Local runner set and achieved a lofty goal

Jack Gilson hated running in high school and when he was in basic training in the Army, he detested the runs he and his fellow soldiers had to make before breakfast each day. That’s why it is very surprising that he has had run in 60 marathons by the time he reached 58 years old. It is even more surprising that he has run in all of those races in the last 20 years.

Gilson, a councilman on the Woolsey Town Council, started running 26 years ago. His neighbor told him that he needed to exercise and convinced him to run in a fun run by telling him that all participants got a free t-shirt. Gilson laced up his Converse All Stars and ran in the race, feeling like he would be sick by the finish.

“What was fun about that?” he asked his friend.

Something appealed to him though, Gilson thinks it may have been the t-shirts, because he soon went from fun runs, which are 5K races, to 10Ks and half marathons. Twenty years ago, Gilson ran in his first marathon, despite being tricked and pressured into doing it. He and a friend went up to the Midnight Sun marathon in ??? and Gilson planned on running in the half marathon but peer pressure won out and he ran the full marathon.

“I hadn’t trained to run a full marathon and I really suffered the last six miles or so,”Gilson recalled. “But after that, I was hooked.”

The next 59 marathons were run in 12 different states and one different country. Gilson has run in the Chicago marathon four times, the new York City marathon, which he considers his favorite, three times and the London marathon once. He has also run in the Atlanta Thanksgiving Day marathon a few times, as well as smaller races like the Peachtree City Classic and the annual Peachtree Road Race. Among the circle of marathon runners, there are groups that have run a marathon in all 50 states. Gilson knew he wouldn’t be able to attain that goal but he did like an idea that a friend came up with, which was run in 60 marathons by the time he hit 60.

By averaging three marathons a year, Gilson was able to reach his goal and that was with a 14 month break due to a foot injury. When training for a marathon, his regimen is a bit unorthodox and he wouldn’t want anyone following in his footsteps, mainly because he doesn’t put in as many miles as one should when training for a race that strenuous. Gilson estimates that he runs three five-milers a week and then runs close to 19 miles each weekend.

“It’s not near enough miles each week,” he said, but with obligations to his family, his career, working for the Georgia Department of Labor as someone who attempts to help others through vocational rehabilitation, and his work on the town council, it is what he can fit in. He enjoys taking his dog, Killian, a four year old labrador mutt, out for the runs on the trails around Lake Horton. Gilson enjoys the outdoors and the physical activity, which allows him to eat and not stay on a particular diet.

The camaraderie of running also has an appeal and Gilson has enjoyed training for races with Woolsey’s mayor Gary Laggis. His interest in local and civic issues led him to attend town council meetings and that led him to be appointed to the town council when one councilman resigned. Three elections later, Gilson is still on the council, preserving the rural, small town lifestyle that the residents of Woolsey enjoy.

Now that he has reached his 60th marathon, which was run in Maui, Gilson hasn’t set any more specific goals for himself, per a request by his wife of 33 years, Darla. He added that he would like to be like his late father, who walked two miles a day, before passing away at the age of 94. Gilson has also found inspiration from a speaker at one of the New York City marathons that he ran in, an elderly gentleman who at 90 was the oldest of four generations of his family running the marathon that day. Gilson hasn’t been able to convince his daughters, Amy or Katie, to run with him, but they have been supportive of his running, as has his wife, and of course, their dog.

If you are running in the Thanksgiving Day marathon this year in Atlanta, you may see him, though he has long since abandoned running in his Converse All Stars.

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