RUNNING ACROSS THE WORLD: Dora grad recounts first attempt at global run as he prepares for his second shot at the world record

Great success is often built upon failure, and some of the most impressive feats are accomplished by those who are unwilling to allow missteps, road blocks and closed doors determine their fate. 

Dustin Johnson, a 2013 Dora High School graduate, is blessed with that tenacity. After attempting - and failing - to claim the title of the first American to ever run across the globe a few years ago, he’s using his grit and determination to fuel a second attempt at the lofty goal. 

Dustin first attempted the world record run in 2019-20. The complete run would have taken him through 16,300 miles, across four continents. 

He made an admirable attempt, running over 10,000 miles, ocean-to-ocean across North America, South America and Europe. He ran for almost a full year, over the course of 330 days, before the run ended due to devastating wildfires in Australia that prevented him from entering that continent, followed by a plethora of logistical complications that came with covid-19 and the resulting pandemic. 

Now, armed with the insight that only experience can provide, Dustin has revamped his plan some and will attempt the world-record run again, this time with the help of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, bicyclist Brian Hoover, who will be able to carry the pair’s gear along the way.

Graduating high school, leaving college,  life in the Navy - and life after

After graduating from Dora High School in 2013, Dustin received a sports and academic scholarship to Central Methodist University. But after some time at the college, he found that he wasn’t happy there and transferred to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Still not feeling fulfilled, he decided to leave college and move back to West Plains where he had a heart-to-heart discussion with his parents. 

“I decided to go see what the military could bring me. My family served in the military every single generation on both my mother and my father’s side for an extremely long period of time,” Dustin said. 

Following in the footsteps of his father, he enlisted in the Navy.

He attended boot camp at Great Lakes, Chicago, and was transferred to Pensacola, Florida, for aviation training. He then moved to Point Mugu where he joined the VAW-113, known as “Black Eagles,” the squadron he was stationed with for the extent of his military career. He served on the U.S.S. Ronald Regan, the U.S.S. George Washington and the U.S.S. Carl Vinson during his tenure with the military. 

He was discharged in 2018 and moved back to West Plains.

“When you get out, the first thing you lose is your camaraderie, right? Your team is gone. The second thing [you lose] is your sense of purpose, and it’s very difficult to find your sense of purpose again… I’d been fresh back from a [Western Pacific] deployment… and it’s quite a transition. You go from what it was like nine months out at sea to coming home and having to figure your life again, figure out what you’re going to do, figure out how you’re going to make money…”

Dustin said he also struggled finding, building and rebuilding friendships as many of his friends had moved away after high school. The ones that remained in the area had married and started families or were in other chapters of their lives that made it difficult for Dustin to connect to.

Not quite finding his place in West Plains, he decided to move to Central Missouri then onto Kansas City and back to southeast Missouri, searching for his next chapter, but not quite finding it.

Losing everything in a blaze

In January 2019, he relocated to Lambert, Missouri, and remodeled his late grandfather’s shop into a tiny home and studio where he’d planned to create and sell artwork. The renovation took Dustin a few months of hard and dedicated labor, and he was happy with the result. 

Just after Christmas 2019, he moved his stuff into his new place. Being a minimalist at heart, he didn’t have many possessions, but what he did have meant a lot to him. He soon decorated the place with medals he’d earned in the Navy, high school sports awards, trophies, a dining set that belonged to his dad when he was in the military and a well-thought-out library of books. 

He finally found a place that felt like home. Life was starting to look up. 

Then one cold January night, while he was sleeping in his new home, Dustin awoke to a thick smoldering smoke that choked the air from his lungs. He opened his eyes and saw flames. 

He ran outside, gasping for air, and into a nearby home where his mother, Tina Johnson, was staying. 

“He said he needed help - that the place was on fire. It was the end of January. Everything was frozen. Everything we tried to get water from was frozen. There was nothing we could do… I called 911,” Tina recalled the horrific night. “All we could do was wait for the fire department. It’s a rural area, and all there is a volunteer fire department. So these men were at their homes, in bed, sleeping. They had to wake up, get dressed, go to the fire station and drive to our home outside of town… It seemed like such a long time. We stood there watching what used to be my dad’s workshop burn...watching Dustin’s new home burn. It went fast… it was gone. Everything he owned burned.”

