Meet the Runner Who Hasn’t Had a Day Off in 50 Years

Jon Sutherland started his streak on May 26, 1969. Five decades later, he’s still going.

Nearly 50 runners stand together at Victory Trailhead in Los Angeles waiting to take off on their morning run. A few of them compare how far they’ve come, from Arizona to New York. Others compare how long they’ve been running. Through it all, you can hear one name repeated again and again: Coach Jon.

His full name is Jon Sutherland, the 68-year-old star of the show who was about to embark on the three-mile run that would make him the first American to reach 50 consecutive years of running at least a mile every day. He began on May 26, 1969. At that time,“Get Back” by the Beatles was topping the charts.

That was during his college days, when he first found running. As a lifelong baseball player, he didn’t know about running until he met some guys on campus who showed him the ropes. When he decided he liked it better than the diamond, he looked for an out from his sport.

Sutherland found one, in the form of throwing a no-hitter. He decided that would be the end to his baseball career. He wasn’t planning to be done that day, but he wanted to go out on a high note.

“I said, ‘I’m done,’” Sutherland told Runner’s World. “‘I’m just going to run.”

His dad, who was at the game, signed the last baseball from the game, and left a note: “To Jon, now free to run.”

And that’s exactly what he did. Sutherland has since racked up roughly 197,000 miles—an average of about 10 miles a day—since he started the streak at 18 years old.

“All you have to do is walk out the front door with a good pair of shoes,” Sutherland said.

Through all of those miles, he created his family. Though he never married or had children, he found familial bonds on the run.

As a coach at five different high schools, a music journalist, and active member in the community, he made lifelong relationships with running partners, teammates, students, their parents, roommates, and musicians who he has stayed in touch with over the decades.

Many of them were on hand May 26 to celebrate Sutherland’s anniversary and to pitch in to honor their inspiration.

Fellow runner Claude Maugein, 66, designed shirts for the occasion. On the back, it listed more than 120 names, including Laszlo Tabori—one of the three people Sutherland credits for making him a runner—Olympians, former New York City Marathon winner Rod Dixon, and Sutherland’s “trail dogs,” Lemmy, Sadie, Pixie, and Puck.

Vincenzo Wright, 21, met Sutherland when he was a sophomore at Notre Dame High School. “Coach Jon” inspired him to get into running back then, and continues to motivate him today.

“All his amazing stories have led me to live a life that’s geared more towards memorable experiences,” Wright told Runner’s World. “Every single day he’s an inspiration to somebody.”

Others came up to Sutherland, prefacing that he might not remember them—one man hadn’t run with Sutherland in 25 years. But without skipping a beat, Sutherland could place them or that team and begin telling a story.

Sutherland is notorious for keeping track of his life in journals, from his runs to the songs he hears at concerts.

“If you ask me what I did on that day, it would only take me 30 or 40 seconds to tell you because I have all my journals,” he said. “I write everything down. Everything.”

Mark Washburne, president of the U.S. Running Streak Association, which keeps track of 1,400 active streaks around the country and additional 200 around the world, also flew in from New Jersey to present Sutherland with a plaque. Washburne has kept a close eye on Sutherland ever since he broke the record for longest active streak by an American five years ago when he passed his friend Mark Covert’s 45-years-to-the-day record, which ended in 2013.

Washburne is particularly curious to see if Sutherland can beat the world record, which is held by former British Olympian and 1970 Boston Marathon champion Ron Hill, who ran each day for 52 years and 39 days.

To do so, Sutherland would have to continue his streak through July 4, 2021.

“A Yank passing a Brit on Independence Day,” Washburne joked to Runner’s World.

As any streaker can attest, some days are harder than others with the no-days-off policy. Sutherland boasts his own list of parking lot runs, races all over the world, once having to chase a car for two miles after it drove away with his luggage on top, and various medical mishaps that made up his miles.

He’s suffered 10 broken bones, including breaking his ribs twice from falling, fracturing his back, and breaking his pelvis. At one point, he was limping so much that he ran behind his house instead of at public trails.

“I ran through all of that,” he said. “I could always do something.”

The most recent woe came last fall when he contracted shingles, which primarily attacked his lungs and left him with flu-like symptoms. Although he has since recovered, he can still feel some of the blisters on his hips.

“The last few years have been hell for me,” Sutherland said. “I’m starting to feel good again. I’m running more. I’m starting to get my mileage up.”

His next health obstacle will come later this summer, when he will get surgery on a narrowing carotid artery. He’s not sure how that’ll impact his ability to keep running. Honestly, he’s concerned he might not be able to run through it, but, as always, he’s going to try.

“Everybody gets injured. It’s a 100-percent-casualty sport,” he said. “That’s when you’re going to have to be really creative and really figure out how you can get through it.”

Sutherland doesn’t know how long he can keep his streak up, with some days getting tougher than they once were. It’s not a thought that crosses his mind that often, but he knows it will one day come to a close.

But until that point, he plans to just run, and enjoy the days like his 50th anniversary celebration. While surrounded by friends and family, he’s reminded what he considers the best part of running: the people.

“Today was a great day,” Sutherland said. “I’m very humbled.”