'Running Man' Philip Weber: 55 year-old who ran 5,200 miles a year dies after being hit by SUV

 Over 30 years of teaching in Virginia, Billy Catron sent a lot of kids off to the University of Virginia. He always told them to watch for his brother-in-law, Philip Weber.
Every student, without exception, came back and said: I saw him! I see Running Man all the time!
Weber was hard to miss. First there were the simple odds: He ran so much, and so often, and for so long, since the 1980s. On a summer day, the 55-year-old U-Va. alum might run a half-marathon in the morning before it got too hot, then another one in the evening as things cooled off. On a winter day, he might knock out a quick-paced 20 miles, then get up the next day and do it again. And again.
He ran about 100 miles a week, 5,200 miles a year.
Besides the sheer numbers, Weber undoubtedly drew the eye. He wore short-shorts and often ran bare-chested even in the winter, with a long forked goatee, perhaps, or a Fu Manchu and a shaved head.
“He’s a colourful, odd bird,” Catron said.

Philip Weber

He often did a full-body workout while running, said Anson Parker, a Web developer at U-Va. and a one-time neighbour of Weber’s, with his arms cocked out to the side like chicken wings, taking tiny steps like a ballerina, an incredibly short stride intended to keep him moving quickly but with far less impact, to minimise the potential for injury. “And he’s ripped - his thighs were huge, so he’s got these giant legs in these cutoff shorts out of the ’80s that would be perfect for Daisy Duke, but they’re on Phil. When it’s really cold, and you see this dude burning up the street with his little short-shorts with his wings out,” people would often laugh, or smile, Parker said.
No one knew Weber well. But everyone knew Running Man.
So when people learned that Weber had, one dark and foggy early morning this week, been hit by an SUV and killed while he was running, there was an outpouring of shock and grief.
“Everyone’s going to miss the Running Man,” Parker said. “He was a landmark. He was a moving fixture of Charlottesville.”
Some talked about the accident, another sign of the tension between the once-rural, fast-changing area’s many cars and the people who like to run or bike or wander.
Most just talked about how much they would miss seeing him on the roads.