Finding Billy Barnett: What happened to Born to Run’s Billy the Kid after the famous book

By Henry Howard

When Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run exploded onto the scene in 2009, it didn’t just spark a barefoot running revolution, it introduced the world to an unforgettable cast of characters.

Among them was a young, free-spirited runner from Virginia Beach named Billy Barnett, forever immortalized in the book as “Billy the Kid” and known to friends as “Bonehead.” Now 41, Barnett has traded the volcanic trails of Hawaii for the mountains of Southwest Virginia, where he’s building a quieter life that still revolves around exploration, challenge, and the simple joy of putting one foot in front of the other.

I’d often wondered what happened to the book’s real-life characters whose adventure brought so many ultra runners into the sport. Previously I connected with and interviewed Jenn Shelton (story here) and “Barefoot” Ted McDonald (story here). 

And more recently, in October 2025, unbeknownst to me, Barnett and I ran together at the three-hour race at the Damascus Festival of Miles. Barnett took first place, one mile ahead of me for second overall. We connected later for this exclusive look at what happened to Born to Run’s Billy the Kid.

The accidental ultra runner

Barnett has always exhibited curiousness, a zest for discovering deep meaning and a love of fitness. Those factors all shaped his path toward becoming an ultra runner.

At 18, while lifeguarding at Virginia Beach, he stumbled upon information about a 50-mile race called the Mountain Masochist. “I was wondering if I was even able to complete the distance,” he recalls. With no prior running experience nor a hydration pack — ”I saw there’s going to be aid stations every eight miles, so I didn’t even have anything” — he completed his first ultra, suffering from aid station to aid station.

Already immersed in health and wellness since his parents gifted him a gym membership and the book Body for Life in seventh grade, trail running was a perfect fit for Barnett’s desire for exploration. After studying exercise physiology at Virginia Commonwealth University, he developed a training philosophy centered on keeping his heart rate low. He used the 180-minus-age formula, focusing on long, slow runs.

“It just takes patience to improve your cardiovascular system over time,” Barnett explains. “Keeping your heart rate at 180 minus your age, and then over time you get faster at a lower heart rate. That’s sort of been my philosophy.”

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The ‘Born to Run’ experience

When Barnett joined the 2006 adventure to Mexico’s Copper Canyon that would become the centerpiece of Born to Run, he was just 21 years old. Looking back nearly two decades later, he’s characteristically modest about the experience. “It was just a cool experience to go to a remote place and just kind of explore and run,” he says.

To many trail and ultra runners inspired by the book that adventure would likely rank as an adventure of a lifetime. Not so for Barnett.

When asked where the Copper Canyon experience ranks among all his running exploits, he places it somewhere in the middle. “I still hope to have more, even better, running adventures.”

Barnett’s most memorable running experiences include Chile’s southern Patagonia, the Dolomites in Italy, and even remote areas in the United States like Wyoming’s Wind River Range and Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains. “They’re so rugged and remote, those mountains kind of feel like you’re in Europe, but they’re in the middle of nowhere,” he notes.

Yet he’s proud of what the book has inspired. When people tell him they got into trail and ultra running because of Born to Run, Barnett sees it as validation of a simple truth: “That kind of adventure is accessible to everyone. All you have to do is be willing to get out of your comfort zone and book a trip somewhere.”

He still keeps in touch with members of that legendary group. He connected with author Chris McDougall while both lived in Hawaii. Barnett occasionally talks to Jenn Shelton, Barefoot Ted and Luis Escobar.

The Hawaiian years

After graduating from college, Barnett moved to Bend, Oregon, for a year before his brother lured him to Oahu. Learning about the Big Island’s 13,700-foot volcanic mountains with easy ocean access, Barnett relocated to the town of Volcano at 4,000 feet of elevation.

“I never had that feeling like, you need to be here,” he says of anywhere else. “It’s rugged and raw, a lot of wind, volcanic, lava flowing into the ocean. It’s just a spectacular place.”

He spent 15 years there, going back to school for special education and teaching for 14 years. During this time, he developed an annual tradition of running from sea to summit — 40 miles and 13,700 feet of elevation gain up Mauna Kea, starting in Hilo Bay.

It was on one of these runs that he met his wife, Alyx, through a friend of a friend. The run literally brought them together.

“I worked for 10 years to save up to buy a house exactly where I wanted, with trail access right out the door,” Barnett reflects.

Leaving Hawaii was difficult, but necessary. With two young children — a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl — the parents wanted their kids to know their grandparents. After driving across the country and stopping in Damascus, Va., they decided the area’s similarities to Hawaii’s culture (art, music, food and a slower pace) made it the right place to raise a family.

Damascus and a new chapter

Now teaching special education in Damascus, Barnett has been in Virginia for two years. The transition hasn’t been entirely smooth. “Part of the reason to move to Hawaii was just not really wanting to participate in mainstream society,” he admits. “That is sort of a kind of like a shock to be back.”

But if there’s anywhere in the mainland United States that fits Barnett’s ethos, it’s Damascus. The small town with easy access to the Virginia Creeper Trail and Appalachian Mountains has embraced him.

