Jeff Clark

Jeff is a professional, over-the-road driver

Teenager gives new meaning to the term ‘cross-country runner’

Jasmine Jordan, a 17-year-old from Ashby, MN, is attempting to become the youngest female to run across the United States. “Jazzy” is not doing it for herself; she is doing it for over-the-road drivers.
     No one has to tell Jazzy about the health problems in the trucking industry. Jazzy’s friend Sheila Grothe, a driver for her mother Paulette’s company, lost her battle with cancer. Obtaining affordable health insurance can be a problem for truckers. Health problems and industry turnover rates don’t help.      Jazzy is raising awareness for the St. Christopher Fund, a fund started by Dave Nemo, Dr. John McElligott and Michael Burns to help truckers with medical expenses. You can learn about the St. Christopher Fund at truckersfund.com.
     So why did Jazzy decide to run across the country in order to raise awareness for the health problems facing the trucking industry? “When Sheila died, I told my dad that I wanted to do something,” she says. “I’m good at running. So I told him that I wanted to run from coast-to-coast to raise money for charity.”
     Jazzy is running from Los Angeles to New York. She left L.A. on Sept. 1 of last year and is running between 17 and 23 miles per day, six days a week. At that rate, it should take about 218 running days to complete the task. As of early January, Jazzy was in Texas, about 1,000 miles into her odyssey.
     Jazzy is doing the vast majority of the running on her own. She has been joined at times along the way, however, by a variety of runners who have run with her for a few miles, including a boxer, a police officer, students from Twentynine Palms High School in California and solders from the 5th armored brigade based in Fort Bliss, TX.
     Lt. Brian Scalf of the Abilene (Texas) Fire Department also ran with Jazzy through an arrangement with The Honor Network (THN). THN is dedicated to honoring and memorializing firefighters, police officers and members of the military who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our communities and our country and to fostering the education of the American public regarding those heroes in an effort to inspire an increase in American patriotism.
     THN is responsible for the United States Honor Flag, which has toured from Ground Zero all across the nation, having flown at funerals, memorials, over state Capitols, the Pentagon, the National Fallen Firefighter Memorial and the National Law Enforcement Memorial to pay tribute to those heroes who have died in the line of duty.
     Meanwhile, out on the road, Jazzy keeps running for her very personal reasons. “I am hoping that truckers will see that committing part of their day to exercise will benefit them physically,” she says.
     How does a high school senior keep up with her studies when she’s on the road for eight months? “I’m doing OK with school,” she says. Jazzy skypes in on class whenever possible. Some courses, like Advanced Algebra and Spanish 2, she pretty much teaches herself. Jazzy also takes online classes through the Socrates program.
     As for her goals beyond the cross-country run, Jazzy is aiming high. “My goal is to make the 2012 U.S. Olympic team,” she says. “Right now I want to finish my senior year and graduate. Hopefully, this run won’t take me out of the eye for college scholarships.”
     Jazzy’s father, Lee, is taking time from his business to be with Jazzy as she crosses the country. They are doing this to help fix a problem that they did not cause. It is a completely selfless act. Ask yourself this question: If Jasmine Jordan can run all the way across the country, can I start walking 30 minutes a day? Then do it.
     You can follow Jazzy at runwithhazzy.com.