Tina says she thanks God everyday that Dustin woke in time to get out of the tiny home. His dog and her two week-old puppies were also able to escape the burning structure. 

Dustin later recounted the devastating experience. 

“I will never forget the feeling of panic, the feeling of hot all over me, the feeling of waking up choking on smoke, unable to breathe… everything seemed to be going in slow motion. I’ll never forget that it felt like hours for the fire department to arrive, but it was actually only 23 minutes. I’ll ever forget watching my life as I knew it crumble in front of me without me being able to do anything… I’ll never forget feeling so vulnerable and weak.”

The loss was monumental to Dustin who had already been struggling emotionally and mentally. Every possession he cared about had been destroyed in the blaze. 

A suicide attempt that led to a new-found goal in life

The fire occurred just before another unthinkable blow that only deepened Dustin’s depression. 

“My best friend committed suicide - and that was my rock bottom,” Dustin said. 

Unsure how to find a way out of the darkness, Dustin said he only saw one way forward. 

“I didn’t want to be a burden on anyone anymore, and that ultimately led me to my decision to take my life.”

Dustin attempted to commit suicide but was found before he died. He was rushed to a hospital where a team of doctors worked to save his life. 

Throughout the flurry of treatment, one doctor found a moment to be clear with Dustin.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Your mind may have given up, but your body didn’t. Your body is still fighting. Don’t waste it.’”

Considering the doctor’s advice and still recovering from the suicide attempt, Dustin was contacted by an ultra-running friend who said he thought Dustin needed a goal, a purpose in life. He challenged him to take on a nearly impossible task - becoming the first American to ever complete the 16,300 mile world run. 

Finally feeling like something made sense for his future, Dustin accepted the challenge. 

“I started planning. I set big goals, big dreams,” Dustin said. He threw himself at the new goal, planning alongside the World Runner’s Association to carefully craft his way to breaking the world records.

Fueled by a higher purpose

Dustin knew that the run meant more to him than just reaching a goal or breaking a record. It was his own way forward in life after his suicide attempt, and he didn’t want to shy away from that motivation. Instead, he embraced it head-on and dedicated his run to bringing awareness to veteran suicide. 

With 22 veterans taking their own lives every day, Dustin knew he wanted to shine a light on the issue and encourage others to talk about it and take action to help struggling veterans, even when the discussions are uncomfortable. 

Throughout the entire journey, Dustin has carried his cause at the forefront of his journey, often telling veterans things like “take your struggles and give them to me. Let me carry them for you and place them at the highest mountains and lowest valleys, so you’ll never see them again. Let me carry your baggage, and I’ll deliver it to places where you never have to worry that it will find you again. Have faith in me that I care for you.”

He joined forces with the organization Stop Soldier Suicide and partnered with the group throughout the entire first run attempt. 

Frustration of lack of gear in Peru, tentless and a face-to-face encounter with jaguars 

Dustin trained for the long endurance run, changed his diet and began obtaining the gear he’d need for the trek. Since he’d be running alone, he bought a push cart that he’d use to carry his sleeping bag, tent, cooking supplies, clothing, food, water and other necessities, through the duration of the year-long journey.  

Dustin laced up his running shoes, packed the cart, and on May 1, 2019, he began running toward his new-found purpose. 

He ran from Benton, Missouri, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a stretch that took him just over a month. Then, on June 8, he boarded a plane for Lima, Peru.

“There was a huge problem getting into Lima. I had to leave almost all my gear behind,” he said. “I was allowed one duffel bag, and all that was in it was some clothes. I had to pay a huge fine to get my running cart shipped.”

Dustin decided he’d have to purchase new gear in Peru after the plane landed. But when he arrived, he discovered that all the shops that sold gear were closed due to the timing of it being the off season in that area. He couldn’t get most of the gear he needed.

“So, I ended up leaving out of Miraflores [a district within the city of Lima, Peru] with no tent. All I had was a sleeping bag, two or three changes of clothes and very, very little food,” Dustin said. “...I took off. I had two brand new pairs of shoes with me, and the plan was to get two more [pairs] shipped…”

Dustin took off starting his journey eastward through South America. Without the availability of a tent to purchase, he slept on the ground alongside the road with only his sleeping bag.  