Since Born to Run, Barnett would often sign up for races under an alias at the last minute, win the event and then casually hang out.

In October 2025, Barnett ran the three-hour race at the Damascus Festival of Miles, signing up just a couple weeks beforehand. Interestingly, he used his real name — a departure from his occasional practice of registering under aliases.

“I just started doing that as just like a way to say, hey, don’t take everything, don’t take it too serious,” he explains.

His reason for running the Damascus race was community-focused.

The town had been “ravaged by the hurricane” the previous year, with the main business area completely underwater and 16 miles of the Virginia Creeper Trail washed out. The race, organized by friend and race director Melissa Londry, was around a 1-mile loop at a park with various bands performing.

It was “a cool way to bring people together, especially with the whole music aspect,” he says.

The recovery has progressed faster than expected, with a contract awarded to rebuild the Creeper Trail by September 2026.

Running, nutrition and a minimalist approach

Barnett’s approach to running and nutrition has evolved significantly since his early days. He’s cut out sugar and simple carbohydrates over the last 10 years, feeling better and recovering faster. His race-day nutrition philosophy remains stubbornly minimalist, though he acknowledges it’s not always performance-optimal.

“I like to see what I can do getting by with little,” he says. “I’ve gone out for a 40-mile run before with nothing but just one water bottle, just to experiment.” While he’ll use Maurten gels when performance matters, during training he carries nothing, even on runs over 20 miles. It’s a philosophy born from watching endurance athletes who appear healthy but suffer from cardiovascular disease and strokes. “I think a lot of it is because of the overeating during training,” he observes.

This approach extends beyond running. Barnett has recently taken up weekly pottery classes and, inspired by Argentine chef Francis Mallmann, has developed a passion for cooking over open fire. He even welded his own plancha with his father. “I’ve been inspired from watching his videos and cookbooks — his way of life is pretty fascinating,” Barnett says of Mallmann.

Beyond the Run: A philosophy for living

What emerges from talking with Barnett is someone who views running not as an end in itself, but as one expression of a larger philosophy of challenging oneself and staying engaged with life. “Running has that sort of mentality that translates into all aspects of life,” he explains. “Doing things that are hard, outside of the comfort zone — it applies to everything.”

He cites JB Nash’s book Philosophy of Recreation and Leisure, which argues that how a society spends its leisure time determines its success. The warning resonates deeply with Barnett’s observations as a special education teacher.

“I see in schools where kids aren’t having hobbies and people aren’t having hobbies,” he notes with concern. “There’s a high rate of depression among people.”

The solution, he believes, is active engagement: having hobbies, trying new things and challenging yourself. “That’s our purpose, to be constantly challenging ourselves, learning to do things. That’s the meaning of life.”

It’s a philosophy that leads him to pottery classes, open-fire cooking, and continuing to explore new trails, whether in the Dolomites or the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail near his new home.

"Both photography and pottery require an unhurried devotion. A daring surrender to the slow, intoxicating process. No frantic clicks, no instant completion; only the thrilling pulse of anticipation, the exquisite ache of becoming. Both processes leave you with a spirit that burns with a fierce untamed joy of creation." — from a recent entry on his blog

His 4-year-old son ran 4 or 5 miles at the Damascus race, clearly a point of pride for Barnett. His son is part of a homeschool cross-country group that starts at age 3, practicing twice a week. It’s another example of Barnett living and passing on his values to the next generation: getting kids active, engaged and outside rather than sitting in front of screens.

Still running, still exploring

These days, Barnett maintains his fitness at a level where he can jump into races on short notice. The Mountain Mist 50K in Huntsville, Ala., is on his radar. So is exploring the 80-mile Virginia Highlands Horse Trail. But the specific races matter less than the approach: staying ready for adventure, whatever form it takes.

“I always maintain decent fitness,” he says. “If something kind of pops up that I want to jump in, I can do it.”

At 41, with over two decades of running behind him and many more ahead, Billy Barnett has become exactly what he set out to be at 18: someone who explores the world through running, who challenges himself constantly and who refuses to take it all too seriously.

The kid from Virginia Beach who showed up at his first 50-miler without a hydration pack has grown into a thoughtful father, teacher and philosopher of the trails — and still believes that the real adventure is in the exploration itself.

For those inspired by Born to Run wondering what happened to Billy the Kid: he’s still out there, running remote trails, cooking over open fires, taking pottery classes, and teaching his kids that life is meant to be lived with curiosity, courage and adventure. The legend continues, just quieter now, in the mountains of Virginia.

Speed drill

Name: Billy Barnett

Hometown: Virginia Beach, Va.

Number of years running: 23

How many miles a week do you typically run: 30 to 40

Point of pride: Maintaining health and prioritizing health over performance.

Favorite race distance: 50 miles

Favorite pre-race or training food/drink: Ground lamb and plantains 

Favorite piece of gear: Camera

Who inspires you: Francis Mallmann

Favorite or inspirational song to run to: Everything from the Bach cello suites to punk rock.

Favorite or inspirational mantra/phrase: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Where can other runners connect or follow you: https://billybarnett.blogspot.com/