Name: James G. Pearson
Birth Date: April 30, 1944
Birth Place: Pueblo, CO
Residence: Bellingham, WA
Age: 65
Wife: Barbie Pearson
Kids: Rob (42); Hopper (27); Joel (24); Paige (20)

PR’s: Hour Run: 11 miles 844 yards  
          Marathon:2:22:32  
         50 Mile: 5:12:41
         100k: 7:07:49

Jim graduated from Lake Stevens High School in 1962. He continued his education including getting his bachelor’s degree in 1966 and his masters degree in education in 1975. Both were at Western Washington University. Jim taught English at Snohomish Middle School for a year in 1966 – 1967 before teaching English for 35 years at Ferndale High School from 1967 to 2002. He served on the Board of Directors for Karum School, a school for troubled teenagers, located in Whatcom County. He was also the Westside director for Washington Kids Wrestling for six years.

Pearson’s coaching includes Cross Country and Track and Field for the past 40 years. He was a Snohomish 8th grade basketball assistant, as well as 7th and 8th grade basketball and track coach for Ferndale during his early years.

Pearson founded the famous Birch Bay Marathon in 1969, the Ferndale Track Club in 1970, co-founded the Snohomish Track Club in 1968 and the Freedom Flower Road Runners in 1976. He was also a past president of the Greater Bellingham Running Club, the Snohomish Track Club, and the Freedom Flower Road Runners. He put on such races as the Chuckanut Foot Race, the Lummi Island run, the Lake Samish 6.5 and 13 mile races, the Lake Samish 25k run, the Ferndale Flat and Fast 10k, and 35 years of high school cross country meets. He also helped change several WIAA rules.

Pearson has appeared in and on the cover of magazines and books and was once referred to by Runner's World as an “Ultra Running King.” He has appeared in the following magazines: Runner's World, Track and Field News, Ultra Running, Northwest Runner. He has also been included in the following books: The Running Mind by Jim Lillefors; On the Road: The Marathon by Jim Shapiro; Why We Run by Bernd Heinrich; Racing the Antelope bt Heinrich; Ultra-Marathoning by Tom Osler; Ultramarathon by Shapiro; Serious Runner's Handbook by Osler; and Running Around Puget Sound by Peter Holman Smith.