Doug Ward, the founding member and first president of the Mission Peak Striders, started running in 1979 after a friend from Seattle came to visit him. His friend, who was an avid runner, asked him if he would like to join him during one of his runs. The two went running and since then Doug was hooked on running.

In the early 1980’s Doug joined a group of 8 to 10 runners met to do training runs each week at the Kimber Tennis Club in Fremont. They soon became known as the Kimber Runners. As Doug learned from the group and his enjoyment of running grew, he opened a Fleet Feet running store at the Fremont Hub. The running group became known as the Fleet Feet Runners and competed in local races and put on running events.

Unfortunately, in the early 1990’s the Fleet Feet running store closed its doors, but the running club continued. The club was originally called the Tri-City Runners but the name was changed to the Mission Peak Striders in 1996 because a triathlon club already was using the Tri-City name.

Doug liked to run because of the social and physical fitness benefits. "When I’m running I tend to focus better and work better," Doug remarked. Running took Doug to many places he felt he would never have gone otherwise. He ran in Germany and had run marathons in Boston and in New York.

Doug’s most memorable run was the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in 1983 where he set a personal record of 2:49. In addition to the Avenue of the Giants Marathon, Doug ran over 30 marathons including Boston, New York, Honolulu, and the Bridge to Bridge race in San Francisco.

Doug felt that anybody who picks up the sport of running should run with a group, get a good pair of shoes and just stay with it. "When I started running I would look at other runners and think how do they run like that? I’ll never be able to run as fast or as long as they do. But as time went on and I stuck with it I became just as good as they are."

Sadly Doug Ward passed away April 3, 2018 at age 72.
He will be greatly missed.