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Kids. Their drawings sparked a wild idea. Brought to life by a Hollywood director, a stunt team, and the SUV that makes the unthinkable unforgettable. No tricks, just V6 power, practical effects, and the rugged new Pathfinder. Watch how it all came together and discover why JD Power ranks Nissan number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands.
For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com/slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year. Newer models may be shown. Uh And we continue with our American stories, and up next, a listener's story.
Heron Thompson and her son Joe Mylink are the definition of determination. Here they are along with Joe's wife, Vicki. to share their story. I've always said we're kind of a strangely competitive family. And the other thing about our family is we're very active.
A vacation to us is backpacking. I wouldn't say we do extreme sports, but we do like to push it. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of weird because it's just something that we did. I really enjoy Running a lot.
You know, it's something that we set out. To do a while ago, you know, we were just running marathons and we realized that we had knocked off so many states. one moment where they're just like oh we have you know 10 or 12 states already knocked off it And that's when Joe said, Well, why don't we try to do all 50 states? And at the time I said, Sure, let's just, yeah, why not? Let's do it.
And so, what happened was, kind of before the pandemic, we said, We probably need to pick up the pace. No pun intended there. And then my daughter-in-law, Vicki, is the one who organizes everything. We could not have done it without Vicki because she's our pit crew extraordinaire and she. lines everything up, but um We would turn it into like mini vacations, like Alaska, that was a family vacation.
And some of the family ran a half, but Joe and I ran the full. And that's where we saw the moose. And there was this little guy that kept running ahead of us and dropping back, and he's running ahead of us, and he sees the moose. And he just kind of stops and looks around. And there was this other guy who was a big football player kind of guy.
And he says, it's okay, and he puts out his arms and just kind of walked us all through the moose passage right there. But um you want to tell about how you broke your leg and White? Was it Montana? Yeah, I broke my leg around mount five or six and then. Shuffle walked.
The last um 20 miles of it in in pure pain, but I was Determined not to have to go back to Montana. We're knocking off that state.
So. Because if you don't finish, you gotta go back to that state. We were happy to be able to finish that, but he was in quite a bit of pain. Um, yeah, I mean, it it was hurting before the marathon. Quite a bit.
And I pretty much stopped running for about two weeks. The pain subsided a little bit. But right away when we started, I knew it wasn't gonna last. And then, pretty much around mile four, five, or six, I just felt like you could just. Feel it pop.
I knew it had, it wasn't full break, it was a stress fracture.
So, but you could, but you felt, I felt this moment where it was like blinding pain, and I knew something was wrong, and then it was just. How's that you know, I'm like, I can't. I can get through this, so I. I hobbled, so to speak. Obviously, I was dead last.
It took them six hours and 49 minutes, which actually, that's not a bad time when you think about it: the broken leg, yeah. I remember stopping at a rest stop and having you at the bathroom and being unable to get out of the vehicle.
So another one was Maui. That was wonderful. And when we finished the marathon in Maui, you walk right into the ocean. It was just amazing. Yeah, so.
I think our f Our favorites would probably be well Maui's mine. Maui was mine. Alaska, Maine was beautiful too. And that was our last one. Maine was our very last one.
It was beautiful. We ran into Vicki Help. We ran into Canada. Went by Camp Vilo. Yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, we went by Lubbock, Maine is where we were, and it was just beautiful.
Yeah, and we had to bring our passports because we ran into Canada.
So some of the marathons you run into other countries.
So Detroit was another one.
So if you're going to do that, you have to bring your passport.
so that you can get in and out of the country. Um gosh, can you think of any other ones that you really liked? I have a tendency not to remember them at all. Like, at all.
So I like the worst source of information about them because. I don't remember them. They all blend together. There's certain moments I remember. like the painful ones, but other than that They just all seem to blend together.
Yeah. So how many marathons would we do a year?
Well, i at the high at the height we do five or six.
So it's really important and helpful to have somebody follow you through the marathon. Picky brings she has water, she has um Vaseline because Advil because what happens is you chafe really bad. I remember my very first marathon was actually in St. Louis. And somebody offered, do you want Vaseline?
I'm like, well, whatever for? And I finished, and it looked like somebody had grabbed my arm and just held it. It was like, look bruised, but it wasn't bruised. It was from the rubbing and the chafing of, you know, your arms rubbing against your body. And I went, oh, and it hurts.
I made a mistake.
So almost a bruise would feel better. But the chafing is very painful.
So it took us how many years to do this? 17. It took us 17 years to do this.
