{"id":372489,"date":"2022-07-18T06:06:54","date_gmt":"2022-07-17T20:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=372489"},"modified":"2022-07-18T06:06:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T20:06:54","slug":"dela-cruz-completes-double-comma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/dela-cruz-completes-double-comma\/","title":{"rendered":"Dela Cruz completes double comma"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
Run Saipan president Edward Dela Cruz Jr., standing third from left, completed his 2,000th day of running at least a mile with close friends and running buddies bright and early last Thursday morning in Marpi. (CONTRIBUTED)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Run Saipan president Edward Dela Cruz Jr. made history last Thursday when he became the first runner in the CNMI to complete a double comma, which is 2,000 straight days of running at least a mile a day.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Airport Rescue Fire Fighting staff started his 1-mile-a-day journey in the midst of his depression on Jan. 12, 2017.<\/p>\n

Dela Cruz Jr., who is now in Eugene, Oregon for the 2022 World Athletic Championships, completed the run streak comma in Marpi with Run Saipan regulars led by Northern Marianas College president Dr. Galvin Guerrero and Saipan International School headmaster Dr. Ron Snyder.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a lot of emotions went through my head today. I never thought I would hold it this long. I just take it day by day now and treat everyday like it\u2019s a new day and go from there. I\u2019m feeling really happy right now, especially since I was able to share it with the people that mattered most since I started this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dela Cruz, who just this year became a father, is dedicating his 2,000th straight 1-miler to his wife, Anastasia, and newborn son, Sasha.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife\u2019s been my rock supporting me with running. If I didn\u2019t have her support I don\u2019t think I would\u2019ve lasted as long as I have for this streak. [I\u2019m also] dedicating this to my son now he\u2019s not really going to have a choice once he can start running to follow his dad. Also definitely dedicating this to my friends that made huge impacts on my life since I started this insane crusade.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then went on to name Gerald De Guzman, Jonathan Sugutan, Terence Leung, Gerald Galang, Angel San Nicolas, Jalen Lucido, Michael Mancao, Dr. Ron Snyder, Robin Sapong, Dr. Galvin Deleon Guerrero, Sildrey Veloria, Simon Necesito, and Michael Berbes as his go-to sources of inspiration for continuing on his run streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for any of these guys there wouldn\u2019t be a Run Saipan today. They made me realize running alone wasn\u2019t an option anymore and it was always better to be running\u00a0 as part of a team and a family. Their support is unparalleled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked when he\u2019ll retire his run streak, Dela Cruz deadpanned and said he\u2019ll end it when the universe says so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t predict the future but as long as I have my family and friends supporting me the way they do\u00a0 now, the sky\u2019s the limit. If you asked me years ago I probably would\u2019ve said 100 or 365,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Seriously, Dela Cruz said he really has no intention of quitting, as the run streak was never about performance, getting better at it, or breaking records.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that was the case I would\u2019ve been done after running a sub 2-hour half marathon. It\u2019s been about the journey and purely the enjoyment of running. A great runner in Guam and good friend of mine, 100-miler Nathan Brown, started mentioning this fantastic quote over and over. \u2018The real run begins the moment\u00a0 you forget you are running.\u2019 It\u2019s made\u00a0 me realize that\u2019s the moment I live for everytime I lace up my shoes and go for a run.\u00a0 Just for that feeling. People don\u2019t need marijuana. All you have to do is blow a certain mileage threshold to get that runner\u2019s high and you\u2019re good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snyder, Run Saipan secretary\/treasurer, said the running club Dela Cruz and other like-minded individuals founded years ago saluted their fearless leader in accomplishing the double comma.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone at Run Saipan is proud of our president. He has set an example for all of us in his running streak. Two-thousand days is an amazing accomplishment and we wish him well in his next 2,000!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Run Saipan president Edward Dela Cruz Jr. made history last Thursday when he became the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":372495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[191],"class_list":["post-372489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-dela-cruz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}