The road less traveled: 38-year-old Ormond Beach runner finishing decorated career at Daytona State

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Shannon Jones’ feet fire into the ground like pistons, steady and unyielding, like a metronome.

The terrain and the destination may vary. The direction never does.

Forward. Faster.

Jones, who just finished off a decorated two-year cross-country career at Daytona State, is like any other distance runner dedicated to her craft, using time and distance to measure success. Mile after mile. Yards and kilometers. A tenth here, a hundredth there.

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But the two-time All-American, the first in program history, has little use for years.

Befitting a cross country star, Jones’ road to athletic success took her far off the beaten path and down a long, twisting detour that lasted nearly two decades. But in the fall of 2022, at 37 years old, she bet on herself and the payoff has been some medals, a degree, fulfillment, purpose and just maybe, inspiration for others.

“We take things for granted when we’re younger, our athletic abilities, and when you get older you think you lose a lot of it but if you have the determination and support like I did, anything is possible,” Jones reflects. “You can keep trying new things and keep pushing yourself to your physical limits. I didn’t think that this was possible, but I did it.”

The twists and turns

Life can mirror a cross country course: Twists and turns, humps and bumps.

Jones, then known as Shannon Hickey, was a multisport athlete at Winter Park High School in the early 2000s. She ran cross country and track but excelled on the soccer pitch, where she garnered collegiate interest.

Despite skipping her senior season due to burnout, Polk State College came calling, offering a full scholarship and a spot on its inaugural women’s soccer squad. Seeing an opportunity to remain local and play without the pressures of a big-time program, she accepted.

But it didn’t last long. Her fleeting desire to play evaporated completely upon news of her parents’ divorce. She soon dropped out and it set forth a course of substance exploration, nightlife prioritization and general aimlessness.

“Honestly, athletics at that point in my life became such a thing of the past,” Jones said. “I’d become a chain smoker ... It felt like something from a past life.”

And it may have continued that way, if not an intervention from Mother Nature. And Cupid.

In 2017, Jones was living in southern Florida with her mother, but Hurricane Irma forced an evacuation and she headed back to Orlando to visit a cousin. The two attended a sober hurricane party together where she was introduced to her future husband, Matt. Just a few months later, she was pregnant.

With the need to get healthier suddenly a priority, Jones began to weigh her options. And though running was against her doctor’s recommendation, walking was encouraged and a few turns around a local middle school track reignited a long-dormant spark deep inside.

“I was thinking about all the things I gave up so long ago, I was so removed from that life,” Jones said. “But now, life was changing. I thought, ‘After I give birth, I’m going to run again.’ I was determined.”

The long road back

The Daytona State mascot is Freddie the Falcon. But for the past two seasons, the school’s cross country team had a different, unofficial representative. His name is Jack, he’s now five years old and, as Jones’ teammate and running partner Gigi Meade said, “He’s a cutie.”

For Jones, however, her son is more than adorable. His very existence represents a turning point and a reminder of the biggest hurdle she’s ever had to clear.

Jack’s birth required 30 hours of labor and an emergency C-section. She was left with postpartum preeclampsia, a condition that causes high blood pressure. During an eight-day hospital stay, she also endured spikes and dips in her heart rate to go with excruciating headaches and body shakes.

The experience left her with PTSD and anxiety, necessitating therapy and antidepressants.

“I had panic attacks, thinking I was dying again,” she recalled. “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever been through.”

Yet, as the days and weeks passed, so too did her symptoms — both physical and mental — and she remembered the pledge she’d made to herself. And on a rainy day, when most would seek shelter, Jones walked outside and took off.

“I went outside and just started jogging,” she recalled. “It was pouring rain and I loved it. I can still feel that day. I felt so free.”

It started with a mile, one that required alternating sections of walking and running. Soon after, she completed a fully jogged mile. By the time Jack was nine months old, she’d signed up for her first local 5K.

For a while, Jack was the boy in the pink stroller, the only one Jones could find at Once Upon a Child. He's likely already logged more miles in his young life than most ever will, with Jones propelling him while rebuilding her endurance.

But then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon, Matt was furloughed and available and Jones was able to throw herself fully into running. She measured out a perfect 5K, using North Beach Street and Oak Forest Drive near Tomoka State Park and went to work.

As a high school runner, her PR was a 20:01. The new goal was logical, to break 20 minutes. She found a training plan online, followed it day-by-day, rep-by-rep and the faster she went, the faster she wanted to go.

"I broke 20 minutes on my own, by myself, and nobody cared," she laughed. "Most people had no idea what I was talking about. But I kept running. And I kept getting faster."

There were more local events as well as some virtual races. Soon after, she attempted her first half-marathon, running a time of 1 hour, 36 minutes in 2020. She shaved 12 minutes off of that in 2021.

