Photos by Shannon Litz / Nevada AppealCalvin Dutton trains for his run at the Rolling A Recreational Open Space on Saturday.
What started as a whim at age 40 has turned into an epic journey for Calvin Dutton of Dayton.
When he noticed he was starting to gain some weight in 2000 after his kids had grown, he started jogging for exercise.
His wife, Donna, remembers that first run when he encouraged his family to come along.
Calvin and his sons ran about three miles, she remembered, the girls made it about a mile. She couldn't go more than a half-mile.
But they stuck with it, and soon graduated from 5Ks to marathons.
"I realized I liked it," Calvin said. "It's addicting. It's horribly addicting."
For their 50th birthdays, both Donna and Calvin - Calvin in November 2007 and Donna in March of 2009 - ran 50 miles to celebrate.
But now Calvin has upped the ante.
This Sunday he plans to run a 100-mile course on back roads between Fallon and Dayton.
He has friends and family stationed along the route to run with him in five-mile increments.
"He's been training for months and months," Donna said. "He's ready to go. It's just a personal goal he set."
Working as foreman on a crushing crew in Round Mountain, Calvin often wakes up at 2 or 3 a.m. to get a run in before his 12-hour shifts.
While he's home on the weekends, the two train together.
Although he's been called crazy, Calvin is determined to meet his goal.
"If it takes me 40 hours, I'll make it," he said.
Once he reaches that milestone, he said, his next challenge will be to run the Western States 100 then the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135-mile run through Death Valley in August.
Although Donna continues to run three to five half and full marathons each year, she said she will not be running in Calvin's footsteps down the 100-mile route.
"No. Absolutely not," she said. "Fifty miles was definitely my limit."i