<< Back 6/12/02 Going the distance 3000-mile run will fulfill a lifelong dream By Don Hendershot Fred Wood will probably get a lot better look at the countryside than most people do on their vacations. Wood will be running and biking from Manteo, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, all the way to California — a distance of more than 3,000 miles. The only thing that approaches the effort it would take to get the 62-year-old Waynesville resident to give up running is getting him to talk about his upcoming quest. “I’m not trying to prove anything, I’m just fulfilling a dream,” Wood said. Wood said he decided about 10 years ago that when he retired he was going to run across the country. He had to add biking to his itinerary a few months ago when he discovered his daughter would be giving birth to another grandchild the first of October. He decided to speed his trip so he would make the birth. The plan is to leave Manteo later this month and wind up in California by Sept. 30. Wood plans to hit the road running every morning (five days a week) for 10 miles and then bike another 40 for a total of 50 miles a day, 250 miles a week. Wood’s wife, Martha, will be tech support, keeping him hydrated and having his bike ready for him after his 10-mile morning run. The Woods will be towing a travel trailer and staying in campgrounds along the way. There has been no hard and fast route laid out. “We’re not on a schedule. We plan to spend our afternoons taking in the sights,” Wood said. They have a cursory route picked out for the beginning stages; leaving Manteo and passing through Roanoke Rapids, Fred’s home town, then through southeastern Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Indiana and Illinois. Then, according to Wood, they will “play it by ear.” “When we get to areas we haven’t seen before, like Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Oregon, we will plan the route as we go, visiting areas that appeal to us,” Wood said. Wood has been running about 30 to 35 miles a week. Asked if he had been doing anything special to train for his odyssey, Wood referred to a lifetime of running: “I’ve been training for this for 25 years.” He said his “base” average is about 1,000 miles a year. He began running in 1975 while stationed in Memphis, Tenn., with the Navy. “I quit smoking and started running.” He found he loved it. He said he enjoys the health benefits, the competition of road races and the camaraderie of fellow runners. “There’s no magic. If I don’t run, I don’t feel good,” Wood said. And starting around the middle of 1999, there was about a year-and-a-half when Fred wasn’t feeling too good. He suffered a cartilage tear in his left knee. It’s a scenario many runners can identify with. A friendly run around town with regulars had turned into a bit of a race. “I was racing with Mark Paris. When we made the loop at Waynesville Country Club I pushed off with my left leg and I felt something give in my knee,” Wood said. Six months later, Fred had surgery. Recovery was slow and painful, he said. But not running was not an option. Wood said he believes he is as competitive now as he has ever been. Wood said he loves marathons, and he raced for 10 years before he ever did a 5K. “Five-Ks were uncommon back then. Most races were 10Ks, halfs, or marathons,” he said. The Sri Chinmoy Marathon in the bay area of California and the Humbolt Redwood Marathon rate as two of Wood’s favorite races. The toughest race to date — the Shut-in Ridge Trail Run, the monster 17-mile run that starts at the Bent Creek Camp Ground near Asheville and ends at the top of Mount Pisgah along the Blue Ridge Parkway. “Harder than anything I’ve ever run,” Wood said. And to be sure, he ran it twice; in 1995 and 1996. A marathon is the longest race Wood has done to date. He said the longest training run he has ever done was 39 miles. Asked if he had ever considered an ultra, an immediate twinkle came to his eye: “I’ve been thinking that a 50K or a 50-miler might be doable.”