‘The Runner’ passes through local area

So well known that his trail name is simply and reverently intoned as “The Runner,” 55-year-old David Horton is about to finish doing something that is truly hard to fathom.

In two weeks he will finish running the entire Pacific Crest Trail — all 2,650 miles of it — in a total of 66 days. That works out to about 43 miles every day on the average.

The current speed record belongs to Ray Greenlaw who finished in just over 83 days.

Horton wants people to know that his own record will include an asterisk since Greenlaw’s effort was unassisted. In other words, Horton is using a support person along the way, while Greenlaw ran with a backpack and was not met at road crossings.

Horton is the former record holder for speed of the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail, he completed the 2,906-mile Tran-America Footrace and once averaged 45 miles a day while completing the Long Trail in Vermont in four days, 22 hours.

Sisters resident and ultra-marathoner Gene Trahern has known Horton for about 15 years and relished the opportunity to have Horton pass through the area.

Trahern headed south running on the trail at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, July 24 and met Horton a couple of hours later heading north. Trahern accompanied Horton to the end of the day’s run at the top of the McKenzie Pass, where they arrived at about 7:30 p.m.

“Its an honor to run with David and to spend half a day with him,” said Trahern. “He’s going to make it to his goal.”

After completing the 53-mile run Horton quickly devoured a Nestle Toll House ice cream sandwich.

“I love ice cream and it helps me get the 6,000 calories I need to eat a day,” he explained. “I am not eating for health on this run, but for performance.”

Horton is an exercise and physiology professor at Liberty University in Virginia. He has been assisted for the past four weeks by a student, Josh Yeoman. Yeoman will pass the job off to renowned ultra runner Scott Jureck and his wife on Wednesday.

Horton began his quest on June 4 and has his heart set on finishing August 9. He can’t wait to finish, especially so he can see his family, including a one-year-old grandson.

“I hear he’s beginning to talk and I want to get back there so I can hear him,” he said.

Horton, who authored a book about his Appalachian run called A Quest for Adventure doesn’t like to be asked why he is doing the run.

For him the question is: “What am I getting out of it and what can others who I meet along the way get out of it?”

“It’s good to meet people like you,” he said to those who came out to greet him, including another local ultra-marathoner, Sean Meissner, who ran the final hour of the day with Horton and Trahern.

Meissner met Horton before dawn on Monday to run the 16 miles from the McKenzie Pass to the Santiam Pass. Horton was to continue northward another 40 miles to a rest stop near Breitenbush for a total of 57 miles on Monday.

When asked about the most difficult section of the trail thus far Horton described the deep snow in the northern Sierras as “Hell on Earth.” One day it took 13 hours to cover just 19 miles, he said.

“My legs were torn up so badly by the ice and snow I thought I’d be scarred for life.”

Ending in the lava fields at the top of the pass was a bit unpleasant, but Horton thoroughly enjoyed traversing the trail through the Three Sisters country.

“It was a great second half of the day in beautiful country,” he said. Temperatures were cool and I enjoyed running below Faith, Hope, and Charity.”

Horton’s progress and journal entries can be found at http://www.montrail.com and http://www.extremeultrarunning.com.