the Way of the Turtle

David Horton - "The Runner"
Monday, December 4, 2006

David Horton is an ultrarunner from Virginia. David Horton is also one crazy dude.

I first heard about Horton through the book Running Through the Wall, in which ultrarunners tell stories about their various adventures and misadventures. Horton was mentioned in several of the stories and even contributed one himself, about being one of the first Americans to finish the 100 mile Barkley Ultramarathon. Recently I became more aware of him due to a documentary, The Runner, which covers his Pacific Crest Trail speed record attempt in 2005. (He succeeded, running and walking 2650 miles from the Mexican Border to Canada in 66 days.) As I was researching the documentary, I discovered he had also co-authored a book, A Quest for Adventure, detailing his attempt to set a speed record on the Appalachian Trail in 1991 (again, he succeeded - he covered 2144 miles from Georgia to Maine in 53 days) and his competing in the 2906 mile Trans-America Footrace in 1995 (he has the third fastest time for the 64 day stage race.)

The first time I viewed The Runner I have to admit I was a little bit disappointed... I was hoping for more footage of Horton and his helpers running through the mountains. On the other hand, I guess it's tough to get footage when someone is running 200+ miles between road access points! There is a lot about what goes on in Horton's head and what makes him tick, and a good deal of his personal philosophy. On second viewing, I absolutely loved much of the film... I guess I just needed to know what to expect!

I've started reading A Quest for Adventure and in some ways it's even more compelling, because it provides a day by day log of Horton's thoughts and experiences. Again, there are places where I wish he said more... his discussion of running the AT through Massachusetts, for example, is very brief, though he mentions finding the trail up Mt Everett very challenging (that's reassuring... I died running those trails 7 years ago, the first time I tried to train to run the Nipmuck Trail Marathon!) He also talks about running with Bob Dion, which is very cool - Bob is a very active member of the Western Massachusetts Athletic Club that I do so many races with and also made the snowshoes I use!

Clearly David Horton has a gift - he can not only run long distances but he can do so at one heck of a fast pace. At the same time, I find him very inspirational, because he is very honest about how often he finds himself wanting to quit during the tough times in the challenging events he does - and how he pushes through that and keeps going to eventually succeed in what he's trying to do.

He also puts new perspective on my struggling through long runs - after all, my struggles are over in five or six hours, tops. His took months!

I guess one of the lessons is - if I keep working at it, and keep struggling - I will complete marathons and ultramarathons. It's just a matter of time...

JMH