Former Runner’s World editor Amby Burfoot will be a competitor in the Jack 15 road race this Saturday. He is also in the area for the 2018 South Dakota Festival of Books as a guest speaker for three sessions.
Burfoot has authored five books – Runner’s World Complete Book of Running; The Principles of Running: Practical Lessons from My First 100,000 Miles(1999); The Runner’s Guide to the Meaning of Life: What 35 Years of Running Has Taught Me About Winning, Losing, Happiness, Humility, and the Human Heart (2000); Runner’s World Complete Book of Beginning Running(2005); First Ladies of Running: 22 Inspiring Profiles of the Rebels, Rulebreakers, and Visionaries Who Changed the Sport Forever (2016) and Run Forever: Your Complete Guide to Healthy Lifetime Running (2018).
He has seen an evolution of themes of his books. “My earlier books were more about being successful in terms of improving your times,” said Burfoot.
“Now, like many other lifetime runners, I’m more interested in keeping people motivated, participating, happy and healthy. No runner ever stops wanting to get faster. But there are more important things, like keeping on no matter how much your pace slows.”
Burfoot, age 72, was named as East Coast editor of Runner’s World in 1978. In 1985 Runner’s World ownership was purchased by Rodale Press and Burfoot was named the executive director. He held that position for two decades and retired from Runner’s World in 2012.
He resides in Mystic, Conn. “I have two amazing, grown children (Dan and Laura) who are following their own unique paths, and a wonderful wife (Cristina) who adds joy and laughter to all my days,” he said.
Long history with
Boston Marathon
Burfoot won the 1968 Fukuoka Marathon in Japan with a time of 2:14:28, just one second off the American record at the time. He has a long history of competing at the prestigious Boston Marathon. He won the 1968 Boston Marathon with a time of 2:22:17. He competed in the 2108 Boston Marathon in April, marking the 50th anniversary of his 1968 victory.
“Fifty years is a long time,” he said. “When you win Boston, you don’t immediately think, ‘I hope I can come back and still finish in 50 years.’ But as the decades roll past, that becomes a very big goal. The weather this April was the worst ever, but I surrounded myself with a half-dozen good running buddies, and we took care of each other out there in the cold and rain.”
He ran his first Boston Marathon in 1965. In April 2013, Burfoot ran the Boston Marathon to celebrate the 45th anniversary of his win in 1968. “I was one of the approximately 5,000 third-wave runners who got stopped less than a mile from the finish,” he said. “My initial disappointment turned to fear when I heard about the bomb explosionsbecause I had family members waiting at the finish. Then to relief when I found out they were unharmed. Then to shock/horror/grief when I learned that many others were not so lucky.”
He has also run the amazing 2014 “Comeback Boston Marathon”and has run the race each year since.
“I have also run a Thanksgiving Day 5 mile in Manchester, Conn., 55 years in a row. I think that’s my greatest achievement in running–to keep coming back year after year.”
Burfoot was Connecticut high school 2-mile champion in 1964and a two-time All-American in cross-country at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., graduating in 1968. While there, he roomed in successive years with Jeff Galloway and Bill Rodgers, both of whom went on to become major influences in the running boom of the last 30 years.
Acquainted with
Jack 15 legends
Burfoot first became aware of the Jack 15 road race from Jennifer Widman, director of the South Dakota Center for the Book at South Dakota Humanities Council and the director of the 2018 South Dakota Festival of Books.
“As soon as Jennifer approached me about the book fair, she said I might also want to speak at and run the Jack 15,” said Burfoot. “I did a little research at that point. I was surprised I had never heard of a 50+ year race of such a unique distance–15.2 miles.”
At the end of July, Burfoot attended the 50th anniversary event of the 1968 Alamosa Olympic Marathon Trials in Alamosa, Colo. “There I learned that both Buddy Edelen and Ron Daws had run the Jack 15,” he said. “I enjoy running races that have a history and have been run by great athletes, such as Buddy Edelen, Ron Daws and Dick Beardsley.”
In 1963, Edelen, a graduate of Sioux Falls Washington High School, became the first man to run a marathon faster than 2 hours and 15 minutes when he set a world record of 2:14:28. Edelen was the first American to hold the world record since 1925. Edelen won the 1964 U.S. Olympic marathon trials by nearly twenty minutes and represented the U.S. in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He finished 6th in the Olympic marathon with a time of 2:18:12. The Jack 15 road race that Edelen won in 1964 with a time of 1:25:46 was held on June 6th, between the Olympic Trials on May 24 and the Olympic marathon on October 21. Edelen died on February 19, 1997.
Daws finished second in the 1964 Jack 15 with a time of 1:31:59. Daws won the Jack 15 in 1965 (1:19:21), in 1966 (1:20:14) when he defeated Edelen (1:24:09) in a distance running rematch, in 1967 (1:23:48), in 1969 (1:19:15) and in 1972 (1:22:37). He finished second in 1973 with a time of 1:23:17, behind Steve Hoag of Anoka, Minnesota, who won with a time of 1:22:36.
Daws died of a heart attack in 1992. Edelen and Daws were college teammates at the University of Minnesota.
Beardsley is the Jack 15 record holder with a time of 1:14:54 set in 1980. Beardsley is best known for his close finish with Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon in the “Duel in the Sun.”
