Trump's immigration ban were in full-force. He said he had unplugged from American politics the day he left on Inauguration Day so was not aware of the protests until he landed, when his wife gave him a heads up. He remembers armed border patrol, security, state police, lawyers and 'throngs of people.' He thought since the marathon was the "Presidential Inauguration Marathon" that people might protest it, but said that didn't happen.
When running marathon after marathon, one's mind has a lot of time to think and reflect. Jones said he initially went out motivated to reach the world record, but he said as time went by and it got harder to physically run he said he had to start running it 'with his mind.' even after six days, he said, the mind started to give out. He said in the last race he felt like he was 'running with the spirit.' "You have to have the enthusiasm, you have to have the passion, you have to be guided by something bigger than certainly just your body or even your mind to be able to accomplish larger and larger things."
As for whether he'd do it again, Jones said "I absolutely would if I could afford it." He said the world record is still out there, and he feels it's achievable, but said the trip was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he was glad to have had.
Jones plans on doing 18 different marathons in 18 different states (or territories) this year, which will achieve the status of '10 Star Marathon Maniac.' He's also working towards a 50 state marathon goal (he currently has 30 states).
