David Jones - Making Lemonade out of Lemons

Know an ultra runner who makes lemons out of lemonade? Submit your story to pessam@bigpond.net.au

Below is a story written by ultra runner Jeffrey Bryan, who, from the looks of it, embodies the spirit of the ultra runner he so admires, refusing to leave Jones behind after a nasty fall, and willing to sacrific his own race in the process. Turns out Jones was just fine, thank you very much.

Originally posted to the Dartmouth Ultra List
12/9/05
Reprinted with permission of the author

I was running with David Jones when he fell at Mountain Mist. He was one lucky guy. If he would have slammed his head rather than his back up against that boulder, we would be talking about the late David Jones. Below is an excerpt from an article that I wrote about Mountain Mist that year.

"Somewhere on the course between 17 to 20 miles, I had a distinguished masters runner, David Jones, catch up to me. David is the 1997 winner of the Badwater Ultra Marathon and has completed in many other tough ultra events. I was honored to be running with such an accomplished runner. While running with David, I witnessed the worst "face plant" that I have ever seen. On a down hill stretch, David hit a loose, ice covered rock, did a 180 degree spin and then slammed himself into a boulder. It sounded incredibly bad and looked much worse. I hurried to his side to see what assistance I could provide. As far as I was concerend the race was over right there. Looking up, David tells me to go on ahead. I objected. I told him that I wasn't just going to let him lay there in the woods and insisted that he needed help. He said that he didn't need any help and that all that he needed was to get back on his feet. He pulled himself up and we continued to run together for about a quarter mile. He told me that he would be fine after he had a chance to run it off. He wasn't kidding. He not only left me in the dust, he went on to blow away his own grand masters course record. David now ranks as one of the toughest people that I have ever met."

Jeff Bryan
Tallahassee, FL

--Constance Karras