Jillian Best
Jillian Best shares her inspiring journey from liver transplant recipient to becoming a world record holding swimmer and the first transplant recipient to swim across Lake Ontario.
More Than Our Story
Jerry Dunn
Jerry Dunn shares his 50-year journey with running, how he used it to reinvent himself, and how it became a platform for social good, earning him the nickname ‘America’s Marathon Man.’ He also discusses his challenges, accomplishments, philanthropic endeavors, and plans.
Highlights
A friend of mine, a lifeguard, kept hounding me to run, and I told [him] that I didn't want to. Finally, just to quiet him, I ran a half a mile on the beach, barefoot, with him and the other lifeguards, and it just came over me that I'm meant to be doing this.
I call it the birth of ‘the marathon man’, because I had no idea at the time that I was going to be running still, 50 years later, and having done all the things I've done. But there was just some connection that was almost magical.
[Running] brought discipline to my life. It gave me a sense of self-discipline, and not looking at myself as a drunk anymore. I'm now a runner. And my self-love and my self-concept began to grow.
Long-distance runners and endurance sports, there's some sense of I'm going to have to punish myself, knowing that it's going to be difficult. There's a connection between that and the former addiction. I still feel I need to do something difficult, but the rewards will be good.
No addiction is really a good addiction. I called it my positive addiction for a long time, and, yes, that was true - it was more positive than being addicted to alcohol. But some of the results, I lost a marriage because of that positive addiction. I mean, my whole life was focused on that thing called running, and I let everything else, you know, go to the periphery. My whole focus was I need to run. I need to run more. I need to run far. I need to run better than other people. It became an addictive behavior… But what I was really running towards was self-awareness and self-love. That was the good part of the positive addiction, which at least led me to a better place in my life.
My motto for 40 years has been ‘Don't limit your challenges. Challenge your limits.’
I found out early in my career that I wasn’t fast, I wasn't going to compete. I also discovered that I could run long distances, day after day.
1989: I looked around and saw what other people were doing, and I decided that I would see if I could run across the state of Indiana in three days, and that worked.
1991: Shore to Shore in 104. I took 104 days and ran from Los Angeles to Washington, DC, in support of Habitat for Humanity.
1996: [My] new challenge became to see if I could run the Boston Marathon course on 26 consecutive days, the last one being the 100th running of the Boston Marathon.
1998: I ran in Central Park on the original New York City Marathon course. I did that every morning for 28 days. And then on the 29th day, I ran the New York City Marathon.
2000: I was going to run 200 marathons in the year 2000, and I ended up completing 186 marathons in one year, all on official marathon courses.
The Deadwood Mickelson Trail was my first creation. It's a marathon. Three years later. I looked around and, having run the Vermont Trail 100, which was the easiest hundred in the United States at the time, I decided to create an easier ultra on the same trail.
On ultrarunning’s rapid spread and commercialization, and his concern about the sport moving away from its roots:
I think it already has, and it's disappointing in one sense. But I also realize that the world moves forward. The saddest part for me is that the athletic world used to be a community of renegades. We were just out to prove things to ourselves, and we were kind of like a family, and we weren’t concerned about our time, and all that other stuff. It was more just a challenge for ourselves. We were notorious for helping each other finish those goals out on the course.
One of my events, The Lean Horse Ultra, had the reputation of being a family reunion. I had repeat runners coming all the time, and we did a lot of stuff socially together before the race and after the race. The person who bought it from me turned it into more of what things are like today… There's no personality to races so much anymore. It's just something to check off the list.
I'm in Belize, and there aren't any extreme events [here] right now. I've already got the whole plan laid out. Hopefully, I will introduce an extreme triathlon next year to the country of Belize… with that same feeling of respect for the environment, respect for the fellow participants.
It's more than an event, it's an experience. You know, come to Belize, swim in the Caribbean, the cycle is going to be getting from the coastline into the jungle, and the run is going to be in the jungle. It's going to be unlike most other ultra events.
I'm going to be 80 in 5 weeks, and I just figured out what I'm going to do for that one: an 80-mile bike ride in Baños (de Agua Santa), Ecuador.
I'm still a semi-regular runner, but I have been doing a lot more cycling in the last five years than I ever have… I still run regularly, but I don't do any of the endurance stuff that I used to… I've given myself permission to be a marathon man who is now a cyclist.
On using running as a platform for a social good:
It was introduced to me by the woman who suggested back in 1989 that I'd do a run for Habitat for Humanity. That's when it clicked for me: Yes, I do have this reputation. Yes, I do attract attention… And it also kind of correlates with the long journey I've been on: dropping my ego, and thinking about others more than I think about myself.
On what he attributes his longevity:
Genetics and determination. I think that I was born to run. I've been aware of my body mechanics from the get-go… It almost comes naturally.
The desire to continue to be active is a part of why I can still be active. You have to keep moving in some fashion, which is one of the secrets to being healthy and longevity.
On his new project: The Running Current:
I've learned a lot of life lessons while I've been out on the road. Running Current is a platform for people to share their stories of how running has impacted their lives, other than awards, podiums, and medals. You learn a lot about yourself. When you're out on the road for half your life… Your life can change because of the fact that you're in motion and moving.
It's important that we share our stories and hopefully inspire and encourage other people to get through what they're trying to get through. And by the way, running will help you do that.
You train your mind to do something that you know is going to be uncomfortable, but you also know that when you have finished that experience, the rewards are going to be worth the decision to go ahead and do [it].
Running Current
Stories Beneath the Stride
Running Current is a home for runners who are ready to share more than their pace and distance – the inner shifts, awakenings, and quiet victories that miles have carved into them.
Daniel
Daniel is an extremely curious person, a wealth of random knowledge and facts. Extremely passionate about a vast array of interests ranging from health to history, science to athletics, everything culinary and the list goes on. Trust us, you would want to be on his team for Trivial Pursuit.
Daniel is also years into his battle with brain cancer. He experienced a seizure while on a Zoom call at work in late 2020 and quite literally, his life changed within minutes. After his operation he started to talk about his story but had always known it was more than just him. From then, More Than Our Story became a PROJECT that has evolved into the starting point it is today.
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