“I didn’t have a tent. The only thing I could do was get off the side of the road to an area that was somewhat safe. Sometimes I couldn’t even get to a place that was somewhat safe. So, I’d try to get up under the [roadside] railing or get up over the railing with my cart if I could, and just hope for the best.”

At one point, Dustin had a brush with one of the most feared animals in South America - jaguars. The encounter was near the Bolivian border with Chile and Argentina in an area near Salta.

Dustin said the stealthy cats, who are known to occasionally attack humans, had been stalking him throughout the evening. 

“At one point they got super super close to where I had set up camp,” he said.

Dustin said he could hear the beasts getting closer in the pitch black night. Heart pounding, he fumbled to find his headlamp among his other belongings. 

He snatched it up and flicked on the light, but his headlamp, in desperate need of batteries, did little to help illuminate the scene. He was able to faintly see the cat’s outlines in the weak light of the headlamp. 

Dustin said the large cats smelled his tent and supplies and let out a bone-chilling snarl. Then retreated to the brushline and continued to watch him for awhile before moving on. 

Dustin grabbed what he could and retreated to the edge of a highway, where he stayed until the next morning when he contacted local authorities, who escorted him back to the area to gather the rest of his gear. 

The memory was an impactful one, reminding Dustin that the run wasn’t always safe. But determined in this goal, he kept running. 

When Dustin arrived at the next large city, he was set to receive several mailed packages that included gear and other items, but he was met with another round of frustration. 

None of the expected packages were there. 

Halted by the lack of necessities, Dustin had no choice but to wait. After many long discussions on the phone with the stores and mailing companies, some packages trickled in, but many never arrived. He decided he couldn’t wait any longer and continued on.

“I ended up leaving out of Kepa with half the gear that I needed, and two weeks wasted in the city…I was about 100 miles from crossing the border into Chile,” Dustin explained.

Hit by a car, shoes three sizes too small and the kindness of a homemade lunch

With Peru’s frustrations behind him, he looked forward to entering the new country of Chile; however, that excitement was soon snuffed when Chile brought its own wrath. 

While running, he was hit by a truck.

“It destroyed my cart. So I had to order a new one. I was a little beat up, bruised, it wasn’t anything too bad. The truck hit the cart, and the cart just pushed me over,” Dustin said. 

But his cart, which carried all his necessities through the trip, was demolished. He would need a new one. 

Dreading dealing with another logistical nightmare involving shipping a needed item, Dustin decided to use Amazon to purchase and ship a new cart. An Amazon representative assured Dustin they could get the new cart to him in six days. The cart arrived in four days, and Dustin was back to his run. 

He knew that the next leg of the journey would prove difficult as he attempted to cross the Atacama Desert. 

“The Atacama Desert is 50 times drier than Death Valley. There were cracks there that were halfway up my shin. It was awful,” he said. 

Although the earth was unforgiving, Dustin said the people of the Atacoma Desert area more than made up for the hostile environment with their warmth and kindness. It took him six days to cross a barren desert land between towns.

“During that time I had construction workers giving me sandwiches, giving me water, giving me an apple. I don’t think I went a single day in the Atacoma region without at least one person stopping to give me something. Many gave me their lunch. One was a homemade vegetable soup that was amazing. The man said his wife had made it for him so he could have a fresh meal while working, and he said it’d be an insult if I didn’t take it.”

When Dustin got to the next city San Pedro, he looked around from the valley floor at the surrounding mountains and knew that he’d have to take everything he needed with him for over a week. 

He spent time restocking and preparing for the treacherous climb ahead. 

“I took a day off and I got a lot of fresh veggies and as much water as I could possibly buy,” he said.

He also began looking for a new pair of shoes to replace the ones he’d traveled the last 1,200 miles in.

South American people have smaller feet than Americans, and the largest size shoe he could find was a 9, a far cry from his usual size of 12.5. Left with no other option than to improvise, Dustin made it work. 

“I decided to get them and cut the toes out of them, so I could have, at the very least, better shoes to cross the mountain in,” he said. 

