William Thomas

William Thomas will be the first to tell you he was never athletic. A retired US Air Force officer, his attitude toward the annual physical fitness test was, "if the minimum wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum."

All that changed at age 42 after a deployment to Afghanistan, when a desire to improve his fitness led him to ask a friend for advice on running. The suggestion? "If you want to make sure you don't quit, sign up for a marathon next year, and tell everyone you're going to do it." One marathon became two, and then three, and soon he set a new goal: to complete The Marathon Grand Slam, consisting of running a marathon on all 7 continents and at the North Pole. His adventures took him around the world over a few years, ultimately leading him to the North Pole in April 2016.

Following his retirement from the Air Force, he taught as a professor at Georgetown University, before moving to Singapore to work as a consultant and leadership coach. He travels regularly throughout Asia and continues to run 3-4 marathons per year around the world. In 2019 he became a "6-Star Finisher" by completing all the Abbott World Marathon Majors, and you can follow him on Facebook at http://www.fb.com/DrWilliamThomas