Ross Westley competed at the Arrowhead Trail Half-Marathon on Aug. 17
There's a story behind every runner who steps to the starting line of a trail race.
As the 2024 Vail Recreation District's series comes to a close at the Meadowgold 5k and 10k on Saturday in Minturn, one narrative gem worth admiring belongs to Ross Westley.
Since 1995, the 88-year-old Arvada resident has been on a mission to run every single half-marathon and 15k in Colorado. Over the years, some events have vanished. Others have changed venues and forced him to come back.
"It was one of the last ones on the list," Westley said of the Arrowhead Half-Marathon on Aug. 17. "I'd done all of the previous venues for the Vail half-marathon. ... I felt like I really wanted to give it a try."
"I think it's an amazing goal and quite the accomplishment," said the recreation district's sports coordinator Wyatt Smith, who received an email from Westley back in July. Knowing he might require more time on-course than other runners, Westley asked Smith if he could start early, insisted on being self-reliant and even accepted having an unofficial time, if necessary, to finish.
"I felt it necessary to support him the same way I supported all my other racers," Smith stated. "With aid stations and a finish line to cross."
Around 3 p.m., 8 hours, 44 minutes and 10 seconds after he'd started, Westley returned to Arrowhead Village and crossed the finish line.
"I was just determined I wanted to finish this thing because it was my birthday run and it was one of the last of these series," Westley said.
"I am truly blown away by the running community and what our race series means to them," Smith added. "I had multiple people tell me how they travel from across Colorado for these races and how much they love them. It's the small moments like Ross's that make me love my job and putting on these races."
Westley was born and raised 30 miles outside of Philadelphia in the small, country community of Skippack, Pennsylvania. He played baseball at Collegeville-Trappe High School, one of three sports -- basketball and football being the others -- offered at the school. After graduation, he went to medical school, interned in Michigan and then joined the Indian Health Service in Arizona.
"The plan was to go two years and then go back to Pennsylvania for a residency in anesthesia," he said.
"I really enjoyed what I was doing and I was starting to take care of kids and the Indian Health Service was crying for pediatricians," he continued. "They said if you want to stay on with us, we'll let you find the best pediatric residency you can find and we'll sponsor you."
That brought him to Colorado for the first time. He returned to Arizona after residency and worked on the reservation several years. When his hospital wanted its pediatricians to add a sub-specialty, he wound up back in the Centennial state, where he worked as an adult allergist at Lakewood Kaiser Permanente for 32 years. Westley retired at 84, just prior to the pandemic.
Along the way, he took up running.
"I didn't start running until I was 42," he said, recalling how a neighbor suggested the two of them start jogging.
"We got up to 3 miles and then he kind of petered out and I really enjoyed it and progressed on to new friends that were runners," Westley said. "We went to 10ks and finally we did a half-marathon. Then we progressed to marathons."
Westley was hooked.
"It was something I would do to relax," he answered when asked why he fell in love with the sport. "If you're busy in the office all day and you need to go relax, it was always nice to go out and take a run."
After completing the Fiesta Bowl Marathon in a debut time of 4:01 -- "I had hoped to do it in four hours," Westley said -- he went on to run 24 more, including the 1990 Boston Marathon, which he finished in 3:43:52. He set his personal best (3:05) qualifying for the event in St. George, Utah, at the age of 54.
With three kids growing up at home, however, the logistics and time-commitment attached to traveling to major events like the Marine Core or New York City marathons no longer seemed feasible. Westley shifted his goal-setting gaze closer to home.
"That generated my idea," he said. "And I thought, 'you know, it would be fun to go around the state and try to do as many half-marathons as possible.'"
When he started, there weren't that many races to attend, he said.
"About five years later, it ballooned and there was half-marathons all over the place," he said. "And then it was interesting because I ran into a young lady. I would see her at all these half-marathons and I started talking to her -- and she had that same goal."
These days, Westley runs 4-7 miles, five or six days a week. He sticks to fruits and vegetables and limits his meat to fish, chicken or turkey, avoiding red meat and alcohol altogether. When he's jogging on trails, he said he's "very, very cautious now."
"My wife will chastise me from time to time," he said. "I do not push myself. I try to take rest points when going uphill, and just make sure I have enough fluids and have eaten enough to do it. Race directors have been very kind to allow me to finish, or start early."
Westley said it's difficult to pinpoint his favorite race, but he said he's always enjoyed Vail events, including the now defunct half-marathon up Vail Pass. The Colfax Half-Marathon is one of his favorite road events. He's also enjoyed making his way West for races on the Kokopelli Trail. When it comes to the hardest event he's done, the answer is easy: the Telluride Mountain Run.
"That one was kind of scary. Also, a thunderstorm came in and they had us do a different route to get down," he said before continuing with a chuckle: "I understand they've changed it a little because it was too much of a challenge and they weren't getting as many people."
Westley tries to coordinate a race on or near his birthday each year. Often he celebrates at the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half-Marathon, which has become one of his most-loved races. This year, the Arrowhead Half-Marathon received the distinction.
Westley stated in his email to Smith that the event could be his last, writing, "it is like saying goodbye to an old friend." He didn't keep his word, though, scrambling up Wolf Creek at the Alberta Peak Challenge 12-miler on Sept. 7. In a week, he's scheduled to check off the last box on another running related list by competing at the Mt. Rushmore Half-Marathon. The event is one of 20 in Vacation Races' 'National Park Series.' Westley has already completed 19.
Even though his optimistic enthusiasm for chasing races remains high as ever, Westley is aware that one day, the stopwatch will stop for the last time.
"It's coming," he said. "I don't know how much longer I can do longer trail races. ... I probably am in my twilight zone of trying to do half-marathons. Another year or so."
When asked what running has given him, he answered, "It gives you a little challenge."
Westley -- who runs in a local club with 10 other 80-year-old masters athletes -- said his general advice for others is to find an activity sustainable into old age.
"Keep moving and have a goal in something you enjoy doing," he said. "And stay at it as long as you can."