The team at Just Athletics is one of the most creative in our sport. We had began working with them last spring, but due to many things, mostly my travel, we did not stay on task. My apologies. Please note that Just Athletics will have two podcasts a week posted on @runblogrun and partners each week, On Tuesday and Thursday. This week, I am posting them early and will continue to promote them.
Don Kardong, writing for Runner magazine!
Don Kardong, a fine runner while at Stanford, an Olympian (4th in 1976 Marathon), a fine writer and a thoughtful leader in our sport for decades (including the Bloomsday run), the team at Just Athletics spoke with the ‘nutritional agnostic’ recently. We think that you will like it.
Don Kardong pushing Steve Prefontaine, from the Don Kardong / Jack Dog Welch collections
We also encourage you to sign up for them at Twitter @just_athletics! If you’re a real runner or coach, you should have them on your short list.
Oh boy, do we have a good episode for you this week on The Just Athletics podcast.
Our guest, Don Kardong, has his fingerprints all over the American distance running scene for the last 50 years. Don had a remarkable career at Stanford University, where he held school records in the 2 miles, 3 miles, and the 6 mile, graduating in 1971. Some of the big achievements of Don’s running career after Stanford include finishing fourth place in the 1976 Olympics in the marathon, just three seconds from the bronze medal, in a sensational 2:11:16, running 12:57.6 in the three-mile race behind these guys named Prefontaine and Shorter at Hayward Field in 1974, and winning both the 1976 Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta and the 1978 Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii.
Don’s impact goes far beyond his athletic achievements. He has been a prominent journalist in the sport of running since the early 1980s, he served as a contributing editor at Running magazine from 1980 to 1983, and a contributing editor (1983-1985) and senior writer (1985-1987) for The Runner magazine as well. Since 1987, he has been a contributing writer for Runner’s World magazine also. He has also been one of the top road race directors in the country and served in a leadership role as the President of the Road Runners Club of America from 1996-2000. He founded one of the best road races in the country in 1977 when he started the Bloomsday Run in Spokane, WA, and has served as the race director at times and been heavily involved in that amazing event.
This man also has a bridge named after him and an ice cream flavor. Who else can say that?
We can’t thank Don enough, this was an amazing episode, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Thanks Don!
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