feature story / 33 S o what were you up to on Febru- ary 22, 1994? Maplewood resident Watt White certainly remembers. “I recall running from the parking lot of a gym I belonged to with light-up ASICS running shoes,” he says. He laced up his shoes the next day as well. And the day after that. Believe it or not, he’s been doing the same ever since. On February 22, 2019, Watt White will have run at least one mile per day for 25 years. For those of you who enjoy statistics, that amounts to 9,125 days. The runner estimates he’s logged between 20,000 and 25,000 miles. “I love numbers, stats, and records,” he says. “Anytime you can combine those, which you can with running all the time, I just really like that. I got that from my parents.” Because his parents were avid marathoners, Watt was exposed to the running world from a young age. As a high school cross-country runner, he was already cooking up quirky activities. “Off season, I would do some extra weird things to share with my coach,” says Watt. “I once tried to do a 24-hour run. Well, it worked out...for about five hours.” Be- fore heading to college, he ran 10 miles each day for seven weeks. “At that age, I had nothing else to do but run, nap, eat cereal and watch TV,” he deadpans. Watt credits English runner Ron Hill for inspir- ing him to attempt running each day. Hill, whose streak lasted a stunning 52 years and 39 days, over- came a broken sternum and various surgeries with- out missing a run. “I always liked the weird corners of running...the feats, the strange things,” he says. Running has served as an organizing principle for Watt, who’s carved out an impressive career as a composer, singer, songwriter and producer. “If you’re going to run every day, you’re always going to go. It’s about when – not if,” he says. Watt is both guitarist and musical director for the Tony Award-winning singer and performer Lena Hall, who played the role of Yitzhak opposite Neil Patrick Harris in the Broadway production of Hedwig A Quarter Century on the Run Watt White closes in on a rare running milestone BY DONNY LEVIT