► entertainment
► events
► issues
► music
► art
hilltopics
the university
daily kansan
wednesday
2.17.99
tena
Frederick Timms plans to celebrate his 62nd birthday tomorrow with a 62-mile walk.
Frederick Timms ran from Colorado to Washington, D.C., in 1966 before distance running was popular. He started a
triathlon called the Clear Lake Marathon in 1971 before such an event was trendy.
In 1966, Timms joined his friends in Colorado when they were in the middle of a cross-country run for peace. The group eventually ran to the White House where they presented a petition for peaceful coexistence during the Vietnam War era.
Before those days, Timms had been a professional cowboy.
But nowadays,he's just a walkin' man.
Timms doesn't own a car. He walks or hitches a ride everywhere he goes, and Timms goes a lot of places.
Most recently he's been traveling to Ottawa and Garnett — about 25 and 45 miles respectively from Lawrence along U.S. Highway 59. He has been taking the early bus each Saturday morning, usually to Ottawa, then walking home. It's an all-day trek.
But all those walks have been leading up to one larger event: Tomorrow at 12:01 a.m., Timms plans to celebrate his 62nd birthday with a 62-mile jaunt along U.S. Highway 59 from Colony to Lawrence.
Timms enjoys his solitary walking time.
Timms said he wasn't trying to prove anything to anyone. He said that he wanted to live a long and healthy life, and this was a part of that endeavor.
He stressed that he would not push himself to reach the 62-mile mark for his birthday if he didn't feel that he could make it.
"It's to celebrate my birthday, not to celebrate my death," Timms said. "The idea is just to survive the whole thing."
He said some days he felt as though he could walk forever, but other days he got tired after the first 25 miles. Last Saturday, Timms tried to walk from Garnett back to Lawrence. When he got to Ottawa, Timms said he was lucky enough to find a young man who let him stay the night at his apartment.
Timms said that if he could walk 62 miles in 24 hours,he thought he would be exceptional.
"My feet were so sore, I just couldn't go on." he said.
He has been training for tomorrow's walk on-and-off for nearly a year. He said part of his training was his clean-living lifestyle — Timmss has never smoked or drank alcohol.
Even when he's just shuffling around
town, Timms always has his big backpack filled with clothes and provisions because he's sometimes away from home for the day.
For the long walk tomorrow, he will be prepared for anything with plenty of soda — he said he didn't like water and liked the extra boost from the caffeine — some snacks, a change of shoes and several lavers of clothes.
This walk will be a little different than his normal training because tomorrow Timms's son, Dan Timms, will follow his father in his car.
Dan Timms said he planned to stop every five miles and wait for his father to catch up. He'll carry food and drink to replenish his father.
Left: Timms has been conditioning every Saturday for his big 62-mile walk by walking from Garnett or Ottawa to Lawrence. Even cold rain and thunderstorms haven't been able to deter him.
"It gives me an excuse to take a day off work," Dan Timms said. "It's not the first crazy thing I've done for my dad."
Dan Timms he was proud of the legacy his father was creating. Although he said he was raised on long-distance running, he said he wouldn't want to take a long walk like his father.
"Some people are blessed or cursed with an unbelievable amount of energy," Dan Timms said.
Dan Timms said the tedium of a walk across the plains of Kansas would bother him.
"It's eloquent in its simplicity," Dan Timms said.
But overcoming that is part of the challenge.
And because of that, he said he admired his father's spirit.
"It's sort of spitting in the face of aging," Dan Timms said.
He said he thought most people his age had accepted the fact that they were getting old.
Indeed, Frederick Timms would like to defy time.
Far Left: For Frederick Timms walking along U.S. Highway 59 can be a lonely affair.
Sometimes it is just him, a few cars and a sea of golden wheat.
On this particular day, however, he made a new friend whom he walked back to Lawrence with and has adopted.
But he said he didn't think he was old. Timms said he was young enough that he'd like to remarry and start another family sometime soon.
Left: For his training,
Timms takes a bus to
Ottawa and walks the
25-mile trek home.
"You realize that when I attended my children's graduation from high school, I'd be 80 years old," he said.
"And the reason for that is I hadn't been in school for almost 30 years going back.
In keeping with his forever-young lifestyle, Timms attended the University of Kansas last semester and worked for campus food services, but this semester he quit a week after classes began and opted to enroll at Ottawa Community College.
And there's so much that I have to catch up on, you know. I mean, I really hadn't touched a pencil or book for over 30 years," Timms said.
He said he'd like to get a certificate in nursing from Ottawa then return to the
University for a degree in women's studies.
University for a degree in women's studies. In the meantime, Timms lives in Lawrence and catches rides to Ottawa with classmates.
He still walks around the KU campus and pops into buildings every once in a while.
Left: Even with a backpack full of gear,
Timms manages to keep a brisk pace.
Timms carries galoshes, hats, gloves, a few snacks and a large supply of Coca-Cola.