The most brutal conditions of the entire run

Although Dustin knew the mountain crossing would be tough, he wasn’t prepared for just how difficult the section was. 

He estimated that the crossing would take between seven and nine days if he could stretch his daily mileage to 15 miles a day. But he knew it was a steep mountain climb and would be more difficult pushing his 100-pound cart of gear. It turns out, it took much longer than the estimated week, and the conditions were harsher than he could have imagined. 

“The highest altitude I reached was 18,711 feet, and it was brutally cold. The lowest subzero temperature was minus 32 degrees, and the winds were absolutely brutal,” he said.

He wasn’t able to light or keep a fire, an important element to survival in such frigid conditions. 

“At one point, I’d brought my little cookstove inside my tent, zipped it up and thought I’m going to just breathe in the fumes because I have to have fire. I have to be warm,” he said. “I was not in a good mental state up there.”

With no cell phone signal, there was no way to reach out to anyone for help. There was nothing to do but keep running. 

After about nine days, Dustin was running low on food and water. He was already two days past his initial estimate, and he was ready to be beyond the mountain pass. 

He’d done some research before beginning the mountain climb and anticipated stopping at a village with a grocery store just after the pass. 

As he approached the area, he could almost taste the food and water that were waiting for him. But, as he got closer, he realized there was no village. There was nothing. The research had been wrong. 

“I [later] showed my mom a video. It was just wasteland there. Nothing. It was just the desert all over again,” he said.

Dustin’s heart sank. He was out of water. He was out of food. He was dehydrated and desperately needed a store to resupply. He continued on. 

It took him two additional days, with no food or water, to reach the Argentinean customs crossing. After going through the customs crossing, he saw a tiny shop on the corner. 

“I was expecting it to have food and stuff, but it didn’t. All they sold was coffee. I told the man I’d like a café con leche, coffee with milk,” Dustin said. 

The cafe worker made the fresh coffee drink and handed it to Dustin. He knocked the drink back in a few swallows and looked back at the worker, who returned a surprised expression.

“I think he thought I was a crazy man. Here I am pushing this cart into the shop, and I look rough, purple lips and all,” he said. “I think I drank five coffees in 30 minutes. I was so dehydrated I was chugging them.”

Continual flat tires, expensive shipped shoes and a request for help

The landscape changed in Argentina. Dustin had been in the desert for several weeks at that point, crossing Peru and Chile, then enduring the savage conditions of the mountain. 

On the other side of the mountain climb, Dustin was awarded with some of the most magnificent scenery of the trip as he passed through the Seven Mountains and the Amazon rainforest. 

But Dustin met a new challenge amid the beauty, running in an area where there was no shoulder on the roadway. Instead of a pavement surface, he was running and pushing his cart on the rocky ground next to the road.

“I was getting sticker burrs in my [cart’s] tires. I kept hitting thorns. I went through about 13 tires in less than a week. It was extremely difficult,” Dustin said. 

The poor condition of the running surface and constant tire repair lengthened the time it took Dustin to complete his 30-mile daily goal from a normal eight hour running day to 12 hours. 

His toe-cut size 9 shoes from before the mountain crossing also needed to be changed for new ones.

Desperate for better shoes, he had two pairs of shoes shipped to him, which brought another surprise - this time shipping costs. He soon found out that to ship the four shoes to Argentina, Dustin had to fork over more than $600. With aching feet, he had no choice but to pay the hefty fee.  

After he received the shoes, his feet were in better condition, but he continued getting flat tires on his cart. There were almost no stores that sold tire tubes along the route, so Dustin had to continually stop and patch the tires. 

“At that point, I didn’t want to give up, but it was getting so difficult to continue on my own, I knew I needed help. And that’s when I called my mom,” he said. “I told her I need you to come down here, whether that means you ride a bicycle, rent a car, whatever. I need you to be able to take my supplies, and I need to just be able to run.”

The communication wasn’t through phone calls or texts, as Dustin didn’t have reception. Instead, he sent messages through his GPS system, unsure if Tina was getting them and if she was able to come. 

Tina worked hard in Missouri to try to find a way to go help her son, and Dustin continued running on with some hope that she may be able to arrive soon to help ease the burden. 

