SHORTS
JACK DANIELS • GREAT RACES, INCREDIBLE PLACES
BY BRIAN METZLER coaching philosophies and books, including
COACH Daniels’ Running Formula, are considered
for Hire among the masterworks of the sport, and
he’s helped hundreds of elite runners reach
new heights. Perhaps best put, he’s a mod-ern-day ARTHUR LYDIARD.
Still, moving on to new endeavors is nothing new to Daniels. Despite experiencing
success and lofty praise every place he’s ever
RUNNING IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED fairly recession-proof. It plied his coaching, research and congenial
boomed in the late 1970s when the U.S. economy was in the tank, and there are wit, he’s been somewhat of a vagabond genius.
signs the sport is remaining vibrant in the current economic downturn. It makes He coached in the collegiate ranks at
sense: Not only can a good pair of running shoes last for several months, but the Oklahoma State, Texas and Hawaii, as well as
positive vibe we get from running is a great panacea for having less expendable for the national team in Peru, before taking a
income, or even worse, losing a job. gig as an exercise physiologist for Nike. When
Nike disbanded its Athletics West program
But with a dark economic forecast and swimmers and triathletes have trained since in the late 1980s — in an even more frenetic
massive budget cuts looming at Northern its inception in 1994. And that meant JACK fashion than the demise of the of NAU alti-Arizona University, the school decided to DANIELS was out of a job. tude center (“A guy showed up at 11 a.m. in
close the Center for High Altitude Training in Daniels has been one of the great minds in Eugene and said, ‘ You’ve got three hours to
Flagstaff, where numerous elite-level runners, running for more than 40 years. His research, clear out all of your stuff,’” Daniels recalls.)
— he returned to coaching at Cortland State
University in New York, where, as a fully
tenured professor, he helped the Division
III school bring home numerous individual
and team championships.
But when he took the job as head coach of
NAU’s altitude research center in 2005 at age
72, the exuberant and razor-sharp physiologist figured it might be his last post, even
though he didn’t plan on retiring for at least
six to eight years. As it stands, he’ll remain
under contract with the center only until June
30. Aside from coaching elite athletes, he was
also hoping to complete the final portion of a
40-year physiological study of elite distance
runners he tested in 1968 and 1993.
“It’s kind of a shame, really,” Daniels says.
“I’m disappointed. I’ll get the research done,
even if I have to go where each of the runners
are and test them myself. But this was a perfect situation for elite runners, and I really
liked what I was doing.”
So in February, Daniels dusted off his
Daniels has a lot of research projects he wants to finish before he hangs up his clipboard,
résumé in hopes of landing a new job, possi-
including a study of distance runners he started in 1968 and revisited in 1993.
bly in the college or even high school ranks. In
the meantime, he’ll continue to coach 16 elite
runners, including Olympians ANTHONY
FAMIGLIETTI, ABDI ABDIRAHMAN and
MAGDALENA LEWY BOULET.
Photo: Josh Biggs
And, if you’re willing to pay $200 a month,
he’ll offer his coaching to you. In February,
Daniels joined The Run S.M.A.R. T. online
coaching service and will offer monthly
training plans for those who sign up. (The
rate for working with the program’s six other
coaches is $135–$160 per month, depending
on the subscription commitment.)
But it’s only a part-time opportunity
Continued on page 12
AMERICA’S GREATEST RUNNING
COACH ISN’T READY TO RETIRE
BOOK IT!
If you’ve ever gotten stuck in the rut of running the same races year
after year, pick up a copy of Great Races, Incredible Places, which hit
bookstores this spring. Author KIMI PUN TILLO, the first woman to
run marathons on all seven continents, has highlighted 57 unique races
around the world, ranging from the 5K Sausage Run in Milwaukee and
the Kilauea Volcanoes Runs in Hawaii to the Siberian Ice Marathon in
Russia and the Great Wall Marathon in China. Each race is colorfully
profiled, offering compelling reasons to book a plane ticket — or, in
some cases, like the Antarctica Half Marathon, book passage on an
ice-breaking ship — and try a new race in a different place.
