John Salmonson
John Salmonson was an accomplished runner who placed the utmost value on leadership, mentoring, and inspriring other runners to achieve what may have been thought impossible. Winning races was not a priority for John; sharing his love for running, particularly trail running, and encouraging others were his greatest achievements.
Johnʻs running lifetime was shared with his wife, PJ. They were married following their completion of the Vermont 100-mile race in 1989. They participated in all of life’s events together thereafter.
John arrived in Hawaii in 1974 from Santa Cruz to start his new business that continues to thrive today under the reigns of his son, Eric. John began running during his early years in Hawaii and completed his first Honolulu Marathon in 1981. In typical “Big John” fashion, he coached and trained a small group of close friends to complete the 1982 Honolulu Marathon together, then literally, tethered together as a bunch of reindeer for the Reindeer Run in 1985! Soon after, he tried trail running and quickly was pulled to the lure of ultra running.
John accumulated over 100,000 lifetime miles of running in Hawaii and around the globe on his many adventurous runs. Other marathons completed include Maui, San Francisco, Pikeʻs Peak and Volcano. Ultramarathons are where John excelled and felt most comfortable. John completed distances from 50K to 100 miles, 8-day relays, and 10-day running adventures, including the Lewis and Clark relay across Washington State, the Golden Circle Super Marathon (10 marathons over 10 days) in Russia and Haleakala Run to the Sun several times. John started the tradition of running your age in miles on your birthday by running home from Haleiwa on his 40th. Later, when John planned more birthday runs in places like Molokai, Maunakea, Mauna Loa, Kalalau, Lanai, and Saddle Road, there was always a big gang there to support him, learn from him, and celebrate the beauty of running together in the natural environment.
When running was no longer possible for John, he led the trail running movement in Hawaii and commanded that HURT develop events for the people of Hawaii. John boldly moved forward directing both road runs and trail runs. He directed many races such as the Schofield 50 Miler, Capitol 50 Miler, Honolulu City Lights, HURT 100, HURT Trail Series races, and Haleakala Run to the Sun for its final seven years. When John was the race director, everyone benefitted from his endless optimism and can-do spirit. More than a few HURT 100 finishers have John to thank for believing in them and inspiring them.
John supported and mentored many young and novice Hawaii ultrarunners in their attempt to conquer big races all over the world. Anyone needing training plans, advice, and encouragement would go to John, who was always generous in sharing his wisdom and experience. John gave generously of his time and experience to Hawaii’s young runners by coaching at Mid Pacific for three years.
Most important to John was sharing his love of trail running, inspiring runners to go beyond their perceived limits, provide support and fellowship, and to develop a community-concious running group. HURT was born out of that love and devotion to the running community, his desire to give of himself, and his respect for Hawaii’s aina. HURT remains the ohana that John envisioned, with his protégées carrying on in his memory and perpetuating HURT’s mission to enhance long distance running and trail runs and to provide fellowship and support among Hawaii’s running community.
Running accomplishments:
- 4 x Western States 100 finisher – PR 24:36:00
- 3 x Run to the Sun 36-mile finisher – PR 7:28:39
- 3 x American River 50-mile finisher – PR 9:06:32
John now rests on the trails that he so loved, and his family couldn’t imagine any better place for him to stay in eternity. The thousands of people that he has introduced to trail running and have received his encouragement over his lifetime feel his spirit there and hear his voice saying,
“We Wouldn’t Want it to be Easy”.