Category Archives: Books and Movies

Book Review: How Bad Do You Want It?

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Jon Waldron

“Endurance athletes, by definition, endure. They endure long hours of training, the privations of a monastic lifestyle, and all manner of aches and pains. But what endurance athletes must endure above all is not actual effort but perception of effort. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Movies, Pro Runners | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Today We Die a Little

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Jon Waldron

“He was, for two decades in the mid-twentieth century, the most celebrated sportsman on earth. Even now, he remains exceptionally honoured, with his own statue (one of only four) outside the official Olympic museum in Lausanne. Runner’s World named him … Continue reading →

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Confidence Game

Posted on July 20, 2016 by Jon Waldron

It has been a fairly quiet few days up here at the family cottage, overlooking Sawyer’s Cove, halfway up the Maine Coast. I had intended to share this time with Joni, but in the end she couldn’t make the trip, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Movies, Coaching, High School Runners, Running Research | 2 Comments

No Brain, No Train(ing)

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Jon Waldron

  More great news from the world of science, and by “great” I mean news to make runners feel better about themselves. Writing in the New York Times, Gretchen Reynolds summarizes recent research that links vigorous exercise to increased neurogenesis … Continue reading →

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From the Archives: The Bunion Derby

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Jon Waldron

Illustration:  http://archive.itvs.org/footrace [This is an updated version of a post originally published March 4, 2008] On March 4th, 1928, 88 years ago today, 199 men — including some of the most accomplished runners and walkers of the era — set … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Feet in the Clouds

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Jon Waldron

“When you consider the demands that the sport makes on strength, stamina, speed, and nerve, together with the constant risk of catastrophic injury, it’s curious that fell-running has never shown signs of evolving into a multimillion-pound sport with a global … Continue reading →

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Book Review: The Animal Keepers

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Jon Waldron

In the spring of 1985, Donn Behnke was a social studies teacher at Stevens Point Area High School in Wisconsin, and already a very successful Track and Cross Country Coach at the high school level. In nine years of coaching, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books and Movies, Coaching, cross country, High School Runners, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

In Memoriam: Colin Welland

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Jon Waldron

The working title of the script was originally “Runners” — about as boring as you could imagine. In retrospect, the whole project seems beyond improbable. David Puttnam, who would produce the film, happened to be convalescing from a case of the flu … Continue reading →

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Book Review: First You Run, Then You Walk

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Jon Waldron

“I don’t exactly wish to make the claim that running made me a grown up, but I know its arrival in my life coincided to some degree with my reaching that state of being. I started running rather late, right … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Wannabe Distance God

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Jon Waldron

“See, what I called confidence then rings of cockiness now… The cockiness got smacked out of me over the years, but I’m not convinced that being brash and loathing to lose were bad for a runner striving for elite status. … Continue reading →

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