It’s been more than three years since David Green set out from Jacksonville Beach on a run across America with his “canine soulmate,” the amazing running dog Lucky. Four months and 3,400 miles later, Green stepped into the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco, exhausted and triumphant — and still grieving for Lucky.
The dog, a stray who had rarely left his side after falling into step beside Green during a long run in Brazil, didn’t make it to the end of this trek. Cancer finally weakened him too much, and in the high deserts of Wyoming, Lucky — who had alternated between running and resting in a support RV — stopped one morning after just a few steps.
He could go no more.
Green’s support driver, Chris Genoversa, took Lucky to a nearby veterinarian’s office to be euthanized. But Green, after saying his goodbyes, carried on and kept plodding west, in tears.
‘A true story’
Green had just three years with Lucky, but his dedication to his running companion remains strong. Writing a book about him only strengthened that bond.
It’s called “Lucky: A True Story,” and it tells how the two of them found each other in February 2018 when the dog, a tick-ridden black-and-tan stray, joined him during an ultramarathon in Brazil and ran with him the next 140 miles.
It was an almost instant connection: The first time he looked into Lucky’s eyes, it was as if a bolt of electricity had shot between the two of them.
“He wasn’t a beautiful dog, not even particularly handsome,” Green writes. “But underneath that sickly, poor, malnourished exterior, I saw a brilliant spirit, longing to be given an opportunity.”
Green arranged to get him transported to the U.S., where he moved in with Green and his wife Monica at their Marsh Landing home (they now live in San Marco). Green and the dog — now named Lucky — became familiar sights running around the neighborhood and the Beaches, the dog unleashed but not straying from his human’s side.
Lucky didn’t shy from long runs either. For example, before tackling the run across America, he went with Green on a run from Jacksonville Beach to Key West, some 500 miles.
After Lucky’s diagnosis of incurable lymphoma, Green decided to continue the trip with him, rather than euthanize him or leave him at home. He’s sure that was the right decision.
“He lived every day: ‘I’m living, I’m chasing antelope with my best friend.’ No, I never regret that,” he said.
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To further Lucky’s legacy, Green also founded and funded an organization to care for the stray dogs who frequent the pilgrim trail he ran in Brazil, where he and Lucky found each other. The group now has 29 volunteers in 11 cities along the route, where they have helped 134 animals since its founding, he said. Info: luckycaminho.org.
Life as an author
“Lucky” is a self-published book, which Green very quickly realized was the right way to do it.
“You can have all the control you want,” he said. “If you want to get your story out and not linger for years to get it out, that’s the way to do it.”
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He wrote it with the help of writer Judy D’Mello, while Steve Friedman, who wrote about Green and Lucky in Runner’s World magazine, contributed a foreword.
Green also recorded an audio version in New York, which took him longer than anticipated to record; at certain parts of the book he was able to choke just a few words at a time between sobs. Both the book and audio version are available on Amazon.
Telling the story of that epic trek with Lucky was like living through it again, in all its joy and pain, Green said. “I got to live it in a very slow, methodical way. It’s like running across the country: You get to see life in a slow-motion way.”
Portugal to Istanbul
Two years after Lucky died, Monica surprised Green with a rescue dog, a “handsome mutt” they call Jax. He’s a running companion too, as far as 50 miles so far.
Still, Green, who’s now 61, isn’t sure yet if he’ll take Jax with him on another big expedition: In April, he plans to run from Portugal to Istanbul, taking largely ancient trails.
“I kind of have a flavor for how grand that adventure is,” he said. “I’m not getting any younger. I really want to do these things while I can.”
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