"I had so much time on my hands and I was so determined," Jones said. "There was something about me just taking it on all by myself. Just me and running. I knew I could get stronger."

Seizing the opportunity

Judy Wilson has never been afraid to get creative when it comes to recruiting at Daytona State College. As a coach on the National Junior College Athletic Association, it's a prerequisite.

As the Eagles' cross country team entered its inaugural season in 2018 with runners aged 42 or older. The youngest of those three was Jenny Enslin, now an assistant under Wilson, and she just happened to be running in the Halifax Health 5K in 2022.

A petite, mother of one blitzed the field en route to a win.

Shortly after both regained their breath, Enslin introduced herself and made a pitch.

Jones recalls being asked, “Would you ever consider running in college?"

"I kind of laughed. I’m in my mid-30s and I’m a mother," said Jones, who was also assured there were no age limits for competing at DSC.

The conversation soon turned into a call as Enslin dialed up Wilson, and put Jones on the phone. And on the spot.

"She was like, 'Hi, would you be interested? I would love to talk more,' " Jones said of the initial conversation. "She said, 'You wouldn’t be a traditional student-athlete, we get that you’re a mother, married and have higher priorities.' And then they offered me a scholarship to do what I love."

Wilson knew immediately that Jones would fit like feet in a new pair of Brooks.

“The first day she came out and ran with us, it was just a little jog with myself and three of the girls from the team,” Wilson said. “I knew she was in a lot better shape than those three were. But what helped is that she’s just such a great person. She fit in right away.”

Finding her place

Jones' running partner, Gigi Meade, is a story in her own right. She ran just one year of high school track and field at Oviedo, but that was enough for Wilson, who offered Meade and brought her into the cross country team despite the fact that she'd never run a race before.

Wilson's gamble paid off as Meade finished fourth in the NJCAA national meet in November with Jones coming home 10th. Both earned All-America honors.

But for Meade, it was a process, going from 400- and 800-meter runs on a track to off-road 5Ks. Yet, she never had to look far for motivation.

“She was always the fastest on the team, I just wanted to get on her level,” Meade said of Jones.

With the potential of Meade, it didn't take long for Wilson to make that happen.

“Shannon really helped her a lot,” Wilson said. “They trained together and they’re about on the same page but they’re very different runners. Gigi has that speed and youth, Shannon has that endurance and wisdom.”

And running was only part of what Jones passed along.

“She shares a lot. She’s a researcher. She reads books, shares things to eat, when you should train or when you shouldn’t, she’s my older sister of running,” Meade said. “Last year I was going through a tough breakup. I was about to quit the team. She sat me down and was like, ‘You can’t have anyone get in the way of what you want to do.’ ”

For Jones, it was all about balance. Trying to be an unassuming teammate while letting Wilson and her staff do the coaching all while being available to help when she could. And while her career at Daytona State will end after track season this spring, Jones said the relationships she's formed will last much longer.

“They would call me, ‘The cool mom’,” Jones said. “We became close. I love those girls. We talked about everyday stuff. We talked about running. They loved hearing about Jack and hanging out with Jack.

"I’d laugh at some of the things they’d talk about say, ‘Oh, you guys, that’s not going to be that big of a deal down the road.’ Their relationships, their love lives, everything. I love that they would open up to me.”

"The girls just love her," Wilson added. "They think she’s the best. I think they admire her for what she's done."

'I'm not slowing down'

Having just gotten back up to speed a few years ago, Jones isn't about to stop now.

She's currently exploring options in terms of possible eligibility elsewhere, but if her competitive days as a college runner come to an end, coaching may very well be the next step.

But personally, Jones is still digging, still trying to carve off that next tenth of a second.

“With age we become more determined and motivated in a lot of ways,” Jones said. “Each month, I’m probably getting in better shape. I’m getting faster and I’m getting older. I don’t know how long that will continue, but I’m not slowing down.”

She still harbors specific goals and eyes a one-hour, 20-minute half marathon and continuing to run sub-18-minute 5Ks. She'll compete in the Shark Bite Half Marathon in New Smyrna Beach in a few weeks.

And in continuing to push herself, the hope from all involved is that she continues to push others.

“I give her all the credit. It’s really impressive, to come back to college is already important in itself,” Meade, who is also exploring her college running options, said. “But once you're out of college for a certain amount of time … I mean, she already had her life going. The fact she came back and then was a student-athlete on top of that? She was one of my role models.“

“I think that people who don’t run or don’t exercise, they’re missing that part of their life that is kind of out of balance,” Wilson concluded. “Just some mom reads her story — or a dad — and thinks, ‘Dang, maybe I should get out the door and run a mile.’ Just go a mile. It’s something you can do anywhere."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Shannon Jones, the 38-year-old, two-time All-American at Daytona State