A penny a mile for hungry children

Page 3

Doug Pierce loves to run. A lot. So much so in fact that the 61-year-old is closing in on the equivalent of running around the world twice.

The circumference of the world at the equator is slightly more than 40,000 kilometres (about 25,000 miles). Pierce, who has kept a log of how far he has travelled since he started running at age 40, is approaching the 50,000-mile mark. And yes, Pierce admits he is addicted to running.

"If you're going to be addicted to something, it might as well be healthy," he said.

Pierce has certainly seen his share of addictions that have ended tragically. He was born in Canyon Creek, Alta.-his father was Cree and his mother Metis-but now lives in Smithers. Pierce was the eldest of five children and had 61 first cousins.

"Half my siblings are dead and gone because of drugs and alcohol," he said.

Pierce said he has never touched drugs and was only a casual drinker during his twenties and early thirties.

Pierce worked as an autobody painter for 20 years, but at age 40 he quit that job because he felt his lungs were shot after years of working with chemicals.

Shortly after quitting his job, Pierce began to run. Within nine months he had competed in his first marathon, a 42.2-kilometre race.

And he's continued to run and run and run since then. He now has finished a total of 22 marathons in his career.

Though he still works full-time as a carpenter, Pierce goes running after work on almost a daily basis. He tries to run a minimum of eight miles per day.

That's seven days per week, year round. If he does take a day off from running on a weekend, that's only because he's going on a longer run (usually about 20 miles) on the other day of that weekend.

At his current pace of running at least eight miles per day, Pierce is expected to hit the 50,000-mile mark in November of 2008. Pierce has about 7,000 miles remaining before reaching that goal. And he's decided to try and raise some awareness and funds for others while doing so.

He has chosen to work with Samaritan's Purse, a Calgary-based group that is a branch of the Billy Graham evangelical ministries.

Samaritan's Purse assists starving children around the world. Pierce himself did not come from a wealthy family and often did not have enough to eat.

Though any donation to Samaritan's Purse would be welcome, Pierce is hoping people can give one cent for each of the remaining 7,000 miles he has to run before hitting the 50,000-mile mark.

That would work out to a $70 donation. More information is available by calling Pierce or his wife Jacquie directly at (250) 847-8005. Or donations can be sent to Samaritan's Purse, 20 Hopewell Way N.E., Calgary, Alta., T3J 5H5. Those sending a donation are asked to include the words "Doug Pierce's Run" at the bottom of their cheque.

Pierce said that he has encountered few Native runners in his travels.

"That's my goal, to get more Native people motivated," he said.

Plus he plans to keep on running for as long as possible because he realizes to be still doing so at his age is an inspiration for others.

"I believe it motivates some of the younger people," he said. "They wonder why I'm going by them in a race. Well, there's guys older than me that are going by me."