Paul (Hardrock) Simpson of Burlington, N.C. is a walking mail carrier who loves to run. He loves it so much, in fact, that the Burlington postmaster has placed him on strict orders not to jog along his 12-mile route. "I'd get back too early," says Hardrock, whose nickname is a carryover from schoolboy football days, "and Washington would want to know why other carriers didn't do the same."
Bowing to bureaucracy, Hardrock consoles himself by running after work (15 miles in two hours) and on his days off (30 miles in five hours). Sometimes, on dull days at local minor league ball games, Hardrock peps things up by jogging around the ball park from first pitch to last.
Hardrock celebrated his 56th birthday last month by running 56 miles in eight hours. "Any man can run long distances if he works up to it gradually," says Hardrock. But what makes him run? "Well," says Hardrock crisply, "I guess I just like it."
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