2,620 Miles and Counting
When he was a junior at Washington and Lee, Billy Webster, of the Class of 1979, ran in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.
As it turns out, he was just getting warmed up.
A story in Billy’s hometown newspaper, the Spartanburg Herald Journal, last Saturday chronicles his career as a marathon runner over the past 35 years and notes that when he runs in the Paris Marathon on April 7, it will be his 100th race.
When he finishes Paris, Billy will have raced 2,620 miles or, as the Herald Journal writer figures, one-tenth of a trip around the globe. And that, of course, does not count the miles and miles of training.
Billy, a member of the W&L Board of Trustees, told the newspaper: “There’s something sort of natural about running. It’s one of the original activities. It feels like something you’re supposed to do. The great thing about it is that anyone who has the desire can do it.”
He’s run the Boston Marathon about a dozen times, averages about 3 marathons a year, and said the Big Sur International Marathon in Monterrey, Calif., is his favorite.
Currently chairman of the board of the Greenville (S.C.) Health System, Billy said he has no plans to slow down: “I’m going to run until I can’t do it anymore, and after that I guess I’ll still walk.”
UPDATE (Apr. 3, 2013): When Billy Webster runs in the Paris Marathon, he will be joined by two other Washington and Lee alumni: Rob George, a member of the Class of 2011 from New York, and Matt Gossett, of the Class of 2012 from Atlanta.
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