Let’s say you have never run a mile in your life.
You’re a good old boy.
Worked in the General Motors plant in Martinsburg, West Virginia for thirty two years.
Then, at age 57, you start running.
And you like it.
You like it so much, you start running 50 mile marathons.
In particular, the JFK 50 Mile Marathon.
You run one. Then another. Then another.
And then, this November 21, you are scheduled to run your tenth JFK 50 miler.
Meet Ronnie Ward.
At age 67, Ronnie has run nine JFK 50 milers.
And on November 21, he’s scheduled to run number ten.
That will put him in the exclusive 500 Mile Club.
The first JFK 50 — in 2006 — Ronnie Ward, age 59, finished in 13:08:09.
Number nine — last year in 2014, Ronnie Ward, age 67, finished in 13:27:10.
He says his best time was 12 hours and 45 minutes.
What’s the JFK course like?
“It starts in Boonsboro, Maryland,” Ward told This Week in Morgan County with Russell Mokhiber. “You go three miles straight up the mountain until you hit the Appalachian Trail. You go on the trail for 13 miles south. You get to Weverton. You go under 340. Then you start up the canal. You have 27 miles on the canal. Then when you get to Dam 4, you have eight miles back into Williamsport. You finish at the Williamsport Middle School.”
Ward says that for two or three days after his first 50 miler, he could hardly walk.
“I said — I’ll never do this thing again,” Ward said. “But once it gets in your blood — there are thousands of people cheering you on — it inspires you to keep going. It’s a good feeling when you get done.”
Ward says he was inspired to start running by his brother.
And now Ward is an inspiration for his daughter — and his granddaughter.
While running in July 2014, Ward felt some pain in his chest.
“I went in to see Dr. Matt Hahn in Hancock,” Ward says. “He got me set up for a stress test. I went to Hagerstown on a Monday. They did the stress test. They said it showed one blockage. I told them I’m leaving for Myrtle Beach on Saturday. And next week I’m leaving for Montana to do some hiking. Then they did the catheterization and said — you have four blockages. You’re not going to Montana or Myrtle Beach. You are going to Johns Hopkins. As we speak, we have an ambulance coming.”
On July 16, 2015, Ward underwent bypass surgery.
“The next day, I was up walking the halls,” Ward said. “I had the JFK 50 miler coming up in November 2014. I had done it eight years in a row. And I was trying to do ten consecutive JFK 50 milers. That would put me in the 500 mile club.”
The doctor at Johns Hopkins told Ward — “you are not running any race in November — that’s only four months after open heart surgery — it will take you a year to get over this.”
But Ward insisted. He ended up running the race with his brother. And he finished.
“I”m saying this is my last JFK,” Ward says. “My brother — this will be number 25 for him. And he says that this is his last one.”
What do his buddies from GM say about his running?
“I’ve had some responses from some of those guys,” Ward says. “They say — no way Ronnie Ward is running those races. They don’t believe it. No way he’s running. That can’t be the Ronnie Ward we used to know. But it is.”
Ward says running changed his life.
As for his diet, Ward says it used to be junk food — fried foods.
“It’s still some of that,” he says. “I still can’t get into eating salads. My granddaughter took a picture of me sitting in front of a salad. And my buddies said — they knew I wasn’t eating that thing.”