Video interview: Not-so-lonely long distance runner Kevin Kline talks about Strides Across Texas

by John P. Meyer

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"I have a lot of people at that hospital depending on me to run, and I'll get out there and I'll do it."

Houston DJ (and big-time supporter of pediatric cancer research) Kevin Kline stopped by our offices on Saturday to brief us on the super-mega-long-distance run he'd be undertaking the next morning. Joining him, to our pleasant surprise, was ultramarathon veteran (would you believe 63 marathons in 63 days?) Tim Borland.

Tim will be running along with Kevin for the first 10 days of Kevin's planned 13-day, 500-mile run across the state of Texas -- from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas to the steps of the Texas Children's Cancer Center in Houston. It's an effort to spread awareness of the challenges faced by children with cancer; it's also (as you'll hear in our video interview) a celebration of the great strides that have been made in beating the disease.

For additional information and to access the webcam streaming live coverage of Kevin as he runs, go to the Strides Across Texas homepage. Plus, you can get a look at Kevin's day-by-day run route -- which winds from Dallas down the I-35 corridor through Austin and San Antonio, before taking an eastward dogleg towards Houston -- at MapMyRun.com. Here's Sunday's route, which should find Kevin and Tim calling it a day (after 10 hours or so on the road) south of Waxahachie, in the little burg of Forreston.

The first thing I said to Kevin after meeting him in the lobby of our building was something to the effect that he looked "nothing like the actor." Well, color me stupid: It turns out Kevin Kline the DJ and president of the Snowdrop Foundation, is not-too-distantly related to Kevin Kline the Oscar-winning actor.

In the first part of our video interview, you'll hear how Kevin became involved with supporting pediatric cancer research through his day job at The New 93Q -- and how his interest turned to a passion after meeting and befriending a brave young lady named Chelsea.

Chelsea -- who, in response to Kevin's observation that she didn't look sick, told him "oh, I'm not, I've just got this thing called cancer" -- was a victim of undifferentiated sarcoma, and endured a 28-hour marathon surgery to remove a host of tumors from soft tissues surrounding her internal organs. Kevin was among the first people to greet her when she regained consciousness.

With the example of this marathon surgery front-of-mind, Kevin started training for long-distance running in August of 2006; in January of '07, suffering from stress fractures in both shins (his doctor had advised him to abandon the effort), he completed his first marathon with a time of 3:44:42. It's his fastest finish to date.

As might be expected from his role as a morning radio jock, Kevin's been keeping a weather-eye on the -- um -- weather, and so far it's looking optimal for the big run, with temps in the perfect range for marathoners combined with generally fair conditions. Whether that luck will hold through January 1 remains to be seen, but Kevin isn't worried: He's taking his cue from that old post office mantra ("Neither rain nor wind nor snow ..." -- etc., etc.).

The second video segment provides some information on a film that Everett Marshall is making to document Kevin's Lone Star ultramarathon. It continues with Kevin providing us with metaphorical connections between what young cancer patients go through and the tribulations of long-distance running: we're talking isolation, monotony, and physical challenges.

Ever wondered how many sets of running shoes it takes to do 500 miles in 13 days? Listen in to find out.

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