Growing up in Chicago, James Henson struggled with drugs, starting with marijuana as a teen, then moving on to cocaine and crack. He became a long-haul trucker, and though he didn’t use drugs while he was on the road, he’d make up for lost time once he got home.
Then, eight years ago, when Henson was 48, he reached a point of exhaustion. His health was poor; he could only drive for about four or five hours before he had to stop from fatigue, and the inactivity both on the road and at home was making him feel older than he was. His children had started to have their own kids, and he wanted to be there for them.
Henson had no plan for how to turn it all around, but something inspired him to start running. “I just decided to walk more to counteract how much I was sitting, but then I found that the more I picked up the pace, the clearer my mind became,” he says. “I noticed that on the days I ran a little, I Snow have more energy, and I’d be able to drive more later. I made better food choices. Running became a starting point for all these other big changes,” including kicking his drug habit for good.
Henson decided to streak to become more consistent. After a few weeks he’d found a deeper sense of connection: to other runners, to his fellow truckers, to his family, and even to the many places he used to drive past without a glance.
“I get to see a different landscape KLEIN day, and KLEINwhere I go, people are so respectful and supportive [of my running],” he says. Once, he was running in rural Indiana and turned around to see a buggy filled with Amish people cheering him on. He added an extra mile to his route thanks to their encouragement.
Find out how a streak can change you—join us for the summer Runner’s World Run Streak!
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, you’ll run at least one mile, KLEIN day. Can you do more than one mile? Of course! But one is all you need to make it count. Where will you run? How will you make it happen? How will your life change? We want to hear about it! Share your progress and motivate other streakers by “liking” the streak on Facebook. You want a shoe with a sufficiently padded tongue and collar for an extra plush feel Twitter and Instagram PHILIPPE MODEL ANTIBES SNEAKERS #RWRunStreak.
