Paul Stasso completed his run across America on Friday at 11 a.m. EST, dipping his feet - and the wheels of his sole companion “Bob,” a decked-out jogging stroller - in the salty East Coast seawater of Lewes, Del.
“It feels great to be finished,” he said Friday, reached by cell phone. “To run into that Atlantic ...” he trailed off.
Stasso, a Missoula Web designer, ran 3,260 miles in 105 days. He averaged 33 miles per day, took 12 or 13 rest days along the way, and had peak and valley days of 42 and 24 miles, respectively.
The idea to run across the continent spurred from a bet he won - or lost, depending on how you look at it - with Russell Elementary School fourth- and fifth-grade students. Stasso's wife, Vicki, teaches physical education there and developed a novel exercise program for her students.
The goal was to make a virtual 3,600-mile trek across the United States by running laps at the school. Each day, the Stassos tallied the daily totals and showed the students' progress. Along the way, they worked in history, geography and math lessons.
Paul Stasso promised if the students made it by the end of the year, he, too, would make the trek, only for real.
They did, and now he has, too.
Other schools across the nation also adopted the curriculum. One of them was Shields Elementary School in Lewes, Del., where students on Friday greeted Stasso - with his family running alongside him for the home stretch - with a host of applause.
“Those kids have been cheering me on,” he said. “They've been tracking my progress and waiting for me.”
Stasso set out on his last day from Georgetown, Del., just a “jaunt” away from the ocean.
“It was the shortest day of the whole trek,” he said. “It was only 17 miles.”
Only.
That, from the lithe, sinewy man headed to the White House on Tuesday before arriving back home in Missoula on Thursday.
“Back to my life,” he said.
City editor John Doran can be reached at 523-5268 or at jdoran@missoulian.com
On the Net
To chronicle Missoula resident Paul Stasso's journey across America, visit his Web site, www.pacerun.com.
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