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02/17/25 - Now it can be told, CNMI running streak king Edward Dela Cruz Jr.’s most bizarre run so far was completing a mile while literally having the runs—diarrhea.
“I believe it was within the first 300 days, somewhere within there, I ran this Beach Road Pathway and I had diarrhea. Yeah, I had a real running diarrhea.”
And what’s worse was he actually did a Paul Pierce when the Celtic legend pooped his pants in the third quarter of Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and had to be wheel-chaired off the court unto the locker room.
“Yes, some of it did come out during the run, I could not hold it. So that was really tough to do. I had to call my sister and be like, ‘hey, I need a pair of shorts, baby wipes, towel, bring it over here to the Beach Road today because I'm not getting into the car or dad's going to kill me.’”
That’s just one of the silly adventures the now 33-year-old Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting fireman went through in continuing his eight-year run streak—the longest in the CNMI now encompassing 6,476 miles.
“It's not as much as Tania Tan when she does her yearly miles, but you know, these are my lifetime miles and I'm really proud about it,” Dela Cruz said about his run streak that actually started at the 0.00 marker of the Beach Road Pathway in Jan. 12, 2017.
That was when he was battling depression and just joined a local biggest loser challenge. It was supposed to be just for 30 days, but the run streak—a challenge to run a set distance usually a mile every day for a period of time—turned into 60 days, then into 90, then to 365, and the rest is history.
“That's exactly how it started. And one year led to two, two to three, three to four, five to six, and here we are now eight years later.”
Dela Cruz noticed that when he ran every single day, whether it was a mile or 13 miles, he felt generally better about himself—not just about getting an exercise in, but more through the spiritual and emotional side.
“I feel less angry, less depressed, less anxiety. That's why I love running every single day, especially the streak. That's how it's been going so strong. It's a free antidepressant pill. I don't have to go pay for a psychiatrist and I don't have to go get prescribed medicine at Brabu [Pharmacy] or PHI [Pharmacy]. This is free, free endorphins.”
As for the longest run during his eight-year streak, Dela Cruz said it would have to be the 2022 Boston Marathon he completed virtually in 2021. Curiously, the 26.2-miler wasn’t the hardest for him.
“The hardest mile [run] for me, I would really have to say was [during] COVID. That was the hardest mile, not because we were on lockdown. When I had COVID, that was the worst I've ever felt. It was hard to breathe, man. It was really hard to breathe. I really thought about ending the streak right after that.”
And even healthy during the pandemic was chore for streak runners like Dela Cruz as even a stroll in the village streets of Saipan was prohibited.
“I ran on my apartment balcony, man, I forgot. I think I was like 102 laps just down and back like 20 feet. I had to run the balcony while we're on lockdown. Everyone told me I could just break down the lockdown rules and just run anywhere else, like forget about lockdown. And I said, ‘no,’ I got to prove a point that I can still do it. So, lockdown was two or three of my runs I had to run on my balcony.”
Another event that almost broke his run streak was when his son was about to be born.
“My wife went into the hospital and I didn't get my mile in yet, stupid me. I wanted to get a little bit more sleep that morning and here we are in the hospital, my wife is in labor, and I really thought to myself, ‘man, I should just retire the streak right when my son comes out. I don't want to leave my wife.’ But lo and behold, as soon as my son pops out—and I knew my wife was stable—she actually told me, ‘go out and do your stupid streak really quick and then come back in.’ And the doctor was like, ‘holy crap, you're really going to run outside?’ And I did.”
Dela Cruz said there’s also no hard-and-fast rule in monitoring a run streak.
“It's basically between you and God. A lot of people that entered this when I was on my third or fourth year kept asking, ‘where do I register?’ It's really an honesty policy when you run a streak every day. I really don't care if people don't believe I ran eight years in a row or not. But people close to me know that this is a do-or-death thing for me, where I'm more devout to this than I am going to Sunday Mass, unfortunately.”
And his tip for nut jobs who are actually thinking of joining the streak is to try and run first thing in the morning, especially if you’ve just partied all night until the wee hours, and always have your running gear in the trunk of your car.
“Because running hangover and wasted, those are some of the craziest stories I'll have. [I ran] right after GIG, 3 in the morning, because I knew I was not going to run the rest after that day. I'll run before I go to sleep and shower, back home after partying or drinking all night. Another one would be to make sure to always have running shoes or shorts.”
Dela Cruz said he doesn’t really know when he’ll retire his run streak and would probably do it until the wheels fall off.
“In about 90 days, I'll hit the day 3,000 mark. And two more years, 10 years. That's the shorter goal right now. But right now, all I enjoy the most about this running streak is it's inspired a good amount of people to run. To make it a part of their everyday life. As long as it changes someone else's life, I'm happy.”
With nearly 20 streak runners currently in the CNMI, Dela Cruz it has literally become a movement—no pun intended.
“Every single person has a different reason for starting and then continuing the run streak...It’s just everyone has a very different reason. I do it for emotional and mental health. At this point, everybody else has a different ax to grab for why they do it.”
To be honest, Dela Cruz said he’s going to keep his streak because at this point it's already part of his genetic code, his DNA.
“It's hard to stop. But I'm really glad that it took off and people are doing it now. Will I be going out and recruiting people to join this? No, I will not. I will tell people to just go to the gym, have a regular diet, and go to church to have a good life. Running every day is a whole different lifestyle.”
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Story by Mark Rabago
Video by Thomas Manglona II
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