Dallas Robertson has run 165,737+ miles (through June 10, 2009)

Dallas Robertson
Iowa City, Iowa
DOB: 7-23-1956
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From Dallas Robertson: I started running April 25, 1975 to lose weight. I was about 175 pounds. The first night, I ran 2.25 miles. The next morning, I was 1 pound lighter. At that time, I wondered if I lost 1 pound doing 2.25 miles, how much would I lose by doing 7 miles. I ran 7 miles per day for 7 days and then ran 14 or more miles per day for 100 straight days. I weighed 145 pounds at that point. I had given up beer, pop, and McDonalds. I started eating canned fruit, loose fried hamburger with fried onions mixed in, and LOTS of cauliflower. I enlisted in the US Navy and left for boot camp in October, 1975. I continued to run as consistently as I could. I was assigned to the USS Raleigh which had a helicopter flight deck. It was 11 laps/mile. When we were at sea, I tried to run 11 miles (121 laps) over lunch and another 11 miles after work. I got tendonitis in my knees so bad, I could hardly climb steps. After some time off while overseas, we returned to Norfolk, Virginia, our home port. After work each day, I ran 20 miles, alternating days with a 2 ½ pound leather ankle weight on each leg.

I was discharged in April, 1979 and returned to Iowa City. I was running 80 to 100 miles per week, but never kept track. On January 1, 1980, I started keeping track of my mileage on my grandmother’s wall calendar, 1980 – 5581 miles. In the fall of 1997, I went over 100,000 miles. From January 1, 1980 through June 10, 2009, I have 165,737 logged miles. My lowest year was over 4500 in 2005 due to missing several months from knee surgery (my first time off due to a running injury since 1981). My highest year was 6650 in the early 1980’s. Last year (2008), I ran over 6000 miles. I have only driven my own vehicle to work 2 times since 1975.