December 4, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Just Keep On Running: TDCJ Officer
Runs into the Record Books

When TDCJ Safety Officer Steve Bickford has awakened each morning for the last three years, he has done something that you – most likely - have not. He has run at least one mile through the piney woods of East Texas.

Bickford, 54, set a personal record on Friday, December 4, 2015, of running at least one mile every day beginning on December 4, 2012. Called a 'streak' there are almost 600 runners across the country who can lay claim to this amazing feat. Bickford is now 400th on the national list maintained by the U.S. Running Streak Association. He has now run at least one mile for 1,094 consecutive days or – in 'streak years' – 3 years!

An athlete on the football and baseball teams at Goodrich High School in the late 1970s, Bickford slowly succumbed to the 'couch potato' lifestyle when parenthood set in. His weight skyrocketed along with his blood pressure and cholesterol levels while still coaching his kids' sports teams and eating junk food at the ballparks. He quickly decided a change was necessary before reaching 50.

With the support of his wife Cathy – also a runner who recently retired from TDCJ - and his men's group at a church in Huntsville, Bickford ran 3.5 miles with the Seven Hills Running Club on March 28, 2010. The next month he ran his first ever 5K at the age of 49. Like Forrest Gump, Bickford decided then to just "keep on running."

Bickford's "mile a day minimum" is charted on two different tracking web sites where he downloads his daily workouts from a GPS he wears. But the device also monitors his body's response to different situations, especially the weather. "Running in the cold doesn't bother you as much as the heat," he said. "Rain is a blessing when the temperature is above 70 degrees but a nuisance when it's under 60 degrees."

An advocate of a healthier lifestyle for everyone, Bickford says it's not difficult if you remember these three things: eat color, drink clear and sweat a lot because raising the heart rate speeds metabolism. Bickford stresses the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is important for all of us, but especially those working in a correctional environment.

"God designed our bodies to be mobile," says Bickford. "When we stop moving that's when our health suffers."

The 29 year veteran of TDCJ has no plans of slowing down. Bickford says he's going to be out pounding the pavement into the foreseeable future.

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