Beardsley placed second (2:08:53) on the heels of Salazar, both breaking the Boston Marathon course record and the American record. His finish time of 2:09:37 at the 1981 Grandma’s Marathon stood as a course record for 33 years until it was broken in 2014. Beardsley competed for the SDSU Jackrabbits in cross country in 1978.
Burfoot said he is acquainted with Edelen, Daws, Beardsley and SDSU track and cross country coach Rod DeHaven.
“I knew or know all of them,” said Burfoot. “I knew Edelen the least and Daws very well back in the 1960s. I also know Dick very well, and have been to his race in Minnesota. I remember Rod from the 2000 Marathon Trials and other races that he ran and I covered for Runner’s World.”
DeHaven represented the United States in the 2000 Olympic Marathon in Sydney, Australia. SDSU is his alma mater, where he set seven school records in the middle distance events in track and field, with four still standing. He was a four time All-American in cross country, with all top 10 finishes at the NCAA Division II national meet. He was a 16 time All-American in track and field and cross country. Before returning to SDSU in 2004 as head cross country coach and director of track and field, DeHaven spent time as a professional runner. He earned a spot on the 1991 U.S. team that competed at the World Cross Country Championships.
Remains an influence
in running world
Burfoot said that being the editor of Runner’s World was “absolutely the dream job for me. I feel so unbelievably lucky that I worked for so long at Runner’s World, particularly the two decades that George Hirsch and I enjoyed as the publisher-editor team,” he said. “We had a simple rule: We would put out the best magazine we could, and have as much fun as we could doing it. We figured if we succeeded at those two, the money would somehow follow.
“Also, I was lucky to retire at the time when magazine economics were changing so drastically, due to the loss of advertising to the big guys on the web (Google, Facebook, etc).”
Burfoot cherishes the opportunity to provide expert advice to the running community and point out major aspects to influence others.“I think running is one of the best, most time-efficient fitness activities out there, and in a world growing more obese by the moment, we need all the fitness we can get,” he said.
“Runners need to learn not to judge themselves against others. There’s always someone faster, and believe me the Amby of 50 years ago was much faster than the Amby of today. But I’m still moving, and that’s what’s most important. Older runners should learn to adopt the run-walk method as an appropriate way to keep running and stay fit. It’s also the best way to get started for beginning runners.”
The women’s running boom
One of Burfoot’s presentations at the Festival of Books is “First Ladies of Running,”chroniclingthe 50th anniversary of Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb’s historic first-woman-to-run-Boston achievement in 1966.
“The women’s running boom is the best thing that has ever happened to running, by far,” he said. “We male runners always accepted women runners into races, but the officials were slow to come around, and, of course, culture-society is the slowest of all. Today women runners seem to outnumber men, and they are making major contributions to every aspect of running–from record setting to race direction to new product development, etc.”
Burfoot has witnessed both athletically and journalistically the evolution of United States distance running for over 50 years.
“The U.S. is just one country among more than 200 around the world that have track teams and distance runners, so it’s not surprising that we have rarely been at the forefront, ” he said. “In the 1970s, Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers reigned for a time, but then East Africans discovered the marathon. You have to remember that running is a no-money, no-skill sport.
“If you are a skinny, impoverished barefoot kid in Ethiopia, that presents no obstacles to your possible future success. Great runners come from everywhere, particularly, it seems, Kenya and Ethiopia–the countries on the Great Rift.”
Invites others to join him
at Jack 15
Burfoot’s zest for distance running still remains paramount to him. He runs about 25 miles a week for fitness and occasional racing thrills. “I figured that I’ve covered about 110,000 miles in my running career,” he said.
He said the question of commitment to the sport after over 50 years for him personally or any other runner is the most important question anyone can ask him or any other runner. “I’ve been lucky in so many ways–lack of major injuries, for example–but I’ve also stuck to my consistent, hard-headed ways,” he said. “I don’t let too many things bother me. I think fitness is hugely important, and running is the best way for me to keep fit. So after 110,000 miles, I’m still enjoying it and challenging myself with various new goals.”
Burfoot has high expectations for his visit to Brookings.
“I expect to have fun meeting new people at all events,” he said. “I’m more comfortable in the running scene than the literary scene, but I’m very impressed by the depth and breadth of the Festival of Books. I particularly look forward to meeting local runners. And if anyone wants to run the Jack 15 with me, they only have to dial down to my 10:30 pace and a 4:1 run-walk ratio. I enjoy company when I’m running.”
Burfoot will be given a tour of the Prairie Striders running library at the Briggs Library on the SDSU campus by club librarian Bob Bartling. The library is considered one of the finest running libraries in the nation. He will be escorted around the community by SDSU runner Emily Berzonsky.
Photo courtesy of Amby Burfoot
Amby Burfoot competes in the 2017 Boston Marathon, 49 years after he won't the 1968 Boston Marathon. Burfoot ran a personal best of 2:17:28 that year at the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan, just one second of the American marathon record at Middletown, Conn., graduating in 1968. While there, he roomed in successive years with Jeff Galloway and Bill Rodgers, both of whom went on to become major influences in the running boom of the last 30 years.
