Wheaton man continues quest for clean water with Ironman

Steve Spear still gets choked up when he thinks about where he was roughly this same time last year. An avowed hater of all things having to do with running, Spear wrapped up a 3,243-mile run across America to raise awareness about the lack of clean water sources in Africa. He raised nearly $500,000 in the process to construct wells and water systems.

“For as much as the run across America cost, on so many levels, I would never take it back,” Spear said. “I felt like I was given a gift. It was the hardest thing I've ever done physically and emotionally.”

He was glad the running was over. But the attention he received on the run earned him new credentials as an inspirational person who could persuade others to run for the clean water cause. And that's what he's been doing since his own race concluded.

He helped organize 120 people who wanted to raise money while running the 197-mile Hood to Coast relay race Aug. 22 and 23 in Oregon. They raised $570,000 with an all-star cast that included two former Olympians on the relay teams. The fact that a two-day run raised more money than Spear's five-month effort is an irony not lost on him.

“Yeah, that was sort of the joke after the race,” Spear said. “But the run I did has opened the doors to efforts like what we accomplished in Oregon. I'm just a normal guy who just wants to hate running less. And now here you have these Olympians helping the cause. So I'm just trying to be obedient to this calling and walk through some of those doors that my run across America has opened.”

The next door Spear will step through will come Sunday: The man who hates running has added two more potentially loathsome athletic activities to his repertoire — swimming and cycling — so he can continue to raise money for clean water. But this time he'll do it while attempting his first Ironman triathlon in Madison, Wisconsin. And he's approaching it with the same level of athletic pessimism that he had before running his first marathon.

“I don't know that I'll do many more of these,” Spear said. “I know I don't have a really good credibility factor when it comes to saying that given my running history. But I have more apprehension and nervousness now than I did before leaving the pier in Santa Monica a year and half ago when I started the run across America.”

The 26.2-mile run and 112-mile bike ride are a daunting enough combo. But it's the first leg of the Ironman, the 2.4-mile swim, that fuels Spear's doubt.

“I did a half Ironman for training, and the first quarter mile of that swim was probably the most panicked that I've been in some time. By the time I got out of the water I was just thinking, ‘Thank you, God, for this bike.' I was so darn happy to be out of that water. I have no positive, constructive thoughts at all about swimming now. I love running compared to how much I hate swimming now.”

His goal is twofold: Be alive at the end of the race and raise $50,000 for clean water. Just days before the race, he was only about 20 percent of the way there.

“I put so much time into the Oregon race that I didn't dedicate as much effort to the fundraising for this,” Spear said of the Ironman. “But at the end of the day, no matter the amount, it's about being able to move the cause forward. Even if I can hit $20,000, that's 400 people who will have clean water for life.”

When it's over, Spear will head to Africa for the first time since his major fundraising efforts began to see the hard-earned dollars put into action. And then he'll be faced with the challenge of finding a new challenge.

There's part of him that occasionally thinks about a second run across America, an effort to break the world record. According to Guinness World Records, the fastest run from San Francisco to New York took 46 days, eight hours and 36 minutes. It was accomplished by Frank Giannino Jr. in 1980.

And there's also a part of Spear, the part that hates running and swimming, that is looking for something a bit less physically taxing. A few weeks ago he took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has raised more than $100 million through thousands of people taking five seconds to pour cold water on their heads and make a small cash donation. The effort has also seen some criticism for wasting clean water, a fact Spear was aware of when he took the challenge.

“For the people who feel that way, I just say, ‘Oh, come on,' ” Spear said. “Are you being serious? As if instead of spilling that clean water you're going to shuttle it to a kid in Africa? If you're going to be up in arms, then why don't you make a $50 donation to the clean water project.”

Spear said everyone raising money for a cause wants to find the next ice bucket challenge. In the meantime, the key is to learn from its success.

“You don't think of stuff that goes viral; it just happens,” Spear said. “If there's anything that it showed me, it was the power of multiplication, getting the attention of more people and getting them involved in the effort.”

Spear is already seeing that line of thinking put into action for his clean water efforts. On Oct. 12, he's bringing 1,200 people with him to run the Chicago Marathon through Team World Vision. They have a goal of raising $1.5 million for clean water.

“I'm just going to keep stretching myself,” Spear said.

Those interested in helping Spear reach his $50,000 fundraising goal for the Ironman triathlon can donate at: teamworldvision.org/ironman.