Wichita Kansas. Half Way On Our Run For a GMO Free USA

Wichita Kansas is famous for the old Chisholm Trail and is known as the Air Capital of the World, but for our family we will always remember it as the halfway point on our Run For a GMO Free USA.

Run Schedule

Even though David and I have pounded the pavement and trails from Huntington Beach, California, to Wichita over the past three months, it’s still hard to believe that we’re actually here. But when we open up the USA map, there it is, Wichita, sitting right smack dab in the center of the USA.

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David’s been talking about needing a new pair of running shoes for a while now. I don’t know exactly when he first brought up the subject. It’s hard to take him too seriously, because we just bought him a new pair a couple of months ago. Let’s see . . . where was that? Oh yeah, we bought him a new pair of shoes back in Flagstaff, Arizona.

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So our conversation back in Texas and Oklahoma has been, “Yep, when we get to Wichita, we’ll stop by a shoe store.”

David did some Internet research and discovered a store by the name of GoRun. He liked the store long before we went there because they’ve got a treadmill with a video so the store employees can analyze your running style.

We arrived at GoRun even before it opened. When Pam arrived with the keys, we followed her in. Pam asked David how long he had owned his shoes. We all answered, “Since Flagstaff.”

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“Since Flagstaff?” she replied in her Scottish accent. “That’s a long ways.”

Kris checked out the distance on her iPhone. “Over 900 miles,” she said.

Pam checked out the soles of David’s shoes. “Yes, a long ways. I’m surprised you made it this far looking at these things.” I’m not sure is she was judging the condition or the smell of the shoes. According to Kris, they’re both pretty bad.

David finally got to jump on the treadmill and ran for 20 or so seconds. Pam played back David’s gait in slow motion. “Slight over-pronation,” she said. That was the same thing we heard from the store employee back in Flagstaff. Pam used that information to fit David in a suitable shoe which turned out to be a Asics GT 2000 2, the latest generation of the shoe that had carried David from Flagstaff to Wichita.

I, on the other hand, just barely bought a new pair of Hokas back in Albuquerque, and even though I’ve probably exceeded the recommended number of miles, I’ve also spent more money than we have to spend, so my wallet stayed in my pocket and my Hokas stayed on my feet and will likely stay there until I have sense enough to buy a new pair.

While we were shopping for shoes, Pam’s co-worker, Zach, pulled up the Boston Marathon on the big screen we had used to analyze David’s gait. We have a personal interest in the run because my brother Rob, and his wife, Stacy, were both running the race. Rob ran Boston last year and, like many other runners, he tells stories of inspiration and love that arose out of the violence and chaos from last year’s bombings.

We were surprised and a bit disappointed to see that Rob wasn’t running a few steps ahead of Meb and Stacy wasn’t leading the pack among the fastest women runners. Oh well, maybe next year.

Anyway, it was fun to stand there watching the marathon and take in the breathtaking beauty of these world class athletes, analyze their strides, admire their courage and athleticism, and cheer them on with millions of other people from around the world.

Next to the treadmill, GoRun has a wall for people to sign their names along with their dates and times on a notable race. For most people, “notable race” means a 5 or 10K, half or full marathon. Not many people have run from coast to American coast. Not many 15-year old runners have run from coast to coast. In fact, as far as we know, David is both the second 15-year old runner and the second youngest person to ever run across the U.S.A. The first, Tobias Cotton, did it in 1928 as a competitor in the first Great American Foot Race. David was so impressed with Tobias that he wrote a blog about him.

Anyway, Zach grabbed a marker so David could add his name to the runners’ wall. If you know David, you know that he is a man of few words and he’s definitely not one to brag about his accomplishments. And if you know David, you will also know that he is easily distracted by what’s going on around him. So there David stood with marker in hand with the nearly impossible task of writing on the wall while the final miles of the Boston marathon were playing out on a large screen in plain view just a few feet away. No easy task!

It took David a while, but the following words are now inscribed among the others on the Runners’ Wall at Go Run:

David Wilcox
Transcontinental
2014 15 years old

Technically we’ve only run half way so far, but—aside from the first day’s run when we ran on little sleep and not the best foods—David has never doubted that we are indeed going to run the distance.

There are still a million things that could sideline us, but none of that matters right now. What matters is that we get up and do what we need to do today. As Jesus sort of said some 2,000 years ago: “Sufficient unto the day are the miles thereof.” And in David’s case, John might have said, “Sufficient unto the day are the miles and schoolwork thereof.” Between running and schooling, David is one very busy boy!!!

We’re not running 3000 miles today. We’re running our 20 or 18 or 25 miles. And we’re running those miles one mile at a time, one step at a time.

Of course Running across the USA is far easier than reclaiming our food supply from chemical based, industrial GMO agriculture. But the same principle applies; we don’t need to do it all today. We just need to focus on the task at hand and get ’er done, one blog at a time, one face to face discussion at a time, one seed packet at a time, one petition at a time, one boycott at a time, one garden at a time, etc.

