I grew up the son of a youth sports director, so I played and enjoyed all the big American sports. When I was in 10th grade, I was basically the worst player on the basketball team. One day our coach was angry at us, so he made us go run the 3-mile cross-country course, and I finished ahead of all my teammates.
Soon I started thinking it might be fun to switch to a sport where I might have a better chance to succeed. I did this the next fall, and performed quite well from the beginning. This was encouraging, so I kept training harder and getting better. My miles/week went from 35 in high school, to 70-80-100-110 in college.
My last year in college, 1968, was the year I won the Boston Marathon. I was only 21 at the time. The next December, now 22, I ran my personal best, 2:14:29 at Fukuoka.
I didn't train to be a journalist, but Runner's World was getting very successful and very much stereotyped as a "West Coast" magazine in the late 1970s, so they hired me to add some seriousness and an East Coast presence. It was a dream job, and I couldn't believe my good fortune.
More than 30 years later, I still feel the same. I've always believed there's only one key to writing well about running: be authentic, tell the truth.
My background as a serious runner has, I hope, helped me to succeed at this. I suppose I should add another key writer quality: Listen well, and practice sincere empathy. When your subject sees how interested you are in his/her life, you'll get a fuller, more detailed explanation of that life.
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