Season 1, Episode 66: A conversation with longtime runner John Liepa of West Des Moines

John on January 1 will complete running at least one mile every day for the past 45 years. That streak moves the longtime DMACC professor into very rare territory worldwide. In this interview from December 20, John talks about his seven years as race director of Midnight Madness during the race's formative years and all of the great runners he met and called friends. He talks about how a rugby injury led him into a lifelong passion for running that has included his family. John chats about keeping the streak alive by running on a Mercy hospital floor when he was a patient for heart arrhythmia. He talks about one of his favorite places to run in northeast Iowa when he and his wife owned a former rural schoolhouse. John also details other close calls he had with bad weather and the workouts he does now at age 76. He also tells what the streak means to him and how long he thinks it will last.