Globe trotter

June Casagrande

Don Hilliard was padding up his driveway after a run, his 36-year-old

son Don Jr. by his side. In a lot of ways, this day in April was just

like any of the other times the elder Don has gone for a run over the

last 30 years. But, when he looked at it another way, it was an event of

global proportion -- literally.

Hilliard has crossed the 24,902-mile mark -- the circumference of

planet Earth; thus, if his personal running journals are to be trusted,

since he started running, the Newport Beach resident has put enough miles

behind him to literally circle the globe.

“Probably the most enjoyable thing has been in the final run, when I

came into the driveway at 24,902 miles, my son was running with me. That

was a very enjoyable experience, especially to see that he finally took

up running too. So that was something special.”

Hilliard got the idea to measure his runs against the girth of the

earth decades ago from a co-worker. The two had taken up running at about

the same time 30 years ago, and the co-workerwas curious to note when he

had run the equivalent of the distance from Southern California to his

hometown of New York City.

Hilliard, who had been keeping a running journal since Day 1, knew

that if his knees held out, it was inevitable that he would one day have

run enough miles to stretch around the world. He looked up the equatorial

circumference of the world, 24,902, and has had his sights set on this

goal ever since.

“It helps to have a goal, it’s good,” he said.

But, as wife Anna points out, Don never needed to push himself too

hard.

“He was one of those people who just loved running right from the

start,” said Anna, who was also the brains behind a party Saturday to

celebrate her husband’s worldwide achievement. “At first he would run

after work. It was a way to unwind. I always thought it was good for

him.”

Don, who retired early from the Pacific Life Co., has been a Newport

Beach resident since 1972. Now in his 60s, he usually runs about three

times a week, for a total of about 15 or 20 miles a week, averaging 750

miles a year.

His most common route is a six-mile course beginning near Ford Road,

to Jamboree Road, past the Newport Beach Police station, past the

Marriott hotel then back home. Hilliard’s numerous local routes were

measured out on his car odometer years ago. When he’s out of town, he

estimates it takes him about eight minutes to run a mile, and figures his

distance that way.

Over the years, he has kept track of every run in his journals.

“My son gives me a new journal every year,” he said. “I tear out the

last page of the old ones and add the miles to the next journal,” Don

said.

Though the distance he has run goes completely around the world, Don

said he has run in only a half dozen different countries.

On his first trip to Europe in 1985, Hilliard awoke to a very

unwelcoming London morning -- a rainy, ugly day. Knowing his itinerary

wouldn’t allow him many chances to wait for a sunny day, Hilliard laced

up his running shoes.

“I stood there for a few minutes and then said I guess it’s now or

never. So I went running. It was a little cold, but I ran through Hyde

Park. ... It wasn’t too bad.”

That experience differs from his France run in 1997. That day on the

outskirts of Paris it was so cold that it took him 10 minutes in a hot

shower to get the chill out of his bones.

He has also run in Germany, Austria and Canada, but for a runner

reared on Southern California sunshine, there’s no place like home.

“When you run, you can let your mind wander. You can think your own

thoughts. I’ve composed speeches, I’ve come up with to-do lists,” he

said. “When I see people walking or running and they’ve got their

headsets on, I think, ‘Don’t you ever like a time when you can be away

from it all?’ I do. I like times when I’m alone and not available.”

But sometimes Hilliard will trade in his solitude for a good cause.

For example, he has run in every one of the American Heart Association’s

“Heart and Sole” runs since the event’s inception in 1981.

“Sometimes it’s exciting to have the camaraderie,” he said.

No matter how far he runs, Hilliard remains grateful for the good

health that allows him to keep going. In 30 years of running, he has only

had one injury, a heel spur. And though he knows he’ll probably retire

from his favorite pastime someday, he still may have another goal in

mind.

“I have the idea in my head that someday, before I hang up my running

shoes, it might be fun to run in a marathon.”

Primarily a 10K runner, Hilliard has never run more than a half

marathon at a stretch.

“I can see that my son could motivate me to do it someday. Of course,

right now he runs four miles a day and I run six, so I don’t see that

happening too soon.”

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .