BILLINGS — A 72-year-old Billings man completed his almost two-year-long journey of running every street in Billings, with his final ending on 54th and Grand on Saturday morning.
Vince Long has a long list of hobbies, and running is just one of them. He picked up the sport at the age of 48 when completing his master's degree at Montana State University Billings and a friend of his, a cross-country coach, encouraged him to try running as a way of getting into shape.
"It's real simple. Put shoes on, just go out the door, and it kind of hooked me," said Long. "He told me about streaking, where you see how many days in a row you can go exercising, and he was like at 500 and some days where he'd worked out, do something physical every day. That kind of intrigued me."
Long began running, and thus began a 17-and-a-half-year streak of physical exercise. He has competed in races and marathons and joined the Yellowstone Rim Runners club where he is now their vice-president. He retired as a teacher from Senior High School, which gave him more time to run. However, he started to search for something more.
An idea sparked after Long's son who lives in Pittsburgh had told his father about a runner who ran all of that city's streets. This began the ultimate journey through the streets of his own home.
"I thought it’d be kind of cool to be the first one to do that (here)," said Long.
His mission began officially in January of 2023 when he set out almost twice a week with his friend and fellow Rim Runner partner Shelley Phelps to a different part of Billings each time. They would head out early in the morning and average 5 to 7 miles a run.
"I hate running the same thing multiple times, and I just thought, 'What would it be like to run the Streets of Billings?' It was like, 'Do you think this can be done?' We went back and forth, and then Vince started building maps. I'd text him and say, 'Hey, you want to do a run today?' And off we went," said Phelps.
On paper maps, they routed their runs and crossed off each street as they completed it. Long documented all of his runs on his online blog, myrunbillingsproject.blogspot.com, and posted his stats, photos, and overall thoughts of the runs. He'd take pictures of the various streets they were on, beautiful scenery, and any oddities found along the way. Their favorite thing to spot was fun yard art.
“Some of the yard art that we've seen has been pretty cool, what people make, and just things that they put in their yard. You're like, hmm, that's very interesting. Some of it was very tasteful. Some of it was very interesting,” said Phelps.
As they quickly became experts on each corner of Billings, they found that their favorite part of town was the South Side.
“South Side is the best. It is the best place to go tour the city. There's so much variation in architecture and yard art and in history. There's just some beautiful homes down there. They've been there for a long time,” said Long.
Over time, Long and Phelps accumulated stories of their morning jogs through the city, from finding new subdivisions to wild weather, and animal run-ins. They noted, however, that these experiences were not challenges, but rather just entertaining anecdotes.
"We were running up in the Heights, and it was kind of dark. We're coming down Lake Elmo, and we're just trotting along, and Vince was behind me. Then about five deer run out between these bushes right in front of me, and literally you have to stop because they would have hit me if I would have kept going. Then of course, Vince runs almost into the back of me," said Phelps recounting one of their many runs out.
While Long did half of the runs on his own, he enjoyed the company of Phelps and others who would join him. They both see running as a simple, but social sport, and as a way to decompress.
"It does relieve stress. I have a somewhat stressful job, so this is kind of the thing that clears my mental side because when you're out, you're not really thinking about work. Or you might be thinking about it telling somebody and getting it off your chest, but you're not out thinking about work. You're out being with people," said Phelps.
"It's a game you play with yourself, and you set your own rules. It was just like this project. I set my own rules," said Long.
194 runs, 1,057.26 miles, and three pairs of running shoes later, Long completed his quest on Aug. 3 with Phelps and other Rim Runners alongside him. Phelps completed 48% of the streets, a total of 514.74 miles. Concluding behind The Den Sports Bar, the runners celebrated Long's victory with some ice-cold beers and a few treats.
“(Vince) is an excellent baker, and so oftentimes, he would bake things and bring them to the runs with us. He did bake some stuff yesterday, and so we enjoyed some beverages and some home-baked goods. Definitely a celebration,” said Phelps.
Long hopes to one day create an online map that has all of his posts and routes, but for now, his blog stands as an up-close and personal view of Billings.
“It's like a document for the city of Billings and the slice of the city over this 19, 20-month period,” said Long. "Now when I hear things in the news about something happens on this street or something's on that road and I say, 'Oh, I know where that is.'"
For someone like Vince Long, his next journey won't be far away, ready to lace up his shoes for whatever may come next.
"I always have something going on. Right now, I haven't decided what the next one is. I've got a couple irons in the fire," said Long. “I didn't have a feeling like something was over. It was just another run, and I'll be doing more runs. I just don't have to blog about them anymore.”
