My First Podcast

And we danced, on the brink of an unknown future, to an echo from a vanished past. – John Wyndham

Matthew Kleinosky and friend

Happened like this – forgot I don’t do podcasts. Said no to others before, but this time I just plain forgot. Never listen to podcasts, for starters. Still have unread books. More arrive regularly.

I forget what I am talking about in mid-sentence. Not a problem for a poet, but not good for a public speaker.

Anyway, I agreed to appear on Running In The 70s. running70s.com.

“170 conversations preserving the people, events and stories of running’s past.” 170. Finally got around to me, huh? Reminds me of my days as a celebrity elephant jockey. How many actual stars had to say “No” before my name came up? https://www.jackdogwelch.com/?p=89

“The runners. The races. The stories behind a remarkable era of running. Conversations with the runners, coaches, race directors, writers and personalities who shaped the sport in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.”

Guessing I’m a personality. And honored to be asked.

Running in the 70s is an oral-history podcast featuring conversations with the runners, coaches, race directors, writers and other personalities who helped shape the sport during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

The interviews go beyond race results, records and championships. Guests talk about how they trained, who they trained with, their coaches and rivals, memorable races, travel, injuries, jobs, friendships—and what it was actually like to be part of the running world during an extraordinary period of change and growth.

Many of our guests competed at the highest levels of the sport. Others made their mark as coaches, writers, race organizers or members of the running community. The goal isn’t simply to document famous performances. It’s to preserve the personal stories and memories that don’t appear in a results book.

Whatever. I’m just here to help.

Episode Summary

Episode 433: When Running Was Young with Jack D. Welch

In this episode of Running in the ’70s, host Matthew Kleinosky sits down with Jack D. Welch—author of When Running Was Young and So Were We, co-founder of Running Magazine, former senior road racing editor for Track & Field News, and self-proclaimed “world’s slowest professional runner”. From 100-mile training weeks and grassroots newsletters to media trucks and the early days inside Nike corporate headquarters, Jack delivers an irreverent, poetic, and unfiltered inside view of the first American running boom.

  • Origins & The 100-Mile T-Shirt: How a former basketball player in Danbury, Connecticut, took to circling a gym floor for 125 laps on Groundhog’s Day 1972 to earn a promotional T-shirt, discovering road running just months before Frank Shorter’s Munich gold.
  • The Birth and Evolution of Running Magazine: Starting on a mimeograph machine with Dr. E.C. “Ned” Frederick, Welch sought to create the “Esquire of running magazines” by blending sport, philosophy, and poetry. He details the transition to an IBM Selectric typewriter, early ad mockups from Wieden & Kennedy, and the subsequent buyout by Nike.
  • Inside Early Nike & Athletics West: Welch shares behind-the-scenes memories of Nike’s raw, pre-IPO days: debating whether a shoe could ever sell for an astronomical $50 to house Frank Rudy’s air sole, working out of a makeshift broom closet at Athletics West alongside Bill Bowerman, and the cultural clash between freewheeling track purists and buttoned-up corporate management.
  • Running 100-Mile Weeks as a Sub-Elite: Living out of a sleeping bag on a mountaineering store floor, juggling 24 credit hours of college classes, and pounding out double days to run a 2:46 marathon while training alongside legends like Joan Benoit Samuelson, Bill Rodgers, and Mary Decker.
  • The Ghost of Pre & Alternate Histories: Arriving in Eugene just months after Steve Prefontaine’s fatal car crash, Welch reflects on the raw grief that permeated Hayward Field, his friendship with Pre’s parents, and his famous speculative “what-if” about how Pre might have shaped the boom and stood up to both Phil Knight and race promoters.
  • The 1980 Boycott, Doping, and “Where’s Don’s Bronze?”: The profound sense of grief and futility surrounding the 1980 Moscow Olympic boycott, coupled with Welch’s persistent crusade for justice regarding state-sponsored East German doping and Waldemar Cierpinski’s contested marathon medals.
  • The Evolution of the Running Tribe: Contrasting the spartan, mileage-driven camaraderie of the 1970s running subculture with modern internet-driven running culture, while exploring the lifelong psychological identity of being a runner long after the legs give way to power walking and pool workouts.

“I am the slowest thing you’ve ever seen, but it just somehow found my core… You don’t run 100 miles a week ’cause you’re interested in money and sex. You’re interested in some self-fulfillment.” — Jack D. Welch

“We were all victims… Imagine getting to the Olympics and earning a medal and not getting it… That’s who I write for—the people that look at that and go, ‘Ouch.’” — Jack D. Welch

Watch on YouTube

Late 70s. Boone’s Tavern, Salem Oregon

https://running70s.com/episodes/433-jack-dog-welch

I have now appeared on more podcasts than I have watched.

Running Free

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