PROFILE--Jay Birmingham has been running for 62 years

Jacksonville Beach Run, 2017

(Mar. 2020) Jay Birmingham, of Fleming Island FL, was a track and cross country coach and teacher (biology, human anatomy, physiology) for 27 years at both the college and high school level. He also ran a running store in Jacksonville, FL, early in the running boom. He retired in 2018 and, now 75, has resumed running every day, and taken up piano, guitar, cooking, gardening, writing and travel. Among his many running achievements, Birmingham still holds the record for a solo, unsupported USA Transcon run. In 1980, he covered 2,964 miles in 71 days, 22 hours, 59 minutes.

When did you start running and why? April 1958 as part of my seventh-grade homeroom team in Wilmington, Ohio. Never stopped running. I'm proudest of my longevity in the sport.  I've always seen myself as a "full-spectrum" runner, competing with enthusiasm in