by Bill Shaw

This feature is a continuation of the Front of the Pack article on Bill Harding in the November 2001 issue of Runner Triathlete News. To get the "rest of the story" on Bill Harding, please read the Front of the Pack article in that issue.

When 62-year-old, front-of-the-packer Bill Harding (pictured) travels to road races, marathons, and ultraruns throughout the United States, he takes his family along in his 1997 Dodge Road Trek RV.

Max, Blizzard, Homey, and Gracie, Harding's four dogs, pile into the RV to travel the roads and keep Harding company. Harding does, however, leave his three cats, Mini, L.T. (for Leadville Trail in Colorado), and Moca, at his Jamaica Beach home on west Galveston Island. Cats are not the RV travelers that dogs are.

"I take them to races when I travel cross country," said Harding. "So when I went to races in five different states, including Connecticut, I took them all."

"I just love them; I don't know what I'd do without them," said Harding. "They're company. I think everyone who lives alone should have animals. I take them with me when I travel. They give me company."

In his earlier years Max, a thoroughbred springer spaniel, was quite a runner himself. Butch Buckner, Harding's close friend, runner, and running columnist for The Galveston Daily News, chronicled Max's beach running four year ago.

Training for the Texas Trail 50-miler, Buckner and Harding ran 20-30-mile training runs along the West Galveston Island beach, and Max ran right along with them. On the first beach run, Buckner worried about Max's endurance, but soon he realized that Max enjoyed the run more and had more endurance than he did.

"We were all having a good run, but Max seemed to be enjoying it even more than Bill and I," Buckner wrote in his column. "I began to tire after 12-15 miles. Bill was his usual strong self, but Max still led the mini-pack."

Max made his last run on July 4, 2000.

"I lost him on the beach, and someone picked him up and took him to the vet," said Harding.

At 14, 98 years old in dog years, Max has retired and takes life easy.

Harding's bodyguard is Blizzard, a white Akita/German shepherd mix, who weighs in at 120 pounds.

"When I go camping, he's kind of scary because he's so big," said Harding. "I used to bring Blizzard down the main street in Leadville, Colorado, and people thought he was half wolf."

Homey, named because he was a stray and homeless, is Blizzard's adopted brother. Homey was found by one of Harding's neighbors but became quick friends with Blizzard. When the neighbor moved away, Homey stayed and became part of the Harding family.

Harding's wild child is Gracie, a two-year-old Scottie, who was given to Harding by a local convenience store owner who couldn't handle her.

"I gave her to my girlfriend; she couldn't handle her either," said Harding. "I kept her for the weekend and was going to give her back to the lady at the Stop and Go, but she got along so well with my other dogs, I decided to keep her."

Harding's travels with his dog entourage have not been without incident.

He almost lost Max in Arkansas when he traveled to a 10K road race.

"I parked along a real swift river and let the dogs out. Max went to the river," said Harding. "I heard Max barking. The current was so strong he was getting swept away in the river. It was cold but just waist deep. I had to swim after him. In another two minutes, I would have lost him."

Hyperactive Gracie causes Harding the most anxiety and once disappeared in a dangerous high-traffic area in Austin when Harding ran the Capital 10,000. She squeezed through a narrow opening in the window when Harding's RV was parked on Congress Avenue at Riverside. Harding put an ad in the newspaper, and the girl who found Gracie called Harding to return her.

"She has no fear," said Harding.

When Harding crewed for friend Matt Dobbs in a 250-mile canoe race from San Marcus to the Gulf of Mexico, Gracie showed her fearlessness.

"A friend of his had a German shepherd, an 'attack dog,' said Harding. "When they met, she wouldn't let the German shepherd alone. This little eight-pound dog was chasing him around. Gracie wanted to fight, but the dog wouldn't."

With his long locks and beard, Harding might seem to be a suspicious character or a homeless waif to strangers, but with his dogs in tow, he doesn't frighten or intimidate the people he meets in his travels.

"Everybody seems to like animals; otherwise, my long hair turns them off," said Harding. "If you've got an animal with you, people are friendly and not afraid of you, especially four animals. Restaurants even give me leftovers for the dogs."

If you see a lean, longhaired bearded man with dogs in tow hanging around a race, go meet this front-of-the-packer and his family. His dogs are as interesting and as friendly as he is.