By Jim Forsyth
SAN ANTONIO, Jan 3 (Reuters) - R. Laurence Macon didn't winSaturday's New Year's Double Marathon in the Dallas suburb ofAllen. He didn't even come in second.
But the prominent San Antonio trial lawyer hopes that he wonsomething else: a new world record. The race was the 113rdcertified marathon that Macon completed in 2011, he said. And hedid it on his 67th birthday.
"It's a great birthday gift," Macon told Reuters aftercompleting the course.
The current record for the most marathons completed in oneyear by a male runner is 106, according to the Guinness WorldRecords website. South Korea's IM Chae Ho set that record in2009 and Macon matched it in 2010, the site says.
"If Larry did complete the 113 marathons and sends inrequired documentation for our records management team toreview, he will have broken the current record," Sara Wilcox, aGuinness public relations and marketing assistant, told Reutersin an e-mail on Tuesday.
Macon, a partner with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauerand Feld who has collected hundreds of millions of dollars indamages in lawsuits, said he sometimes does business whilerunning marathons.
Once, he said, he conducted a conference call regarding amultimillion-dollar civil case while running in the BostonMarathon.
"The opposing counsel doesn't seem to be bothered by myheavy breathing," he told Reuters.
Macon, who said he is in "lousy" physical shape for 67, saidhe just "goes out there and puts one foot in front of the other"and doesn't attempt speed records. In fact, he said his fastestmarathon time is four hours, 45 minutes - twice the usualwinning time.
It is not unusual for him to run seven marathons in a week.He said that in February, for example, he ran a marathon inSouth Carolina, ran another the following day in Maryland, and athird the day after that in California. Each time after crossingthe finish line, he drove to the airport, he said.
"I generally change clothes in the car," he said.
Macon, who didn't start running until age 49, estimates hehas run 2,938 miles (4,728 kilometres) in marathons this year,gone through 12 pairs of shoes and logged 200,000 miles (320,000km) in the air.
"I have left specific instructions that if I die on thecourse, my friends are supposed to drag my body down the rest ofthe course and across the finish line," he said. "And then lieabout the results." (Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Cynthia Johnston)