In Missouri a truck struck him and nearly ran him over. In Pennsylvania some “knuckleheads” threw firecrackers at him while he was taking a “biological break.”
But sustained by faith in his “calling,” legally blind runner Jason Romero of Denver completed his 3,063-mile run across America on Monday, running from Los Angeles to New York City in 60 days, 10 hours — with no days off.
There were gorgeous sunsets in Arizona, stunning sunrises in New Mexico and things Romero saw as “miracles” day after day. There were lots of ice baths and supportive strangers.
“Every day, five or six times a day, I wanted to quit,” said Romero, an ultrarunner who knows his deteriorating eyesight some day will fade to nothing. “I was really, really lonely out there. On Facebook at the end of the day, you’d see a bunch of people ‘Like’ your post — you know, ‘Day 38, 50 miles,’ a few hundred ‘Likes’ — but they’re not out there when you’re on the pavement 12 hours a day dodging semis. You feel so alone and lonely. You’re like, ‘Does anybody care? Does it matter?’
“I always fell back on, ‘This isn’t my pursuit, this is something I was called to do.’ That’s when I exercised all obedience. If it was my thing, I would have thrown in the towel before we left California. When I got in those low times, I prayed. My family would send me scriptures and things to meditate on, and that’s what I would go to. That would truly give me strength and it would get me through it.”
Motorists would stop and ask why he was running, then ask if they could help. Some pulled out money. One man emptied his wallet, giving Romero $100. At some of the most difficult times when Romero really needed a boost, strangers would offer to pray for him.
Romero, who was accompanied by his mother who drove a support vehicle, also learned motorists tend to get mean at the end of work days, such as the truck driver that hit him in Missouri when he was running on the edge of the pavement with a steep drop-off on the other side.
“He was just coming straight at me, I was waving my hands so they knew I was there,” said Romero, 46. “This truck just did not move, so I turned sideways, leaned out as far as I could, had my hand up and the mirror hit my hand, inches from my nose. My hand was numb for like an hour. I was thankful that I didn’t break anything.”
Some days he had “out-of-body” experiences. He would be running but in his mind he was riding in a car, even though he saw his hands and feet moving.
He will have lots of memories in his mind’s eye when he finally goes totally blind.
“I can go lights out tomorrow, but the things I’ve been able to see and imagine have opened up my mind to how much I haven’t seen,” Romero said. “I came to grips with the fact that the point is not to see as much as you can before you die, or do as much as you can, or see as much as you can see before you go lights-out blind. It’s to really stay present in the moment and appreciate what you have. That’s all we have.”
