On September 25, 1983, Paul Cummings set the World Record in the Half Marathon at the Dayton River Corridor Classic with a time of 1:01:32.

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In 1981, Cummings shifted his focus from track to road racing. One of his first marathons was the St. George Marathon, which he won in 2:15.16, a course record that stands to this day.

On June 5, 1982, Cummings ran his PR in the 5,000 meters at the Prefontaine Classic track meet in Eugene, Oregon, running against some of the best American middle distance runners of the time, including Matt Centrowitz, Alberto Salazar and Doug Padilla. He ran towards the front for most of the race and ran 13:19.62, a Personal Record by 9 seconds, and just short of the American Record set by Matt Centrowitz in the same race.

 

Paul Cummings was very busy and successful running road races in 1983. He set an American Record in the 15K by almost 28 seconds at the Cascade Run Off in Portland, Oregon on June 26, 1983. 

Paul's best marathon time came in winning the 1986 Houston Marathon in 2:11:31 His best finish at the Boston Marathon was 8th place overall in 1986. In the 1983 Stockholm Marathon, Cummings built up a 1-minute 12 second lead but suffered from cramps during the last 3 miles and narrowly lost to Hugh Jones of Great Britain, coming in 3rd place overall.

 

Cummings is the only runner to finish second in San Francisco's Bay to Breakers 12K road race (Guinness World Record largest road race) three years in a row (1984, 1985, and 1986).

On March 15, 1987, Cummings broke the American Record in the 20K, at New Bedford, Massachusetts, in a time of 59.13.

 

Cummings continued running into his 40's. He won the US Master's National Championship for the Marathon in 1993 at the Twin Cities Marathon.  He was also awarded the USA Track and Field (USATF) Master's Age Division (Age 40+) Runner of the Year in 1993.

 

Cummings won the 1994 Walt Disney World Marathon Master's division in 2:27:50

 

Cummings enjoyed fishing, especially with his best friend Jay Woods. While fishing together on September 17, 2001, their canoe capsized under high winds at Strawberry Reservoir, Utah. He drowned in the accident. Paul was married for 27 years to Debra Gaye Anhder. They were the parents of four children; Heidi, Scott, Holly and Kelly. He is interred at the Lehi City Cemetery, Lehi, Utah.