Jim Merritt was the second of four children born to Lois and Lula Merritt in November 1947. Just for the record, Jim’s father was named Lois. This was almost like the Johnny Cash hit a boy named Sue before anybody thought about it! Jim, like Bob Slowpants, grew up in the hills of Tennessee. He graduated from Rutledge High School in 1965. Jim attended Hiwassee Junior College in Athens, Tennessee for two years and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education and Phycology with a minor in Biology from Tennessee Wesleyan University.
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Jim began his career as a public-school teacher in the spring of 1969 and continued in that profession until 1974. Jim taught middle school, with 5th grade being his favorite. His second career was as a Greyhound bus driver after the movie “Midnight Cowboy” became popular. Jim drove those buses hard until sidelined by a strike in 1990. Jim began a third career as a delivery driver for a printing company in Lawrenceville, GA until retiring in 2014.
Jim and his wife Linda celebrated thirty-one years together in August. Jim describes this as the “second go-around” for both. Jim has four children from his first marriage and Linda has two from her first marriage. For those keeping score, Jim has eleven grandchildren, all produced by his four children.
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Jim and LindaBoth Jim and Linda had been smokers since they were teenagers. Linda was diagnosed in the summer of 1998 with emphysema and they both ceased smoking. Jim feels it was a misdiagnosis, but he accepted it as a wake-up call. About a month after Jim stopped smoking, he found he was adding weight. He tried walking it off but, in a fit of impatience, began running. His first run was a half mile and Jim thought he was going to die! Shortly thereafter Jim was doing pre-dawn runs before he went to work. Jim ran his first race in the spring of 1999, the Heart Trek 10K. Speed dialing to the present, Jim has participated in three hundred and seventy-nine races, with majority being 5K distances. He was running on almost every day except Sunday. Jim began to wonder on October 28,2001 (a Sunday!) how many runs in a row he might be able to string together if he included running on Sunday. When Jim completed his run on October 28th, he has completed sixteen years of running without missing a single day. Even die hard Georgia Runner Grand Prix and Black bag participants cannot say this!
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Jim has concentrated on trail runs the last seven years, competing in the Dirty Spokes series and occasionally in the Georgia Runner Grand Prix and Back Bag series. The photo of Jim with a torch is from the Senior Games in Birmingham, Alabama in June 2017 when Jim was honored as the lead runner for the opening games ceremonies. In 2017, Jim has a goal of 1390 miles. If he succeeds his total as of December 31, 2017 will be an amazing 20,000 miles. Jim is a member of the United States Running Streak Association and currently is one hundred and eleventh on the active streak list. Four competitors of Jim’s have forty-five years of consecutive daily running. Jim prides himself on having a short term and long-term goal. Short term is to run tomorrow! As of September 16th, Jim has completed a total of five thousand and eight hundred and one consecutive days. His long-term goal is to run every day the rest of his life! Jim has been running at least a mile a day despite a pesky left knee problem. When you are Jim and a streak runner, there are no days off!
Bob checking out from the back of the pack. Watch for the profiles of Columbus runner Jackie Phillips, and David Breeland.