Paul Shaffer, of West Pittston, is closing in on his goal of running a 5k every day for 365 days.
Local man sets out for 365 days of running
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WEST PITTSTON — As life seemingly grinds to a halt all around the world due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, one West Pittston man continues to move forward.
Paul Shaffer took up running as a hobby upon joining the Army Reserves in 1986. Now, more than 30 years later, Shaffer is attempting to run at least one 5K every day for 365 straight days.
“Everyone should have goals to help keep you interested in running,” the 51-year-old Shaffer said. “Start small, work your way up.”
As of Saturday, Shaffer was at 351 days and counting.
Coronavirus isn’a about to stop his quest. While Gov. Tom Wolf has issued a stay-at-home order for every county in the state, residents are allowed to leave their homes for certain exceptions. One of those is exercise.
He’s dealt with a lot of other obstacles on his path too, including multiple injuries, but he has yet to be stopped.
“I’ve had a couple of scares along the way, but have somehow managed to pull through,” Shaffer said.
Although he’s been running for quite a while, Shaffer admits that, for a time, he gave up the hobby.
When he retired in 2007, he gave up running altogether. It stuck for a couple years, but Shaffer credits his wife with getting him back out on the trails.
“In 2015, my wife and her friend wanted to start running, and I decided to join them,” Shaffer said. “I’ve been running ever since.”
Since then, Shaffer has taken part in multiple races both locally and nationally, from the Scranton Half Marathon all the way up to the Boston Marathon.
Shaffer says that, as he began running more and more frequently, he started reading about other runners and their own streaks of running on consecutive days, which inspired him to conduct his 365-day challenge.
In fact, this isn’t even Shaffer’s first attempt at pulling off the feat.
“My first attempt at 365 days was just running consecutive days, at least over a mile,” Shaffer said.
After 323 days, he was forced to abandon the effort after a back injury.
“I couldn’t walk, let alone run,” Shaffer said.
He added that part of his reasoning for taking a break was to have a chance to heal and be healthy for the 2019 Boston Marathon. He finished the marathon in 3 hours, 38 minutes and 4 seconds.
Now on his second attempt to conquer the 365-day mark, Shaffer says he’s committed to running 5Ks for 365 straight days and not settling for anything less.
“I have done a couple of races that were one or two milers, but try to double run days to keep it correct,” Shaffer said.
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