The work we do makes a difference. Of this I am sure because it was the work of many others who influenced me with my own food choices a couple of decades ago. I’d particularly like to thank and honor John Robbins. His book, Diet for a New America, played a large part in helping me go nearly 100% plant based for a good many years now. I’ve not yet had the honor of meeting John, but I’ve spent dozens of hours listening to his voice on-line both from YouTube and from the first two of his Food Revolution Summits he co-hosts with his son, Ocean.

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John and Ocean will launch their Food Revolution Summit 2014 tomorrow, and unfortunately, I won’t be able to catch the interviews live because there’s just no way to squeeze them into our days as we continue our transcontinental run Eastward.

But you can listen to the summit for us. John always interviews some of the world’s brightest people, but more than ever before, this summit will feature a long list of experts on the subject of GMOs as well as a host of other food related topics.

If you’ve never listened before, take advantage of this free opportunity. And while you’re listening, David and I will keep on Running For a GMO Free USA.

Thanks to the warm and welcoming people of Wichita who are doing all they can to keep GMOs out of their backyards and out of our grocery stores. Thanks to John and Ocean Robbins and so many others who have been working for decades to protect the Earth and our food supply. And thanks especially to you for everything you do!

12 Things I’ve Learned and Relearned While Running For a GMO Free USA

“It’s a learning experience.” That phrase has come to be known as our Running For a GMO-Free U.S.A. mantra because so much of what we are doing as David and I run across the U.S.A. is a first time thing for us. Following are a few of the more important things I’ve/we’ve learned and/or relearned.

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1. Kris is a good woman. As the lead support person on a rather grueling GMO Free USA run and mission with Olivia and two stinky guys crammed into a tiny travel trailer, Kris is one busy person! And as always, she takes care of business with grace and beauty.

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2. Olivia is a hard worker with a great personality. While David and I are running, Olivia and Kris get stuck with a lot of the dirty work involving the truck and trailer. Olivia’s a natural at it. What’s more, even though she tells us she’s miserable and she’d rather be elsewhere, she is often humming and singing. Should I be concerned that the 13-year old baby of our family is singing about beer? “I got a little drunk last night.” “Can’t believe you’re really gone. Don’t feel like going home. So I’m gonna set right here. On the edge of this pier. Watch the sunset disappear. And drink a beer.” Or should I just join in with her and sing about Arizona’s and New Mexico’s favorite beverage? Either way, we love her spirit and energy.

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3. David’s got a good heart. Sure David spends his days talking about the weapons and assassins associated with his favorite video games, but he also told me about how it bothered him when I konked a king salmon on the head.

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4. David’s focused. Not necessarily focused on getting the things done that need to get done before running each morning like consuming a massive breakfast, filling water bottles, gathering gear, etc., but—in addition to video games—he’s totally focused on running. Running last year, running this year, running across the U.S.A., running with the cross country team this coming season, running in college, and his running career.

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5. We can do this??? At age 15 and nearly 53, David and I are getting up to our weekly goal of 120 miles. It’s not easy, it’s exhausting, and we’re slow, but we’re getting there. Some days David runs out of gas while I’m still feeling strong and other days I run out of gas while David is still leaping over the shadows of oncoming traffic, but overall we make good running partners and we’re running our way across the U.S.A.

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6. People are good and kind. As a professional counselor, I’m well aware that we humans can be real stinkers with each other, but day after day, we bump into great people who show us all sorts of love and kindness. People often stop on the road to make sure we’re okay. (Some stop to help the baby they think we’ve got in our jogging stroller.)

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7. Pro-GMO activists are mythological creatures. I say that it jest. Of course there are real people out there who sincerely believe that poisonous chemicals and genetic modification are the only thing keeping billions of people alive, but we’ve not met any such creatures on the road yet.

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8. There are two kinds of people: those who know about and oppose GMOs, and those who have never heard of GMOs. Again, this is only a slight exaggeration. After running some 741 miles, we’ve found that nearly everyone we meet knows nothing about GMOs, and those that do know agree that the “s” in “GMOs” stands for “suck” as in Genetically Modified Organisms Suck.

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9. The chemical companies aren’t going away. Corporations exist to make money, even if that money comes from the intentional poisoning of people, communities, and the environment.

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10. The U.S. government and the chemical companies play together in a large, crowded, and dirty bed. If this were not the case, we wouldn’t have to fight for GMO labeling because the government never would have approved the release of GMOs into the environment in the first place.

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11. Faith without works is dead. We can pray and wish and hope until the organic cows come home that government and chemical co-conspirators will clean up their act, but the system won’t change until you and I change it.

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12. Faith without works is dead, part two. We can’t possibly afford to quit our jobs and run for a GMO Free USA. We can’t do it on our own, that is. But we have discovered that a whole lot of people such as yourself support our run and our mission and, because of people like you, we can afford to run for a GMO Free USA. For that, we are eternally grateful!!!

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Brett and his 15-year old son, David, are currently running from coast to America coast promoting a GMO-Free USA. Brett wrote this blog in Gallup, New Mexico, enjoying a much needed day of Sabbath rest. Brett and David blog at RunningTheCountry.com. Support their run and mission at RunningTheCountry.com/donate.

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