HAMMON (AP) — One day when Jack Christian was on the family farm with his parents, his mother collapsed and died of a heart problem. Run home and get a blanket, his father told the 5-year-old boy.
"I remember that day perfectly," Christian said.
Now, that memory and the image of his father dying in a tractor accident one year later frequent Christian's mind as the 56-year-old Hammon man runs. And runs and runs and runs. "A lot of times during runs, you have flashbacks like that," he said.
Christian runs extreme distances. By extreme, we're not talking marathons, although he has run many of those. Christian does ultramarathons, races that can stretch 100 miles or more. "It doesn't even sound like it's possible," he said.
Since 1985, he has run more than 90 of these extreme events, including the 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley and an event on a track in Dallas at which he set an American record for his age group: 227 miles in 48 hours.
Last summer, Christian, who operates his own oil-field service company in Burns Flat, completed the LeadMan, an annual series of grueling events over a two-month period in the rugged terrain around Leadville, Colo. It includes a 26-mile trail marathon, a 100-mile trail run and 50-mile and 100-mile mountain bike races.
Why does he do it?
"I don't know," he said. "Probably the challenge."
In ultrarunning, you face many struggles, doubts and problems, and you have to overcome them without choosing the easy way out — quitting, he said. "Running 100-milers is kind of like living your life in one day."
Ultramarathons and the extensive training he invests to compete in them, up to 70 miles a week running and 300 miles riding a mountain bike on lonely dirt roads, give Christian time to think.
"You can get away from your problems," he said. "You can think your problems out."
But something deeper got Christian to run, and pushes him still. It's the eternal thought that haunts the human subconscious: mortality.
"I was kind of scared about getting old," Christian confesses. "Run or die," he says, half jokingly.
A former high school standout in baseball and basketball, Christian took up distance running in his early 30s. These days, he said, "I feel young, but when I look in the mirror, I see I'm not that young guy."
He's slower than he used to be, Christian said, but in ultrarunning, "I don't think age is a drawback."
Some of the ability to go to such extremes is "an act of God," Christian said. "People aren't put together the same. Some people couldn't do it." However, he added, ultrarunning is a humbling experience that "almost anybody could do ... if they put their mind to it and wanted to do it."
Ultrarunning takes plenty of dedication and determination. It also takes patience from family. His wife, Brenda, a schoolteacher, is a former all-state basketball player who has run marathons, including a 50-mile ultramarathon, although she's battling injuries and is working on a comeback. "She understands, although she doesn't understand," Christian said.
"Running is kind of an extension of my life," he said. "I can't imagine not being able to run."
