PROFILE--John Fixx has been running for 51 years

Fixx and daughter before a run.

(Jan. 2021) Yes, the name is familiar. John Fixx is the son of Jim Fixx, famous in the late 1970s for his international best seller, The Complete Book of Running. And then, a few years later, for dying from a heart attack on a run. John began running with his dad at an early age, and tagged along to enjoy many trips and famous-runner meetups. Eventually he outpaced his dad, and achieved a marathon best of 2:42. He had another famous author connection in college, competing on the Wesleyan University team where Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm) was a standout. Now 59, John serves as headmaster and cross country coach at a private day school in Connecticut, The Country School, where he still logs 3 to 5 miles a day. He has only been arrested once while running.

Career profession: I've worked in admissions or administration at a number of private schools, mostly in Connecticut, where I grew up. For the last seven years, I've been headmaster at The Country School in Madison CT. We're a K-8 school with a little over 200 students.

When did you start running and why? I actually know exactly when I started running, because my father was a runner. From his log, I can see that I ran a 3 mile race in Westport CT when I was eight years old. The next year I remember