So as time went on, You know, I got slower and he got faster, of course. I'm really. never trained. I would run at least four miles a day. I mean, when I say at least, I mean at least four miles a day.
And then before a marathon, I maybe up it to 13. You know, for not every day, but just you know, one, like I'd run a week before I'd try to get in a 13. Mylar. For a while, toward the end, Vicki would run with me to help me help me prep. But basically, we would just I would just increase my mileage every day.
That's pretty much all I did to train. Did you ever train, Joe? Yeah, I mean I I I I run a lot every single week. She's done running marathons, but I have quite a few more goals to achieve.
So you know, I I I run sixty, seventy miles a week for training, so. Yeah. And I'm not sure I'm quite done running marathons, but maybe. I don't know. One of the things we like to do before a marathon is to go out and have sushi.
And then afterwards, I am very sore. Um you've always heard of you know This could be kind of gross, but you know, you lose toenails, yes, you do. There were a couple years where I wouldn't wear sandals because my feet look so horrible, but um. It kind of feels like you got the flu. Like you got a really bad case of the flu.
Where everything's sore. Yeah, that's kind of what it feels like for me. And and so this, you know, this two will pass.
So. Yeah. We got to the point where we started making a point to finish together.
So we would come across the finish line and we join hands and would hold them up high.
So and they would they wouldn't, it's always a thrill when they announce this. Actually, toward the end, I kind of just. Start, you know. Visualizing that and hearing the announcer in my head to kind of get me through that last part. It's like, it's almost over, it's almost over.
And sometimes it's kind of emotional that you made it through another 26.2 miles. For my 60th birthday, I wanted to do the MR. It's called the MR340, and it's a race-down. the Missouri River from Kansas City to St. Charles.
And Joe drove us to Kansas City and And we're sitting in the safety meeting 'cause everybody has to go to safety meeting 'cause it's Kind of dangerous thing to do. And I said, oh, this is a race. And Joe says, yeah, mom, it's a race.
So my husband and I have an old town canoe. And we paddled it as Fast as we could, which is like paddling a barge. And we made it from Kansas City to St. Charles. And the time, those are four days that it took us to do it, we slept maybe seven hours.
So you don't sleep, you just keep paddling. Yeah, you just keep going, keep going. Just like a marathon. You just keep going, you just keep going. And this year I'm 65, so we're going to do it again.
So that's kind of replaced my marathons for now. We'll see what happens as time goes on. I still run every day. My husband and I run every day. And Joe, you wanna he's still running, he's still gonna be doing marathons.
So. Yeah, no, I'm I'm still still doing marathons. You know, I I have a marathon in A couple weeks here.
So I'm gonna keep going. I've got quite a few more to do. And a great job on the storytelling by Greg Engler, and a special thanks to Karen Thompson and her son, Joe Mylink. along with Joe's wife, Vicki. They share their story and the kids in the background, well, they in their own way shared their story too.
They'd run marathons in 12 states, and in came that suggestion. Every family knows that person who suggests something like this. Hey, let's do all 50. And what do you know? They do it.
And they finish them all over a 17-year period. Period, treating each one like a family vacation with family rituals, including that sushi meal. and coming to the finish line as a family holding their hands up. A remarkable and beautiful listener's story here on Our American Stories. Yeah.
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It's important to think about brain health now. Because there's so much we want to do. Mm. Acting early to protect brain health may help reduce the risk of dementia from conditions like Alzheimer's disease. Ask your doctor about your risk factors and for a cognitive assessment.
Learn more at brainhealthmatters.com. This is a paid partnership with Lilly. This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. I want to take a second to talk about something that's personal to me. I've had the privilege of working closely with Robert Kraft for a long time.
And one thing I've always respected is how seriously he takes up standing up to hate. As a Jewish athlete my identity is something I am proud of. But I also know what it feels like to be singled out for it. That's why this new commercial for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate that aired during the big game really hit home. It's about showing up for someone when they're targeted, even if you don't have the perfect words.
And sometimes standing next to someone is enough. and you can show support by sharing the blue square. To test the new Pathfinder, Nissan turned to the boldest creators of all, kids. Their drawings sparked a wild idea, brought to life by a Hollywood director, a stunt team, and the SUV that makes the unthinkable unforgettable. No tricks, just V6 power, practical effects, and the rugged new Pathfinder.
Watch how it all came together and discover why JD Power ranks Nissan number one in new vehicle quality among mainstream brands. For JD Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study Award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. Awards based on 2025 model year, newer models may be shown. Mm-hmm.
