This SLO County native just set a world record — for running on a treadmill

Coast Union High School graduate Mario Mendoza is an internationally ranked ultra marathoner who excels in 100-mile races over mountainous terrain.

Mendoza is a five-time USA Trail Champion and three-time USA Trail Runner of the Year – but he changed venues for the latest inspirational installment of his remarkable career.

On Jan. 14, Mendoza established a new world record by running 50 kilometers, or, 31 miles, on a treadmill in 2 hours, 59 minutes and 3 seconds, eclipsing the current record by 46 seconds.

Mendoza fought through pain to establish the record in a gymnasium packed with cheering students at Oregon’s Madras High School, where he serves as an assistant track coach three days a week.

“I love these kids. I wanted to help these kids believe that big things can happen anywhere. I want them to change the mentality,” Mendoza said via email. “I wanted the event to be unique to them.”

He also wanted to raise money for sports equipment for the school, which has a significant population of underserved students. “We are now at (about) $5,000 raised, but I was hoping to raise more to be honest,” Mendoza said.

In each of his demanding, daring acts, the humble Mendoza – who was raised in Cambria by immigrant parents from Mexico – leaves no doubt his true passion is to bring young people and diverse cultures together through sports.

Runner grew up in Cambria

Mendoza fell in love with running as a kid by scampering around the avocado ranch his father managed on San Simeon Creek Road – timing himself with a stopwatch and putting out extra effort to surpass each previous trek.

As a teenager at Coast Union High, he carved out a reputation as an athletic champion.

Mendoza won the CIF Central Section cross country championship in 2003, and he finished fifth in the state cross-country competition that year. The runner, who graduated from Coast Union High in 2004, was also recognized as the school’s top scholar athlete.

His coaches, teachers and classmates were in awe of his accomplishments, but who among them could have predicted that Mendoza would one day be ranked No. 9 among thousands of world-class long-distance runners?

In June 2018, he finished 16th out of 299 runners in the Western States 100 endurance race from Squaw Valley over the Sierra Nevada to Auburn, Oregon.

Mendoza returned to the Central Coast in November 2018 and launched a heroic effort to run 100 miles from Montana de Oro State Park in Los Osos to Cambria in less than 24 hours.

He started around midnight at Montana de Oro and arrived at Coast Union High School 16.5 hours later – a jaunt of 98 miles, which included short runs up and down county roads.

Mendoza did it to “promote diversity” and “inspire kids,” he told The Cambrian, referring to the event as “a run for community, 100 miles to build a bridge.”

Two weeks before his bold Central Coast trek in November, the 32-year old bilingual Mendoza – who also serves as a pastor – outran 500 competitors to capture victory in the mountainous 100-kilometer Ultra Trail en Mexico near Mexico City.

He lost four toenails in that grueling Mexican adventure, but that wasn’t the worst part. The runner crossed 15 rivers along the way “so my feet got lots of blisters,” he told The Cambrian.

How athlete trained for treadmill record

For Mendoza’s Jan. 14 feat in Madras, Oregon, the treadmill was set to a scorching 546-mile pace.

Despite Mendoza’s exceptional physical fitness – he has been training up to 85 miles a week, half on a treadmill and half running near his home in Bend, Oregon – the Cambria native was in severe pain when he finished the first 23 treadmill miles.

Mendoza has a remedy for extreme situations when the body is screaming in agony. “If you develop a deeper reason for doing this you can deal with the pain,” he explained.

The runner attributes the depth of his faith and confidence today to his experiences at Coast Union High.

“Teachers believe in you and coaches support you,” he explained via email. “It’s easier to make friends in a small school. It was perfect for me to get motivated.”

Beyond setting records on a treadmill, running up and down mountain trails and

inspiring young people, Mendoza has his sights set on another robust goal: the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.