Author Archives: Jon Waldron

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About Jon Waldron

Running and Racing have been important parts of my life for as long as I can remember. I ran Track and Cross Country at Amherst HS, back in the day, and am proud to have been training and competing with the Cambridge Sports Union (CSU) for more than thirty years. If my bones hold out, I hope to continue for another thirty. Sixteen years ago, I began coaching, first as an Asst. Coach at Newton North HS in Newton, MA, and for the past ten years, as Head Track and Cross Country Coach at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts. I've been writing about running for almost as long as I've been running, dating back to high school, when I would write meet summaries for the Amherst Record for about $0.33 per column inch. I've been blogging about running since 2005, and began blogging at "the runner eclectic" in 2014. Until recently I also had a day job, working full-time as a Technical Product Manager for Nuance Communications, based in Burlington, MA. But I am now on what might turn out to be a permanent sabbatical. Thank you for reading my blog, and please consider leaving a comment.

Almost Famous

“The marathon trials are the average runner’s version of the Olympic Games.” Jill Geer, spokeswoman for USATF.

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And Then the Rains Came

A deluge of thoughts while sitting in a rain-soaked traffic jam on Route 128 North:

Posted in Weather and Seasons | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The Clocks that Time Us

(Paavo Nurmi checks his stopwatch (1928). Image: Wikimedia commons) It was a fine fall morning, and a pack of us were trotting along at an easy pace along the smooth gravel trails of Battle Road. The chilliness of the early … Continue reading

Posted in Training | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Virtue Trap

In the field of Behavioral Economics, researchers study how psychological, emotional, and social factors influence economic decisions. Perhaps, in the end, it’s not that surprising to learn that our decisions aren’t the pure product of rational economic calculations only, but … Continue reading

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One Hundred Years of Attitude

“I need more practice.” – Don Pellman Perhaps you saw the NY Times article reporting on the record-setting performances of track and field athlete Don Pellman at the San Diego Senior Olympics last week. Pellman, who turned 100 in August, … Continue reading

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Contrafactual

In an alternate universe, I ran in college.

Posted in Coaching, High School Runners | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Sunday Afternoon Lights

  It was my own fault, I admit it. I shouldn’t have trifled with one of the holy commandments handed down by the church of perpetual mileage that Sundays are for races or for long runs, and not for track … Continue reading

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From the Archives: Should You Run When You’re Sick?

[Three weeks into the school year and it seems as though half the students have, or are recovering from, a bad cold. Every campus has its plagues, and ours is no different.  Although I profess no medical knowledge, all the … Continue reading

Posted in Injuries & Health | 1 Comment

What We Remember

Friday was the fourteenth anniversary of that strange and horrifying day. I was going to re-post something I wrote on the sixth anniversary of the day the planes were hijacked and turned into massively destructive weapons, but at the last … Continue reading

Posted in cross country, High School Runners | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Cross Country Paradox

I don’t have a lot of time to write this morning, what with preparing for the afternoon’s practice and worrying about what makes sense for the sixty kids at my school who have shown up for cross country this fall.

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