Bird Rock half marathon runner reflects on 50-state journey

Few people get the opportunity to visit every state, let alone compete as a runner in each one. But Bird Rock resident John Newsam accomplished that feat this month, wrapping up a two-year adventure.

Newsam was greeted at the finish line of a Delaware half marathon Dec. 6 by friends and family, capping his 50th half marathon, consisting of 13.1 miles.

Newsam, a former president of the Bird Rock Community Council, started chasing his dream on Jan. 1, 2024 — his 70th birthday. The idea of running 50 half marathons had been percolating in his mind since the year before, he said.

In Year 1 of his journey, he ran half marathons in 25 states, starting in Arizona and going as far east as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

Year 2 was just as ambitious, as he knocked out the remaining 25 states before the thick of the holiday season.

Newsam told the La Jolla Light last year that his goal was to complete his 50-state mission by late 2025 or early 2026. He said at the time that North Dakota was a strong contender for his final run, since his wife, Sharon Wampler, hadn’t visited there before.

He ultimately landed on Delaware for the finale since it is the first state in the union and Wampler attended school there as an undergraduate and it is close to the Philadelphia area, where many of her friends and family are.

Nearly 30 people were present to celebrate his accomplishment, Newsam said. Among them, five — his nephew Alex Matthews and Matthews’ wife, Rachel Lane; his son, Paul; great-nephew Brayton Bellafiore; and Mike Pazin, a graduate school contemporary of Wampler’s, ran in the race, too.

Why run?

Newsam did all this even though he says he isn’t particularly fond of running. And he had a long stretch when he didn’t run out of concern about damage to his knees and ankles.

So why do it?

“The first [reason] was a sense of challenge,” he said. “It’s sort of a difficult undertaking that requires a lot of dedication and commitment and a lot of planning and the ability to work remotely.

“But secondly, I kind of thought what you tend to hear is that people, when they get in their 60s and particularly their 70s, they tend to get a bit more sedentary. And I kind of felt that maybe committing to doing this might encourage others that absolutely you can get out there and do things like this.”

“It was never just about the running,” Newsam added. “This gave a sense of purpose to make trips to visit all the states, see interesting places, go to national parks, meet friends and family that we haven’t seen in awhile, eat interesting food and interact with people.

“That’s been really interesting, particularly in the current climate of political polarization. It’s just great to be able to interact with people face to face from a wide variety of areas and backgrounds.”

Memorable moments

With so many races across so many states, the quest wasn’t without challenges.

For his Indiana run, he booked a flight to Bloomington, only to realize he had a ticket to the one in Illinois, not Indiana.

A half marathon in Maine faced problems because of the recent government shutdown. As the date approached, he received a message that the route through a national wildlife refuge required a permit and that it was at risk of being canceled.

He quickly found another event in Maine the weekend before when he was supposed to be in Vermont. It worked out and he was able to keep his timeline intact.

But the snags weren’t the only memorable moments.

In Florida, he met a young schoolteacher who was on a similar cross-country half marathon trek.

And in Nebraska, he heard his name called out in a crowd and saw a couple he spoke with at a race in Mississippi.

“With people we’re just meeting for the first time, we don’t usually jump into discussions of religion and politics,” Newsam said. “But people across the country, from various backgrounds and ethnicities and so on, we’re all wrestling with similar things. We may have different views as to the best way of approaching the nation’s individual issues, but what we found is our hearts are generally in the right places.”

He said he also was struck by the support he received from his wife, son, daughter and friends.

Looking ahead

With his travels completed, Newsam now can put his tennis shoes aside for a bit and unpack his bags.

“It is a big change, to be honest,” he said. “We kind of got used to living out of suitcases and having to do an event every Saturday for a while … so I’m still adjusting to being back.”

Newsam has some loose ideas for other things to accomplish, but there’s one thing he feels confident about ruling out at this point.

“I don’t think it’s going to entail running,” he said. “I suspect I will set some other goal, challenge, whatever you call it. But I’ve deliberately tried not to settle on that too quickly.”