Have You Heard?

Moses Tum may have won the Bank of America River Run 10K in 32:02, but it was Wichita City Manager Bob Layton’s time that was the talk of certain circles Saturday.

The 53-year-old ran the race in 38:39 and finished 29th overall.

He may have even solved a city issue or two while running. That’s often how it happens for the daily runner, though that’s not what regularly gets him out of bed at 4:30 a.m. to run.

“It’ll hit you,” Layton says of how ideas will come to him. “It’s kind of surprising how that happens. That and shaving. For some reason (men) come up with some of our best ideas then.”

Runner Jim Ryun inspired Layton to take up track and cross country in high school. The mile, which he ran in 4:35, was his race.

“I couldn’t run quite like Jim,” Layton says.

These days, an easy run for Layton is about four miles. On the weekends, his more challenging runs are 10 to 20 miles. There have been some years that Layton ran all 365 days.

“It’s either that or drink a lot,” he says.

Yes, but has he given drinking a fair chance?

“You know, I really have no comment,” Layton says.

So should Wichitans worry that their city manager is functioning on about five hours of sleep every night with his busy new job and challenging running schedule?

“If they have any worry at all,” Layton says, they should try to keep meetings with him as interesting as possible.

“If it’s boring,” he says, “you may lose me.”