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.

Enduring Shame: Marita Koch and the GDR

Photo: Wolfgang Kluge via Wikipedia I am haunted by the photo of East German sprinter Marita Koch smiling in the midst of a group of young fans. The photo was taken in 1986 when Koch was 29 years old and … Continue reading

Posted in PEDs and Drug Cheating, Pro Runners, Records & Statistics | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Looking for Scapegoats

PHOTO: JESSICA TEZAK/CHICAGO TRIBUNE When Rita Jeptoo’s “A” sample tested positive for synthetic EPO at the end of October, the shock wave was felt well beyond the insular world of running fanatics. Even people who knew little about running, and … Continue reading

Posted in Pro Runners | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Drug Cheating Then and Now

I’ve been thinking a lot about drug cheating recently. I don’t mean that I’ve been looking for Xenon to inhale or contemplating shady Internet purchases for myself, I mean that I’ve been thinking about two recent news items, one that … Continue reading

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From the Archives: All-States… Back in the Day

[Tomorrow, November 15th, 2014, the Mass. All-State Cross Country Meet takes place at Franklin Park in Boston. Hard to believe, but it was forty years ago that I finished 9th at that meet, far behind the 1-2 finish of Chicopee’s … Continue reading

Posted in High School Runners, My Back Pages | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Coach Needs to Train, Too

In retrospect, I don’t think I appreciated how good I had it as an assistant coach. Oh sure, it can be a pain in the neck, especially when you know — you just know! — that you could coach the … Continue reading

Posted in Coaching, High School Runners | Leave a comment

Reckoning

On Sunday morning at an hour usually reserved for deep sleep, 22 runners, 3 other coaches, and I boarded a coach bus and headed to Saxton’s River, Vermont for the New England Private School Division III Cross Country Championships. Even … Continue reading

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The Long and Short of It

File this under: Less Than Meets the Eye. According to an article in the Wellesley Townsman (“Change of course for Marathon in Hopkinton“), road construction on East Main Street in Hopkinton is likely to shorten the 2015 Boston Marathon course … Continue reading

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Great Meadows: An Appreciation

“Just twenty miles west of Boston lies an oasis for wildlife – Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Roughly 85 percent of the refuge’s more than 3,800 acres is comprised of valuable freshwater wetlands stretching along 12 miles of the Concord … Continue reading

Posted in Weather and Seasons | Tagged | 2 Comments

NYC Marathon: Fatal Acceleration

Invigorated by an extra hour of sleep Sunday morning and a brisk run on the Battle Road trail, I returned home and immediately turned on the TV to watch the broadcast of the New York City Marathon. Having blithely ignored … Continue reading

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Miscellany – Oct 31, 2014

All I want to do today is take care of a few loose ends and respond to some recent reader comments. Think of it as a trip to the mental hazardous waste drop-off day.

Posted in Books and Movies, Marathon, Records & Statistics | 1 Comment