3/3 Not the Franchise

My friend's story sounds apocryphal. On a day when the temperature tops out at a frigid 5 and the windchill dips below zero, he claims to see a bare-chested man in shorts running through snowy Arlington Heights.

Others swear they spotted the man running shirtless in the middle of our last blizzard. Some insist they've seen him running barefoot, too. He's been called the Gingerbread Man, because it seems you can "run, run, run as fast as you can" and still not catch him.

But local runners know this mythical runner is no fairy tale character. He's Mason Saadat.

"He's probably the most eccentric runner in the area," says Mark Rouse, who, with his wife, Pom, owns Runners High 'n Tri, an Arlington Heights store that caters to all runners' needs. Pom Rouse says they've sold Saadat shirts he doesn't wear, although Saadat does sometimes wrap a shirt around his hands to keep his fingers from getting cold.

"I use oven mitts, my wife's socks -- my daughter's baby hat sometimes," says the 61-year-old Saadat, who admits that about the only thing he doesn't warm up to is the idea of making this column about him instead of the "real runners" of the Dick Pond Fast Track Racing Team.

"Those guys give me a lot of motivation. I cannot even compare to those guys," says Saadat, who says he's inspired by coach and club founder Dave Schaefers and runners Ann Schaefers-Coles, Grace Wasielewski, Barb McGovern, Mark Przybyla, Mark Jakubowski and Dave Alberts.

"By no means is he a pedestrian runner," Schaefers says of Saadat, who's been in the Dick Pond Fast Track Racing Team since 2010. "He's exceptionally fast for his age."

A good soccer player as a young man, Saadat says he took up running later as part of a commitment to be healthier after his weight shot up to 198 pounds. Now, the 5-foot-6 runner checks in at 132 pounds. "Two pounds an inch," he says.

Married with a young daughter, and now in his 31st year working for a Sherwin-Williams research lab on the far South Side of Chicago, Saadat generally squeezes in runs between his 3-hour round-trip daily commute, picking up his daughter from school and doing his part of the household chores.

"I run every day outside," Saadat says. He hasn't worn a shirt all winter, and he generally runs between 2 and 12 miles depending on the wind chill and his available time.

"My dog, she runs three miles a day," says Saadat, who says the Cavachon named Chloe slows him down because she isn't as focused as he is. While he did finish a marathon years ago, Saadat doesn't run to train for competitions.

"He runs about 60 miles a week and maintains a really good diet," Mark Rouse says. "He's fit as anything."

The cold doesn't bother him, and neither do the occasional barbs tossed his way.

"Sometimes people will say, 'Hey, put your shirt on,'" says Saadat, who generally is moving too fast for a dialogue.

"There's not another one I've seen like him," Schaefers says. "He's always out there. He does not get cold. To be honest, I've never seen him with a shirt on."

Because of the snow or brutal cold, the Rouses say they've canceled "fun runs" sponsored by Runners High 'n Tri, only to see Saadat happily cruising past their store while shirtless.

During the winter, most suburban runners rely on treadmills and are lucky to get outside one day a week, Schaefers says. When they do venture into the winter landscape, most generally wear three layers of high-tech clothing, including a jacket.

"I don't know if Mason even has a jacket," Schaefers says. "It's just 40 degrees warmer for him."

In the summer, Saadat sometimes skips the hottest days, Schaefers says. And he'll spend a lot of time dousing himself with water on warm days when they run at the athletic track at Harper College in Palatine. Whenever possible, Saadat runs barefoot.

"He'll carry his shoes lots of times while he runs," says Mark Rouse, who says his store has one other customer known for running without shoes -- Zola Budd. She ran shoeless in the Olympics in 1984 for Great Britain and in 1992 for South Africa and now lives in South Carolina, but she stops by the store when she's in the area.

It's not easy to run barefoot, but Saadat can do it.

"He's got great form, and that allows him to run barefoot," Schaefers says.

Enough about him, Saadat says. He says the focus should be on the positive things that running can do for people.

"I've been running for 20, 25 years. For me, running is part of my life," Saadat says. "My wife says I'm a better person when I run."