Editor’s note: Even the Spy knows it can be a healthy thing to leave the Eastern Shore once in awhile to understand the unique character and personalities of the entire State of Maryland. We’ll therefore be periodically driving over the Bay Bridge to do just that to see what’s happening on the other side.
In many ways, Kimball Byron’s attempt last weekend to complete his 50th year running all 50 miles in the John F. Kennedy Memorial Challenge had very little to do with winning or finishing one of this country’s most grueling competitions. While that might have been his desired outcome, the passion for this run, named after the former president’s physical fitness challenge to complete a 50 mile trip in less than 12 hours, the real reason the Washington College graduate, and now a commercial airline pilot, makes run each year is all about honoring his family.
Starting in 1967, when his father Goodloe, then a Maryland State Senator, first ran the race, the Byron family has made the JFK Run a family tradition. This ritual began in 1968 when the father and son started running the race in 1968 when Kimball was only twelve years old.
Sadly, Goodloe Byron, then a US Congressman for Maryland’s 6th District, was the victim of a massive heart attack in 1978 at the age of 49 years old. The continuation of the racing tradition only grew stronger with his son over the next forty years, even to the point of getting special leave for a few days during the first Gulf War, where he was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force.
And over the years, Kimball also encouraged his own two sons (with wife Hannah serving as the support team) to join him on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Trail, and the oldest, Phillip, joined his father last week in Western Maryland to run with him for the 5oth anniversary.
The Spy talked to Kimball a month before the November race on running the punishing race as a boy, the challenges of JFK Run, and the subtle pride he has in keeping the Byrons in the Race.
This video is approximately four minutes in length.
