The 38-year-old with Type 1 diabetes is running more than 3,000 miles from San Francisco to Long Island in New York and is on his way to becoming the first Type 1 diabetic to run across the United States.
He left on his 1Run journey from Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on May 20 and is hoping to arrive in Long Island during the last week of September.
"Two hundred and thirty people have run across the Unites States so why can't one of those people be a diabetic," said Masiuk. "It doesn't need to be this debilitating hopeless condition. It's not a death sentence. It's not any of those things it used to be."
He wants to raise awareness of the disease that he has had since he was 3 years old and show other diabetics that they can have normal quality lives. He wants them to be encouraged by his feat and let them know that they can accomplish amazing things. He said his goal is to encourage everyone to eat healthy and exercise.
Traveling with him are his support crew, Bryce Northington, 22, of Annapolis, Md., who joined the group in Fallon, and Daniel Lynn, 28, of Los Angeles, who started off with Masiuk in San Francisco. Lynn is serving as the videographer and media liaison and has even gone out to run with Masiuk on a few occasions.
Northington is serving as the production coordinator, setting up events and finding the crew meals and places to sleep. Lynn does most of the driving in their rented rust orange Kia Soul.
Cassie Embrie, of Annapolis, Md., joined the group in Elko to help work on the social media aspects. There is a website and Facebook and Twitter accounts. Between Facebook and Twitter, 1Run has nearly 2,100 followers and that number is increasing every day, said Masiuk.
Not only is Masiuk running through cities but he is trying to do speaking engagements wherever he can including at senior centers, kids camps, hospitals and farmers markets to get his message out for people to take good care of their bodies. As of June 15, he had done around 12 speaking engagements.
Masiuk spoke at the senior center in Lovelock, at the farmers market in Fallon and at Khoury's in Winnemucca. He is doing speaking engagements and events in cities about five times a week and tries to vary his speeches depending on where he is speaking, he said.
He said his one on one interaction with people in each town has been important to him as well. It has opened his eyes to how many people are impacted by either having diabetes or knowing someone with diabetes.
Through the run and his speaking engagements, Masiuk is also trying to bring diabetics together to support each other.
The way the run works is that Masiuk is jogging the entire route either on the shoulders of roads or on dirt frontage roads. He passes around some cities instead of straight through them on his run. He runs to a certain point and then Lynn and Northington pick him up and take him to the nearest town for a meal and a place to spend the night. Then Lynn and Northington drive him back out the next day to pick up where he left off.
Northington said people, especially Nevadans, have been incredibly generous in donating food and lodging to the group who is trying to raise money to pay for their trip. They are hoping to raise $90,000 to cover the cost of the journey and have raised just under $5,000 so far. To donate, visit the 1Run website at www.1run.org.
Any money left over will be donated to families who have newly diagnosed diabetic children.
Nike is providing Masiuk with running shoes. He estimates the journey will take him through 11 pairs of shoes. Right now he is rotating between three pairs. Ogosport is helping the group host events.
Masiuk ran from Carson City to Fallon and then to Lovelock, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain and Elko up the I-80 corridor. From there he will be heading to Salt Lake City and stopping at all of the small towns in between.
The group stayed in Winnemucca June 15 - 18 and hit Battle Mountain on June 19. According to Northington, in Winnemucca they stayed for free at the Holiday Inn Express, Scott Shady Court Motel (paid for by Lisa Robertson, an employee of Global Coffee) and at the Winnemucca Inn.
In Battle Mountain they stayed for free at the Owl Club Motel. In Winnemucca, Las Margaritas, Third Street Bistro and Taco Time gave them free meals. The owners of Las Margaritas and Taco Time also gave them generous financial donations, said Northington.
"People from Nevada are amazingly generous," said Masiuk.
Masiuk has been a long distance runner for four years. He said on days that he runs he only requires a quarter of the insulin he normally uses.
Before this cross country run, Masiuk participated in time trials and a few marathons. Eighty miles is the longest distance he had run at one time prior to this journey.
"I realized that if I wanted a chance of living a long life I needed to be more active," said Masiuk.
Masiuk said he came up with the idea to run across the country about two years ago and has been preparing for it for about a year with eating and resting more.
He did not have to prepare exercise-wise since he was already a long distance runner. His body was already used to running six to seven days a week. About two years ago, he ran 20 miles a day six days a week for two months straight, he said.
Masiuk is running an average of six days a week and an average of 20 to 30 miles per day. Due to the heat, he runs mostly in the mornings.
He said he copes with the heat by stopping frequently and drinking plenty of water. He stops to drink about every six miles. He said the recent temperatures have been the hottest he has hit so far on his journey. He hit his coldest weather outside of Carson City when he was running in the rain in 40-degree weather.
Masiuk said he has kept his spirits up along the journey and is being spurred by the people who believe in him and support his cause. He said he has gotten amazing support from his family and friends and from complete strangers.
"The most important tool someone has is their spirit," he said.
He is also enjoying time with his friends. He has known Northington for six months and Lynn for nine years. The three of them described the journey as a lot of work and very challenging but fun.
Masiuk said he is taking the trip moment to moment and sometimes he feels tired and other days energized. One of the biggest challenges for Masiuk is doing his speaking engagements after running.
His most memorable moment on his journey was when he was stopped along the California-Nevada border and spoke with a woman who said she has 16 nieces and nephews with diabetes.
"The numbers are staggering," he said. "To see that affirmation on the side of the road and you are not really looking for it."
Masiuk is a self-employed computer consultant. He studied film television at New York University and graduated in 2002. He said he is not sure what he will do after he completes his run. He said he will most likely return to Annapolis.
Lynn, who is documenting the journey on video, is a story analyst for the film industry with a wife in Los Angeles. He took four months off from his job to help Masiuk with his run.
"Within a week, I was amazed at how many people are affected by this," said Lynn.
Northington, whose grandfather is diabetic, attends St. John's College in Annapolis where she studies philosophy and the history of mathematics and science.
"I think it's great," she said of Masiuk's mission.
Masiuk said he is thankful for the Nevada Highway Patrol troopers who stopped him during his journey to check and see that he was OK.
According to the American Diabetes Association at www.diabetes.org, Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in children and young adults, and was previously known as juvenile diabetes. In Type 1 diabetes, the body does not produce insulin.
Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Only 5 percent of people with diabetes have this form of the disease.
With the help of insulin therapy and other treatments, even young children with Type 1 diabetes can learn to manage their condition and live long, healthy, happy lives.
Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes. Millions of Americans have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and many more are unaware they are at high risk, according to the website.
In Type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use glucose for energy. When a person eats food, the body breaks down all of the sugars and starches into glucose, which is the basic fuel for the cells in the body. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can lead to diabetes complications.
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