How
my student-athlete experience prepared me for where I am today
"I
worked as a full-time freelance journalist almost all my career,
but gradually got drawn into writing mostly about running. I continue
in that career today, writing books and managing a popular Web site
that provides training advice for budding marathon runners. So you
can say that my time at the University of Chicago under Ted Haydon
prepared me for this."
My
most memorable moment as a University of Chicago athlete
"Running the 3,000 meter steeplechase in the 1960
Olympic Trials at Stanford University before a nearly packed house
of maybe 50,000 people. I didn't make the Olympic team. I finished
5th and only the top three went, but it was a memorable achievement
in my career. Technically, I was not on the varsity team at the
time, but I was enrolled in graduate school and did wear a Maroon
singlet."
Memories
of being a student-athlete I would like to share
"Particularly I remember workouts on Stagg Field toward
the end of the cross-country season. It would be dark, cold, the
wind blowing, but Ted would appear to time us as we did our interval
training, repeats of 440-yard runs. To protect himself from the
elements, Ted dragged a ticket booth left over from the Amos Alonzo
Stagg era onto the infield and stood in it, using a flashlight to
read us our times as we sped by."
What
I am doing today, and how I got there
"I serve as a training consultant for the LaSalle
Bank Chicago Marathon and provide online training programs for thousands
of runners competing in that and other races. You can find me at
halhigdon.com. At the age of 74, I'm busier (and more successful)
than I ever have been before, and I owe a lot of where I'm at to
Ted Haydon and the University of Chicago." |
