Written Summer 2000

RESIDENCE: State Line, PA

AGE: 46

HEIGHT: 6'1"

WEIGHT: 170

OCCUPATION: Federal Express Driver

TYPICAL CURRENT TRAINING WEEK: 40 miles of running and several routines of push-ups and sit-ups

FAVORITE RACES: Boston Marathon; JFK 50 Miler; Fred Kaley Memorial 10K

PERSONAL BESTS: Marathon-3:17; Half marathon-1:32:30; 10K-42:20; 5K-19:42

FAVORITE RUNNING SHOE: New Balance

FAVORITE TRAINING PARTNERS: Don Meyer, P.G. O'Connell, Kelly "The Rock" Souders, Davide Barbon, and his wife Dama Ward

BEGINNINGS: Randy began his running career about 12 years ago. He was hiking along a trail at Glacier National Park in Montana in 1988, and he was breathing heavy. Some runners cruised past him on the trail, and this made him realize just how out of desired shape he was. He returned from the trip motivated to begin his road to top-level fitness, which has since seen him run thousands of miles and lose more than 20 pounds. He said, "It evolved from doing three miles to the JFK 50 Miler." Randy made a return visit to Glacier National Park three years ago as a new man. He was out there with his buddy Don Meyer to celebrate Meyer's 50th birthday. To mark the occasion, the two men ran the entire 50-mile long "Going to the Sun" Highway, which crosses the Continental Divide and is the only road in the park. According to park workers on hand at the time, Randy and Don were the first to ever run the entire strip of road.

ANDREW'S COMMENTS: Randy Ward has truly evolved into an endurance runner, in every sense. He has 18 marathons, including Boston, under his belt and has completed the last nine JFK 50 Milers. However, perhaps Ward's truly greatest feat happened just a few weeks ago. At 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 19, Ward and Meyer stepped onto the McConnellsburg High School track and began running. They didn't stop until 4:45 p.m. the next day, 400 laps (100 miles) later. They performed this super-human run as part of the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life," which was taking place on many of the area's tracks at this same time in an effort to raise money for cancer research. Most participants in the event were part of a 24-person team, with each member walking for one straight hour over a 24-hour period. Yet just one week before Ward set out on this long mission, he had no idea he was even going to do it. With both of his parents having lost battles to cancer, he has been steadfast to the charitable cause. And he was still planning on participating in the relay and testing his endurance by walking the entire 24 hours himself. But a week before the relay, Meyer approached him and told him that he would sponsor him $1 for every mile he ran or $10 per mile if he did 100. Ward accepted the offer, and after 400 grueling laps through both the night and rain, Meyer, who ran side by side with him the whole way, cut a check for $1,000 to go to the American Cancer Society. Afterwards, Ward returned home and slept for 16 straight hours. He even claimed not to be that sore the next day, or at least not as much as after a hard marathon. Ward remarked, "If you say I have any gift in running, it's that I can't move fast for a long time, but I can always keep going."