Share: 

Granny Jan and Texas Turtle travel country running races

July 11, 2016

A 14-year-old Texas boy named Turtle Powell and his 70-year-old maternal grandmother Jan Ward ran the Kelly Fritchman 5K July 9 because, to quote the Geico commercial, “It’s what they do.”

“I’ve run 300 races since I turned 68 and Turtle just tags along and runs too,” said Ward. “We’ve done about seven half marathons, but it’s mostly about the travel and education.”

The family hails from Kempler, centrally located near Fort Hood, Texas.  

“We have to quickly pack up and head for a race in Ohio tomorrow,” said Ward, who retired as a dental hygienist after 38 years on the job. “Today marks the 35th state in which we have run a race. We usually visit the state capital as well but have an eight-hour drive ahead of us to Mentor, Ohio, where we are running a five-miler. Our motto is drive, sleep, race, repeat,” but Turtle interjected, “My motto is sleep, eat, race.”

Turtle, who will be entering his freshman year at Jonesboro High School this fall, was asked if his friends found it unusual that he travels the country in the summer with his grandmother visiting states and running races.

“It’s fun, I get to run and see places, and this fall I’ll run cross country in high school,” he said.

Neither runner is fast. Turtle, 14, ran 30:11 for his 5K, while Ward, 70, clocked a 40:19. But the bond between the two is not about the time it takes to run a race, it’s more about the miles it takes to get there.

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter