ODESSA, Texas — The Shamrock 5K in Odessa Saturday brought out more than just members of the West Texas community.
69-year-old Steven McDaniel came all the way from Lampasas, Texas to take part in the run to continue his goal of running a race in all counties in Texas.
“Anytime I have a record of having done a race in my life I counted that county," McDaniel said. "I started seriously trying to do all the counties about 30 years ago. There’s 254 counties in the state and I’m up to 234 with this race today.”
McDaniel is part of a group called The Texas 254 Running Club, who all share the same goal as McDaniel of running all the counties in Texas.
“It’s just a fun thing to do. We’re all not too much competitive runners, we’re just social runners," McDaniel said. "So we do it for the camaraderie, the friendship, it’s just good. I like meeting the people whenever I’m at races. It’s just a fun thing to do. I’m not a competitive runner at all, I’m just enjoying it.”
McDaniel said age is just a number and shouldn’t affect your ability to take part in races.
“Just don’t stop, I mean it’s just a fun thing to do and that’s motivation, just the enjoyment," McDaniel said. "If you can’t run, walk; a lot of people walk races. I’m still able to jog and slow jog, but there’s a lot of people that walk them; just get out and walk.”