NAME	JOHN GAILSON
AGE	46ish
HOMETOWN	RENO, NV
PRs	2:26 MARATHON; 30+ 10K; 9:14 2-MILE
FAVORITE RACE	?
TOP FINISHES	FIVE-TIME LAKE TAHOE MARATHON CHAMP (2:26 AT 7,000 FEET); MASTER’S (OVER 40) NATIONAL 5K CHAMP (14:59); NATIONAL RIDE-AND-TIE CHAMPION
ATHLETIC BACKGROUND	RUNNING
DAY JOB	RETAIL MANAGER
FAVORITE WORKOUT	30-MILE RUN (IT'S HIS ONLY WORKOUT)
LUNATIC CREDENTIALS-- So much material to work with. John has a busy work schedule these days and has decided he only has one day per week to run. But he can’t imagine running less than 30 miles per week. John’s very straightforward analysis of this predicament yields an obvious solution. He runs 30 miles on his weekly day off. Nobody who knows John will find that odd. John is a legend in the Reno/Tahoe area. I first heard about John when I was a 15-year-old high-schooler from Huntington Beach, California with a 4:30 mile PR and an imminent—and dreaded—family move to Lake Tahoe in front of me. I was dead-set against leaving my roots and teammates: I thought I was a budding star who needed nurturing. Until, that is, I heard about the mysterious—and much better—runner from South Tahoe High. He’d run out of the forest in training flats just in time for the start of the 2-mile. He’d lap the field, finish the race, and off into the forest he’d return. Coming out only for his senior year, he ran 9:14. Nobody talked to John. He was a loner. I, of course, with no more sense of propriety then than I have now, went right up to him and started talking my head off. He just watched me gab. That was the beginning of a fast friendship that has never wavered. John was born John Gallagher. His father played the lone black astronaut who dies almost right away in the original "Planet of the Apes." His mother, Gail, was a red-haired Irish woman. John’s last name was changed to Paulson early in life to come into compliance with the new family name. That marriage didn’t last, and John himself legally changed his name to Gailson (Gail’s son, get it?). He’s changed it again every decade or so since then—to Francisjohn Gailson, and finally to Mishael Gailson. Why has he changed his name so many times? Don’t ask. I refuse to call him anything but John, by the way—I drew a line in the sand three names ago. John does his 30-mile runs with his adopted feral mustang Gator, a Gailson family member for upwards of a decade. John insists this horse is rideable, and perhaps he is, but John rarely rides him. He’s more a pet, and Gator accompanies John on his 30-mile runs—like a big dog—through the Nevada desert every weekend. John’s horsemanship and running acumen makes him a sought-after ride-and-tie competitor, in which he occasionally competes, in sandals (more below). John was 7th in the world duathlon championships in Palm Springs about a decade ago, the one and only duathlon I ever remember him doing. John had the fastest pair of runs that day, better than Matt Brick or Benjamin Paredes or Kenny Souza or whoever did the race that year. He ran his runs in Nike Aquasocks which, by the way, are boardsailing shoes. To those who were amazed at this, I explained (at the time) that this was actually an upgrade. For the two years previous to that he raced in Sperry Topsiders. Now he races in Teva sandals, and has for the past several years. He raced the 5k National Masters Championships in them a few years ago at the Carslbad 5000, and won the race in 14:59. He was one of America’s top-ranked masters runners that year, running just over 31 minutes for 10k. John was a top nordic skier in his youth and also has a house full of trophies from tennis and alpine skiing. We used to nordic race together. In the off-season nordic racers frequently train on the roads with inline skates and ski poles. John thought that was too easy, so he took an old pair of ice skates apart and made his own skates, with one wheel on each skate. You’d see him skating over Carson Pass in the High Sierra with his one-wheeled skates. John is a nut. Any attempt to detail all my evidence causes me to throw up my hands and parrot that phrase used in cheesy newspaper sale ads: TOO MUCH TO LIST! I have been privileged to witness at close range two endurance athletes who never cease to amaze me with their ability and grace. One is my wife. The other, for all his nuttiness, is John. Funny thing, my wife, who is also a bit of a loner, and John are fast friends. In a way they understand each other better than I understand either of them.