Archive For The “Running Free” Category
Imagine if I was organized. Stuff would be where it’s supposed to be. Might’ve remembered I wrote this. Imagine if this piece was in When Running Was Young And So Were We. Might’ve sold a couple more copies. Probably not. Once I stopped crying, I felt lucky to have found this interview with Jim Spivey. Good…
Originally from Track & Field News, March 1986. Life is sometimes nothing more – perhaps nothing less – than a jigsaw puzzle. You just put the pieces together without much of a guarantee about the result. Consider these pieces.The City of Brotherly Love. A major league event. A collection of world-class competitors seeking a big…
What follows appears in When Running Was Young And So Were We, my critically acclaimed, award-winning collection. Originally appeared in Track & Field News, October 1982. A top masters runner once asked me a question about Joan Benoit. It was a question borne of frustration and admiration, a query full of wonderment and awe.“How does she…
From Track & Field News, February 1984 – JDW When my editors asked me to write a “State of the Union” message about road racing, it seemed after some consideration an enviable opportunity to resign as a Senior Editor. I have been reporting on this sport in these pages for four-and-a-half years. This has not…
I have actually known Dave Kennedy and Dan Wieden since the 1970’s when they worked for somebody else. We made a deal for the back cover cheap, if they paid enough for Running magazine to go four-color. Loved them ever since. Wrote a cover story for This Week, March 13, 1991. I got a call. …
Cover of the Sports section. THE COMMUNITY PRESS – Salem City/West Marion Co./ Polk Co./Woodburn. Byline by Max Gano. August 14, 1977. – JDW Jack Welch, once a 230-pound lineman on his high school football team, is now the 160-pound publisher of “Running” magazine. Welch thanks a brief diet of cigarettes and coffee during college…
Success is not about how fast you get there, but that you get there. – Danny Garcia Truth. My first appearance in Sports Illustrated, I was in the February 13, 1984 edition. Newsstand price $1.95. Big white headline on the front cover: HERE COMES THE SUN. Sub-title: Paula Porizkova Is In The Pink In Aruba….
From Track & Field News March 1991. AN AMERICAN SURPRISE Results from the fourth race in the World Cross Challenge series, held in Limerick, Ireland, came as a surprise. There, in second, right between two Kenyans, was the name “Mark Coogan.” American Mark Coogan ahead of Irishman John Treacy and Briton John Nuttall? Taking it…
I have a letter from the legendary running editor Joe Henderson, dated July 16, 1976. Starts out like this, “Dear Jack: Good work. Whatever approach you took in writing the article, it seemed to be the right one.” Meant something back then coming from him. Meant a lot. From Runner’s World, September 1976. George Sheehan…
In 1970, 1000 men – and no more than 10 unofficially-entered women – ran the Boston Marathon. Entry restrictions were imposed for the first time. A runner had to have fulfilled one of three obligations to participate: previously run a marathon under four (4:00) hours, competed in at least two ten-mile (10M) races, or have the approval of his local AAU official. It was the largest, most elite marathon in the world.