Running--State of the Sport

Ed Eyestone has been close to the center of USA distance running for nearly 4 decades, and never more than now. He's coach to American Olympic marathoners Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, and also the guiding hand behind undergraduate steeplechaser James Corrigan's improbable--no, impossible--road to Paris.

Eyestone himself ran in two Olympic Marathons with a best finish of 13th in the Barcelona 1992 Games. In 2016, he coach...

Emma Coburn is only 33 years old, but sports a running resume that’s hard to match. She has won 10 National Championships in the 3000-meter steeplechase. It almost seems that USATF should rename the event the “Emma Coburn Steeplechase.”

Coburn has also won an Olympic bronze medal, and World Championships gold. Her husband, Joe Bosshard, is now her coach, and also coach to a small but select elite group training in Boulder under the...

Matt Taylor is the founder, CEO, and visionary behind Tracksmith, the Boston-based running apparel and footwear company. A middle-distance runner at Yale, Taylor explored several small ventures after college, and then joined Puma as a marketing executive.

There, from practically his first day, he was assigned to work with a young Jamaican sprinter named Usain Bolt. That proved to be both an adventure and an up-close running/busines...

Jacqueline (Jaqi) Hansen is truly one of the most important pioneers of distance running and the marathon in the U.S. and around the world. Jaqi is probably best known as the Boston Marathon winner in 1973 (only 4 months after her first marathon.) But she also twice set the women's world record in the marathon, becoming the first woman runner under 2:45, and then under 2:40.

In addition, she and several colleagues on the Intern...

At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, little-known American runner Billy Mills achieved what many believe to have been the greatest upset in Olympic running history. He defeated world-record-holder Ron Clarke and a global field in the 10,000-meter final.

To this day, Mills is the only American to have won Olympic Gold at the classic 25-lap distance. You can watch his famous last-lap sprint here on ⁠YouTube.⁠

It's less well known...

In this new “Running: State of the Sport” podcast, George and Amby chat with legendary U.S. runner, Don Kardong. Don finished 4th in the controversial 1976 Olympic Marathon--we talk a lot about that. 

He also founded and race-directed the huge Lilac Bloomsday 12K in Spokane, Washington, and has finished the race himself 48 years in a row. A leader in the transition from “shamateurism” to open, professional road-racing, Don served a...

This week, George and Amby discuss the recent Boston and London Marathons--always highlights of the spring running season, and this year was no exception.

Both George and Amby were in Boston for the marathon, with Amby running and finishing for the 28th time. They didn't jump over the pond to London for that big event (with 53,000 runners), but followed it closely on streaming services and various Internet coverage.

Amby descri...

In this podcast, George and Amby speak with Meb Keflezighi about his astounding win in the 2014 Boston Marathon, and how it changed his life. Meb's story--from Eritrea to Italy to the U.S.--is quite well known now, but always mesmerizing to hear in his own voice and words. 

Meb is running Boston again in 2014, both to mark the 10th anniversary since 2014, and also to raise funds for his Meb Foundation, which promotes youth heal...

This week, George Hirsch and Amby Burfoot talk with Jenny Simpson, miler turned marathoner--well, almost, as Simpson hasn't finished a marathon yet. But she'll be toeing the start line in Hopkinton on April 15, and she sounds absolutely determined to make it to the Copley-Square finish line. 

Simpson explains in this conversation that she never intended for the Olympic Marathon Trials in February to be her first marathon st...

In this podcast, George Hirsch and Amby Burfoot talk with Dave McGillivray, who has run the last 51 Boston Marathons in a row, most of them while also serving as Boston's race course director. That meant he couldn't start his run from Hopkinton until everyone else had finished theirs at Copley Square.

On April 15, he will be aiming for his 52nd consecutive finish.

Sometimes that seems like the least of McGillivray's en...

In this podcast, George Hirsch and Amby Burfoot talk with Clayton Young, who recently finished second in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, Florida. Since Young had run a sensational 2:08:00 in last fall's Chicago Marathon, he is now fully qualified for this summer's Olympic Marathon in Paris.

In the Marathon Trials, Young gained a lot of attention for the pair of shades he elected to wear all weekend, and also f...

In this podcast, Amby and George talk with Sara Hall, who recently finished fifth in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Sara, who's married to former marathon star Ryan Hall, has perhaps the longest running resume of any U.S. distance star.

She won the first of 4 California state championships in 1997, and the Footlocker XC Champs her senior year in high school. Since then she has starred at Stanford, on the track, and in the m...

In this podcast, Amby and George talk with Jared Ward, who explains the reasons behind the success of so many great marathon runners from Brigham Young University. Ward is a 2:09:25 marathon runner himself, and sixth place finisher in the 2016 Rio Olympic Marathon. Ward was at the finish line of the recent U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to congratulate his friends and training partners, Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, on their 1-2 fi...

Frank Shorter (1972) and Joan Benoit Samuelson (1984) are the only two Americans to have won BOTH a U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials and the subsequent Olympic Marathon. Here, just a week before the 2024 Marathon Trials, they talk with George and Amby about their experiences, especially in the pivotal Trials race. 

Samuelson recalls waking up from surgery 17 days pre-Trials, looking at the bandages covering her right leg from toe to hi...

In this episode, George and Amby talk with prolific fast marathon runner CJ Albertson--a fan favorite and dark-horse contender to make the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team at the Feb. 3 Trials in Orlando.

Prior to the 2020 U.S. Marathon Trials in Atlanta, Albertson was a little known road racer competing without a shoe contract. That changed after he finished 7th in 2:11:49.

He signed a contract with Brooks, and has been racking up con...

In this episode of "Running: State of the Sport," George and Amby chat with Chris Chavez, founder and prime mover-shaker behind Citius Magazine. In just a few years, Citius has become a top media player in coverage of elite track/field and road racing. 

While carrying old media nomenclature, ie, "Magazine," Citius is a thoroughly modern digital operation. It includes podcasts, blogs, newsletters, and on-site c...

In this episode of "Running: State of the Sport," George and Amby chat with Kevin Hanson, one-half of the dynamic Hanson brothers behind the Hansons Brooks Running Team. 

The Hansons team will have a strong group of entrants in the U.S Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3, including top male runner Zach Panning. Panning, while not as well known as some of his competitors, is considered a definite threat to finish on the ...

In this episode of "Running: State of the Sport," George and Amby chat with Conner Mantz, a favorite in the Feb. 3 Olympic Marathon Trials, based on his recent 2:07:47 at the Chicago Marathon. Mantz also won two NCAA Cross Country Championships in his days as an undergrad at Brigham Young University.

He’s part of a strong BYU marathon contingent that includes Clayton Young, 2:08:00 at Chicago, and 2016 Olympic marathon ru...

In this episode of "Running: State of the Sport," George and Amby chat with Keira D'Amato, the American record holder at 10 miles and the half-marathon, and the second fastest ever in the marathon with her 2:19:27.

These performances make Keira a top contender in the February 3 Olympic Marathon Trials. Keira has followed an unusual path to her current running. Soon after college, she stopped serious training to get ma...