WUS blast from the past: fun facts. In the months leading up to our October 23rd 20th Anniversary Party, every week we’re going to post a picture of a randomly selected WUS who has left the DC area and include 1-2 fun facts.
#1. JULIAN JAMISON [WUS era: 2013 – 2018]
WUS movie star
Fun Fact #1: Julian is a featured runner in the Bakley documentary The Race That Eats Its Young. Julian’s Barkley run experience was also featured in a chapter of his sister Leslie Jamison’s bestselling, prizewinning book of introspective essays, The Empathy Exams.
In The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young (2014), Julian Jamison is quoted in the film expressing a philosophy about hardship and personal growth that became one of the documentary’s most memorable lines:
“I think most people would be better off with more pain in their lives, honestly. I think that, if nothing else, they would appreciate the pain-free times more.”
Julian was a true believer in pain….I once was walking with Julian in Mt Pleasant while in the throes of intense labor contractions, and Julian commented he was envious and wished he could experience labor pains, just to feel the outer limits of the human experience. At the time, I thought he was NUTS. Only later did I come around to grasp his point.
Fun Fact #2: Julian has more Hardrock finishes (n = 5) than marriages (n = 3).
Where is Julian now? Julian punted across the pond to become an economics professor in the UK.
#2. NEAL GORMAN [WUS era: late 2000s/early 2010s]
WUS cover boy
Fun Fact #1: Neal was featured in Outside magazine for breaking the record for the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, finishing in the top-5 at the country’s four most prestigious 100 mile races over 11 weeks: Leadville 100 (3rd place), Western States 100 (5th place), Wasatch 100 (2nd place), Vermont 100 (2nd place).
Fun Fact #2: Among Wussies, Neal was more famous for winning the inaugural WUS donut run (despite pooping on the return trip in the yard of a mansion in Kalorama). He also won the second WUS beer mile after losing the first race to Bobby Gill’s superior beer chugging.
Where is he now? Neal punted south to Charlottesville, raised two kids (Trail and “Switchback”), and had his illustrious ultra career cut short by a chronic cytomegalovirus infection, a cautionary tale of overtraining and the “babies ruin everything” theme that runs through many a WUS tale.
#3. Michele Harmon [WUS era: not a regular; sporadic visitor over the 2000s]
WUS Ultimate Survivor
Fun Fact #1: Michele is famous for being the only WUS to survive a multi-day coma. Actually, Michele survived TWO multi-day comas.
In 2002, Michele was competing in the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run. During the race she inadvertently overconsumed fluids, leading to severe dilution of her blood sodium concentration (hyponatremia).
As the race progressed:
She became increasingly confused.
She no longer recognized fellow runners or even her husband.
Shortly after finishing, she began vomiting uncontrollably.
She then suffered a seizure.
She lapsed into a coma that lasted three days.
Recovery. When Michele regained consciousness, she described profound neurologic impairment:
She did not know where she was.
She could not identify the year.
She temporarily couldn’t read.
She couldn’t perform simple arithmetic. (She works as a high level statistician)
During the confused period after the coma she became combative and required medication to protect herself and hospital staff.
Fortunately, because exercise-associated hyponatremia develops acutely (over hours rather than days), the brain can often recover remarkably well if sodium is corrected appropriately. Michele ultimately made a full recovery.
Why her case became famous. Her experience became an important educational case in endurance sports because she documented it publicly in extraordinary detail. At the time, many runners still believed that “you can’t drink too much.”
Michele’s case helped illustrate that:exercise-associated hyponatremia is usually caused by drinking more fluid than the body can excrete, rather than simply losing sodium through sweat; taking salt tablets cannot reliably prevent hyponatremia if fluid intake is excessive; severe EAH can progress to brain swelling, seizures, coma, and death.
Her story has been cited in discussions by researchers whose work helped shift endurance-sport hydration advice away from rigid drinking schedules toward “drink to thirst” and avoiding overhydration. (Her own detailed account is here: https://www.ultrunr.com/hyponatremia.html)
Did she continue ultrarunning? Yes. Remarkably, Michele returned to ultrarunning after her recovery and had a long, successful career. She went on to win another Bull Run Run 50 Miler, Old Dominion 100, and continues to race throughout her 50s. Her recovery and continued success are often cited as an example of both the seriousness of exercise-associated hyponatremia and the possibility of full neurologic recovery when it is recognized and treated promptly.
Fun Fact #2: Michele has more divorces than Julian. They are both math people. So they like big numbers.
Fun Fact #3. Michele once quit her job at Westat to travel for a year around South America. When she expressed reluctance about returning to her job, the company maximally raised her salary until she finally agreed to return to work.
Where is she now? Michele followed the Kerry Owens WUS retirement train to Sedona, Arizona, where she continues to race big ultras. This year she finished the 2026 Hong Kong Ultra 100K at age 60.
Final question: what was Michele’s OTHER coma? Michele’s parachute got tangled in high voltage electrical wires while skydiving.
#4. Amy Sproston [WUS era: late 2000s]
WUS world champion
Most people know Amy Sproston as the Portland, Oregon-based ultrarunner who was the 100km World Champion (2012), a 4-time top-10 podium finisher at Western States (2nd in 2016 and 3rd in 2013), JFK 50-miler winner (2010), and won countless other 50-100 mile races (MMT, Hurt, Pine to Palms, Black Canyon, etc.)
Fun Fact #1. During Amy’s first group trail run, led by Ed Schultz in Montgomery County, she fell on her hand and broke the long bone in her pinky and ring fingers. Classic Amy.
In 2022, Amy attempted the self-supported Appalachian Trail FKT. She was on pace early in the effort before severe flooding led to trench foot, forcing her to stop after more than 340 miles in just eight days. She later described the experience candidly, emphasizing that even unsuccessful adventures can be worthwhile.
100km World Championship
But Amy was a Wussie first! Before she moved to Portland in 2010 she got into ultrarunning in DC and was an early member of the Tuesday night pizza gang from Kerry’s house.
As an international aid worker, Amy has by far the best Instagram account of any Wussie, with trail running photos from mountains all over the world. She recently bought an inn in the Italian Alps that she plans to configure into a destination for trail runners. Wus train!
Amy and I (barely) overlapped in time at WUS, I was just getting started as she was moving west, so maybe someone else has a fun fact? (Beyond that she has really cute cats.)
