Vietnam vet logs 100,000 mile to cheers of his admirers

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It was a rainy Wednesday hovering around 38 degrees - not the kind of day most people would spend at the golf course.

But despite the adversity, a crowd of about a dozen gathered to watch one man reach a milestone. Some of them held signs with the digits “100,000” markered on.

Finally, a yell, and the observers swiveled their bodies towards the north as 73-year-old Vietnam veteran Thomas Egan, 73, trotted onto the putting green at exactly 1:00 p.m. at a brisk jog to complete a task that had consumed him over the course of over four decades.

Tom Egan waves to the crowd as he approaches the putting green.

“Run in any weather,” said Egan upon arriving at the finish. “If you’re gonna make it to 100,000, you got to run in any weather.”

That is 100,000 miles, if you’re wondering: four times around the circumference of the earth, for reference. Egan says he has logged that many miles since 1975, when he began keeping track.

Fans, including his wife and employees at the Settlers Bay Golf Course were there to cheer, embrace and congratulate Egan, whom they said has been an inspiration and a joy to be around.

"He is such a warm-hearted, kind human being,” said Cassie Hobbs, who has worked at the course for the last two years, “Every day he comes in and gives us a hug and says hello and you know, he's such a gentleman.”

Cassie Hobbs, and employee at Settlers Bay Golf Course, hugs Tom Egan after he completed his 100,000th mile. "When he had told me about his coming to 100,000 miles, I couldn't believe it, I about lost my mind. I thought he was joking when he first told me, but it's really such an amazing feat to overcome something like," she said.

Employees say they’ll see him regularly for Wednesday golfing, as well as for a Sunday Guinness at the golf course bar.

But he’s also dedicated and disciplined. Employees say that sometimes, he’ll run in the morning, play golf for the day, and then walk all 18 holes again in the evening.

At his car, Egan shivered as he showed the log books he has been keeping since the 1970s.

Egan shows his logbook from 1975.

“Here’s a log book from ‘75,” he said, pointing at the pages of a hand-written journal with lines filled in for every day, “I’ll just flip to a page - it’s not the best writing, but you can see on this day, I was in Cumberland, RI, I ran at 2:30 pm, and again, I ran twice that day.”

He said it began when he was a younger man fresh out of the Army where he served in Vietnam. He says it helps him get through the memories of war, though it took longer than he had anticipated.

“I just started running and documenting my running, and when I was 32, I was running at about 4,000 miles a year, and I decided at that age that I would see if I could log 100,000 miles,” he said, “At the rate I was going, I thought it would only take 25 years, but life comes along, and many things interfere, and it’s taken me almost 45 years to accomplish this.”

His wife of 18 years, Ateteaya Egan, said his dedication is non stop.

“Even when we are on vacation, he still finds time and places to run,” she said though she added that she supported his hobby.

Now, Egan says he’s got a different goal.

“I have put running at the forefront of my life, especially the last five years, to try to reach this goal and I would give up doing things, maybe hiking with my family because I needed to get my run in,” he said, “So I will spend more time with my family, and golfing…”

As for advice for others hoping to match his longevity?

“Start out slow running. Just keep persistent,” he says, “And the key is getting out there on the days you do not want to run, like today.”

Supporters pose with Egan after his accomplishment.