Missing Jogger Spent Days In Swamp

(AP) ORLANDO, Fla. A missing runner was rescued from a Florida swamp after spending four days stuck in the muck with only the waist-deep water to drink.

Eddie Meadows, 62, had left for a run over his lunch hour Thursday but never returned to his office at a nearby University of Central Florida research park, authorities said.

He was spotted among the brush and trees Monday morning as friends and colleagues searched for him.

Meadows was parched and covered with bug bites and had consumed swamp water to stay hydrated during the four day ordeal, said university police Sgt. Woody Furnas. Furnas said the area has thick silt and muck that can act like glue.

“He had great spirits, and he was very adamant about getting a drink of water,” Furnas said. “He said he slept a lot and stayed down in the water.

Furnas described Meadows, a contract employee with the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation, as “a strong guy. He’s in good shape. He’s a marathoner.”

Meadows was taken to Florida Hospital East. A hospital spokeswoman would not discuss his condition.


Marathon man, swamp man

That's amazing!

I hope he is doing well and can return to his work and regular jogging soon. He might want to avoid the swamp,

See after night one, being attacked by bugs, I'd have just given up and done myself in.

Ick.

Lost jogger spends four days in swamp

A jogger who took a wrong turn during a lunch-time run in Florida ended up stuck in a swamp for four days.

Volunteers searching for Eddie Meadows, 62, eventually found him 'stuck like glue' in a bog, reports The Times.

Mr Meadows calmly asked his rescuers: "Do you have a phone? I want to call my wife."

He also asked for water and chocolate, before insisting that he should finish his run, jogging a short distance before he was helped to a waiting ambulance.

Police in Orlando said Mr Meadows had survived by sipping water from the swamp and avoided sun exposure because he was under a shady tree canopy.

Mr Meadows is in training for the Baltimore Marathon and leaves his desk at the University of Central Florida's research park every lunchtime to jog around the campus.

His wife, Ardis, and two grown-up sons appeared on TV to plead for help in finding him and 50 volunteers scoured the area.

Finally, Ron Eaglin was combing woodland on a remote corner of the university campus when he heard noises.

"I heard some sloshing off in the woods, it didn't sound like a deer, so I yelled: "Hello?" and then I heard: "Help, help, help, help"," he said.

"I said: "Are you looking for Eddie Meadows?", and he said: "I AM Eddie Meadows"."

link

Yes because when deer say 'help, help, help' it sounds kinda Welsh.

Posted here

Four days, alone, stuck in a swamp. Ick. Yet another excellent reason to avoid taking up jogging.