A midnight police escorted back-track

As if Argentina’s jaguars, brutal mountain crossing, constant flat tires and lack of shoes weren’t difficult enough, a terrifying experience was added to the mix.

This time it was a human encounter that left his heart beating fast. 

“It was around midnight… a truck pulls up next to the tent. I jump up. I grab my boot knife, I have my headlamp. I’m ready to protect myself,” Dustin said.

Dustin exited his tent to find uniformed officers parked next to his tent, their vehicle’s headlights illuminating the area. 

The officers began shouting, demanding that Dustin get in the back of the truck. Dustin was asking what was going on, and what the issue was, but the officers refused to answer him. 

An officer pushed him inside the back seat of the vehicle, grabbed all of his gear and threw it into the back of the truck. Then, in silence, they took off. 

“I’m sliding around on the back seat, going down this road at around 50 miles per hour. Panic mode hit me, and I got my phone out. I try to FaceTime my mom to show what the people looked like [in the truck], the area I was in, because I had no idea where they were taking me,” Dustin said.

Dustin, fearful that he’d been abducted or otherwise entangled in a dangerous situation, feared what awaited him at the end of the truck ride. 

The officers drove about 30 miles away from Dustin’s original camp, up into the mountains. They told him they had taken him to “a safer place to camp.”

“They thought they were helping me, but actually it was a pain. It was in the opposite direction,” Dustin said. 

A little help finishing Argentina, mom gets a first-hand look at run life

Tina flew to Argentina and met Dustin at the next town, which marked about the halfway point in Argentina. 

Racing against an expiring visa deadline, Dustin felt the pressure to complete the last bit of the Argentinian journey, thus completing his South American leg of the trip.

Tina used a car to carry Dustin’s cart and supplies, doing runs for additional water and food as needed. Besides a few cruises, Tina hadn’t ever been outside of the United States, making the Argentina adventure outside of her comfort zone.

“Very, very, very few people speak English,” Dustin said. “My Spanish is moderate at best, and Mom doesn’t speak any Spanish. It was interesting to see her come down. I’d tell her we’re getting low on water or this food, and they don’t have grocery stores. Gas stations don’t have convenience stores. You have to go to a farmers market. You have to go to a butcher shop. And good luck finding it. A lot of those places aren’t on Google Maps,” Dustin said. 

Tina was tasked with not only finding these places but entering the establishment and communicating her desire to buy a certain item without any aid of language. She said she was blessed with patient Argentinians who did everything they could to help her.  

“When someone comes to the United States, and they don’t speak the best English, we may brush them off. I think that changed my views, and changed my mother’s views astronomically, about the patience they gave her while trying to figure out what she needed,” Dustin said. 

While Dustin camped on the ground most nights, Tina slept in her car. A few nights they were able to purchase a cheap night’s hostel or other accommodations. 

Tina, who had posted updates in a Facebook group since Dustin began the race, continued to update friends and followers with photos and descriptions of her days. At one point she was frank about the trip.

“I truly do not know how he does it. This guy gets up early in the morning, packs up his tent and sleeping bag and gets everything ready for the day. Then he does about a mile warm up walk, most of the time eating just a little something. He starts running, goes about five miles until he stops to get a drink, sometimes longer. At about 10 miles he will get a little something to eat, walks a little while until it settles on his stomach and starts running again. He does this off and on until he gets to his 30 mile goal,” Tina wrote. “And he does this every day. When he gets to his camp, we cook dinner, eat, clean up, pack stuff back up, talk just a little before it gets dark, which was around 7:30 last night. Then he goes to bed to rest his body, so he can get up tomorrow and do this all again.”

When Dustin and Tina got to Bueno Aires, Argentina, on the western most coast of South America, they said their goodbyes. Tina flew home to Missouri, and Dustin flew to Portugal to start the European stretch. 

This article will be continued next week…

Editor’s note: This is the first in a three part series detailing Dustin Johnson’s world record run attempt and his preparation for his second attempt at the run. To follow along with Dustin’s journey, follow “Dustin Johnson’s World Record Run” group on Facebook, the “Runningforvets” Instagram profile and the WorldRunner YouTube channel.