PROFILE--Ronald Johnson has been running for 57 years

(Feb. 2021) Ronald Johnson began running at age 14 in 1963, graduated from St. Olaf college, and achieved a lifetime marathon best of 2:31:07. Now retired and 71, he lives in Searcy, Arkansas, where he continues his devotion to running and high-level fitness despite hamstring and foot issues. "I always end my run feeling excellent," he says.

Career-profession? I have had several occupations, but I retired in June of 2019. I was an actuary and a financial analyst. However, my primary occupation was as a mathematical statistician for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington D.C. I worked on the Consumer Price Index. 

When did you start running? I began running seriously as a high school freshman at age 14 in 1963 when I joined the cross-country team. I did this because I had been one of the best runners in junior high school at long distances. I didn’t especially enjoy running at the time, but I certainly wanted to be good at some sport.

Peak running? At my peak in my senior year in college and during the following summer, I was probably running

PROFILE--Tom Perri has run more than 70 marathons since his stage 4 cancer diagnosis two years ago

(Jan. 2021) LifetimeRunning first profiled Tom Perri in 2018--a few months before he received a cancer diagnosis. (See this page.) At that time he was averaging 40 marathons a year and was a four-time finisher of the Fifty-States Club. He’s now working on his sixth go-round as a Fifty State finisher and just finished his 536^th marathon on New Year’s Day 2021. Perri still paces marathons when he can find one, and is still thrilled to bring first-time marathoners across their finish line. Now 59, Perri is looking forward to a new age division in April of 2021.

How did you find out you had cancer? I had a complete physical on 12/21/18, and was told that my PSA was well outside the normal range, which was a strong indication that I probably had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. This was confirmed by the prostate biopsy. At that time it appeared

PROFILE: Harry Nolan has been running for more than 50 years

(Jan. 2021) New Jersey's Harry Nolan has been a top U.S. runner in one event or another since the mid-1970s. He started on the track, moved up to the marathon (PR of 2:22), and then moved back to the track in his 40s and beyond. At 41, he ran a 1:59 800 and 4:15 mile. At 73, he's still running 50 to 60 miles a week despite triple-bypass surgery two  years ago. "Every day above ground is a good day," he says. He also believes that "Life is not a dress rehearsal" and we should live every day as if it might be our last. 

Career/Profession? I have had a somewhat split career, within two different professions. I spent 45 years in higher education as a professor, department chair, and associate dean at five different universities, but most at Georgian Court University, where I was a tenured full professor and department chair for thirty years. My other profession was as an administrator within the recreation, park and tourism industry, where I worked as director with different governmental agencies (overlapping with my university positions) and directing my own tourism based research consulting company. 

When did you start running and why? I started running track in my freshmen year of high school, originally as

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

PROFILE--Hugh Biggin has been running for 40 years

(Jan 2021) Hugh Biggin appears to be one of those quiet, engineer types. He's not loud, not banging a gavel to get anyone's attention. He just goes about his business, day after day after .... He's methodical. He's got running logs dating back to 1980, and when a covid pandemic slowed down life a bit of late, he took the time to convert hundreds of pages of paper to a digital spreadsheet. The 65-year-old resident of Berwyn PA enjoys "streaking" too. His longest every-day run streak reached 9+ years, and he's currently working on 3 years, 11 months, and counting. For some reason, he runs 8 times a week. Hey, why not? "Just be consistent," he tells other runners. "Never get too high, and never too low."

Career-profession: I worked as an engineer for a large construction management firm

When did you start running and why? To get into shape.

How much did you run in your peak years? I have averaged 2480 miles per year. Always tried to maintain

PROFILE--Jim Whiting has been running for 61 years ... and writing almost as long

Finishing a Hood to Coast Relay

(Dec. 2020) Jim Whiting spent much of his adult life living in the Seattle, WA, area, where he ran, coached, and published one of the more influential regional running magazines, Northwest Runner. (A couple of years ago, he moved to Corvallis, OR, to be closer to several grandchildren.) Whiting, now 77, says he was literally the slowest kid in his 7th grade PE class, but later learned he had more endurance than speed. So he became a miler, of course. Then later an adventure travel guy: He has run in three of Greece's most historic sites. In his spare time, Whiting has written more than 300 books for young readers.

Career-profession? From the time I started running in 1958, virtually everything significant in my life is connected directly or indirectly to running. I published Northwest Runner magazine for 17 years. Panels of professional journalists named

PROFILE--Gary Allen has been running (around Maine and beyond) for 48 years

(Dec. 2020) Gary Allen has been described as a wacky and fun-loving runner and favorite son of Maine. Home for Allen is a tiny offshore island called Great Cranberry. His family settled there in the late1600s making him a 12th generation family man. The main road is only 2 miles long, which is a fairly ridiculous place to become a long distance runner. Allen is one of three dozen runners worldwide to run a sub-three-hour marathon in five different decades (the only woman in that club is another Mainer, Joan Benoit-Samuelson).

With his long lean frame and megawatt smile, Allen holds court anywhere he goes. He’s the founder of the Mount Desert Island Marathon and the Great Run, a six-hour ultramarathon where competitors simply run back and forth on Great Cranberry Island  - remember, only 2 miles long - as many times as they can.

Allen, 63, also is credited with saving an impoverished Maine town, Milllinocket, by creating a marathon there. It runs through the Maine North Woods in the middle of December. It's an unlikely destination race, but when Allen puts out the call, runners respond. One of his mantras: "Create something amazing." He has achieved this several times over.

Career-Profession? Hmmmm. I have always been an entrepreneur of sorts so classifying what I do as having a beginning or an end, such as retirement is more abstract to me