a good read about a good runner

That's amazing!

Great post and interesting read. I am all for preservation of great running trails. I think hunters may prove to be equally belligerent about protecting their hunting grounds so it will be an uphill battle (and they have guns) so good luck to this dude.

what a guy

After reading that I cannot help but think of a novel by Larry Brown. Live on Mr. Pope.

Fantastic. Thank you for sharing.

i think it deserves a front-page link

Brian Pope is an A+ guy.

Good read.

But the second hunter he confronted seemed to in the right. If he knows the Univ owns the railbed but surrounding lands are privatley owned, he has no business confronting the guy.

I'm a runner mostly and a hunter sometimes. The first hunter was a jackarse and gives all hunters a bad name.

From the limited details of the second confrontation, it seems that Pope's attitude of the first tempered his actions 3 years later. Pope is not a wildlife officer and he has no authority to demand anything just as the hunters have no authority to demand that Pope stay off the trails.

Depending on the game hunted, Pope has the trails to himself over 70 percent of the year. In the interest of not pissing off nut jobs with a firearm, the preservation of my own safety, and not interrupting the hunt of those hunters who are by and large solid people, I find another place to run during hunting season.

I don't like people messing with me when I run but based on the limited details of the second encounter Pope started that confrontation. He could have just committed the plate to memory, continued his run, and taken action through proper channels.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Mr. Pope is doing just that!

Conformity---run!

Interesting article. It must be unusual to be a 45 year old competitive runner without a wife, children or a full-time job.

Brian's times fell off a little in 2007, though his 33:12 10k at Orono of 33:12 is nothing to sneeze at. I wonder if he's still grinding out those 5:45 pace training runs? Peter Magill seems to have fared pretty well using the philosophy of keeping the easy runs easy.

WTF!

"Coons are trying to get in the school".

"Coons?!?"

(this is an inside joke that only pope would get...he's probably not reading this though:)

I'm not a hunter but grew in a hunting household in a hunting community and the hunter described in the opening scene of the article sounded a little panicky because he was a little panicky.

Hunters are understandably freaked out by the prospect of accidentally shooting a person.

The runner behaved like a jerk and a coward by challenging the guy to hurt him. The hunter was understandably upset because he understood the consequences of an accident caused by a trespasser into hunting woods.

Another letrun celebration of mental disorders ala Lindgren because the sufferer happens to run high mileage.

I know Brian Pope. Actually he moved back to Oxford during my 2nd year at Ole Miss (1989) and we trained together regularly for the next 3 years including the first year Pablo Sierra moved there. After I graduated, Brian was a groomsman in my wedding to another Ole Miss Track athlete.

He is a very class act. I would say its highly unlikely you will ever met someone of better character than Brian. Certainly you'll never find someone more dedicated to our sport. He is of very high moral character and would be just as likely to spend what little he has to help another as he would be to spend it on himself.

But Brian is also a tough resolute guy (as are most people of high moral character) and will not back down from anyone if he feels he is in the right. Hunters, politicians and others around the Oxford, Mississippi area have learned that over the past decade and half.

Great job Pope. Keep it going.

With the utmost respect and admiration,

Hadley

I admire someone who can do that - live his life as he chooses. He doesn't bother us and we should't bother him, unless...................

can he afford to pay his own hospital bills as he goes through life, can he support himself in his old age when he is no longer able to run, or maybe even paint? Or will all these expenses be shifted to to you and I, the taxpayer? I assume he would refuse to go on medicaid and would take the necessary steps rather than accept charity.

Pope is suave. There is also a Mississippi Roads (PBS) segment on him, but that article linked above is a good introduction to the legend.

Ok, he's likely paid taxes throughout his life. Some of his tax money has paid for medicaid. So, assuming he needed medicaid, why would he not go on it?

When I lived in Memphis for a few years I raced Pope many times. Whenever there was a money race we would kinda hope he wouldn't show up because he never seemed to have a bad race.

He was always a great guy to talk to after the race though. If you asked a question about running you would just see him light up and get excited. He loved to to talk running...he would get nervous if a female talked to him though.

I remember him telling this story of the hunter about 2 weeks after it happened at a race in Mississippi, the Killer Kudzu. Hopefully he doesn't get himself killed!

He's a great guy, and I would guess any runner that has met him would say the same thing.

I tend to stay off the trails around here during hunting season. There are enough hunters shooting each other to give them yet another target. My favorite report was a few years ago about a local hunter accidentally shooting his brother-in-law after mistaking him for a squirrel.