The Business of Running. That was the headline. Studly black-and-white photo with the caption: “Jack Welch takes a practiced jaunt.”
Figure late summer, 1978. Statesman-Journal (Salem, OR). There was an intro in bold italics. “Jack Welch quit law school to take up running – as a business as well as pleasure. He publishes a magazine on running and will soon open a store for runners in Salem.”
Written by Connie Whitaker. – JDW
Jack Welch never intended to be an authority on running.
Heck, he never used to even like the sport that much. Running was something he did to keep in shape for basketball. That was his real love. He revelled in the sport, played it every day, never tired of it.
Six years ago he would have laughed if someone had suggested he would someday quit law school because of running. He would have thought they were nuts.
His reaction would’ve been even more hysteric if someone had predicted he would ever subject himself to the punishment of running a marathon. Even now, after running in eight (8), he flippantly says of marathoners, “You would think if they’re so smart, they would know better than to run 26 miles.”
And to work for free, publishing a struggling magazine on running… well, that would have been too much.
But all of that was 20,000 miles – and a change in philosophy – ago. Running has since changed his life.
“I am by no means an exceptional runner,” 31-year-old Welch says. “I’ve never won a race, though I’ve placed second a couple of times… If I’m exceptional at all, it’s in my love for running/jogging. For me, running is not a sport, it’s a way of life.”
He’s exceptional, too, in that he publishes what many runners praise as the best running magazine in the country. Running Magazine is a quarterly publication that Welch calls “the magazine for thinking runners.” He takes pride in the fact it doesn’t run race results or race schedules or profile famous runners. There are few advertisements.
What it does offer are features about altitude training, body fat and performance, marathoning, evaluation of shoes, prevention of injuries, and other articles to help the runner.
Its reception has been terrific. Running Magazine has subscribers throughout Europe and New Zealand as well as the United States. And they’re vocal supporters, generous in their fan mail.
Unfortunately, though circulation has grown from 300 to 3,000 since Welch took over operation, the numbers aren’t sufficient to make the magazine a profit-making operation. It’s operating in the black, largely because Welch draws no salary. Advertising revenue is near non-existent – one month it totalled $6. Part of the reason is that Welch is picky about the type of ads he’ll accept. Another is that the circulation is too small to encourage many of the major accounts to spend their money with him.
“It’s not enough today to have a good product, even a superlative product,” Welch says. “You must promote, promote, and promote some more. Lesser magazines with larger financial capability are drowning me in promotion. I can’t advertise without money and I can’t get the money because I’m too small or too poor or both. And of course, that forces me to remain that way. There’s no affirmative action programs for running magazines.”
Which means Running Magazine could use a healthy shot of financial backing. Welch is looking for some, but hasn’t had much luck yet. Last year he met with some Park Avenue attorneys concerning a possible merger but they chose another situation. This spring some Southeastern officials funded a Harvard market research of the area – with good results – and started negotiating with Welch. But that, too, fell through.
“Alas, the investor seems more interested in bonds than venture capital,” Welch laments.
He’s still looking, though, and thinks with sufficient financial backing, he can turn Running Magazine into a profitable, as well as well-written, publication.
Some of the top runner/authors in the country, including James Fixx, have written for the magazine. Fixx is author of the No. 1 bestseller “The Complete Book of Running.”
Running Magazine started out as a college thesis. A friend of Welch was studying for his PhD in physiology, and in the course of his research, came up with tons of good information on running. So, the two put some of it together, mimeographed it and a magazine was born. After five issues, Welch quit law school and took over publication.
It was just the tip of the iceberg as far as his involvement in running. During his three years in Salem, Welch has helped promote Sunday “fun-runs” at Minto-Brown Island Park and become active in the Salem Track Club. He’s an advisor on running to the Governor’s office and the Oregon Lung Association. He’s chairman of the Oregon Jogging Committee. And he’s a member of the state superintendent’s health education advisory committee.
And this fall, he plans to open “The Oregon Runner,” a running store. It’ll be located in the Salem Plaza and will feature shoes, clothing and literature for runners. Welch and one of his four partners will work in the store, offering their expertise to beginning and experienced runners.
Welch turned to serious running after repeatedly twisting his ankle playing basketball. It got so he couldn’t move well laterally but he could go straight ahead.
“One day I saw this old man out running and I thought I would catch him,” Welch recalls. “Five miles later he stopped and I still hadn’t caught him.”
After that, Welch started running regularly, gradually increasing his mileage until he was running more than 100 miles a week. bad knees have forced him to cut back now to 60-70 miles a week.
His relationship with running is one of both love and hate.
“It’s not necessarily fun,” he says. “I think if I were to run three or four miles a day it might be fun. But it’s an addiction. You ask a lot of people why they run and they have no idea.
“Why do I run? I guess because that’s what I am.
“You don’t have a choice. It’s not an act of will. It would be much more difficult for me not to run today than to run.”