The Distance Running Subculture of Southern California in the 1960s
(Few readers know that our publisher, Mr. Joel Fox, was a distance runner in the 1960s, and ran the Boston Marathon in 1969, 1970 and 1971. So I knew he wouldn't object if I slipped in as this week's "California Employment" posting a note on the distance running subculture of Southern California. A version of this posting first appeared last week in Zocalo Public Square.)
Before distance running entered the mainstream culture in the 1970s, before marathons and road races attracted thousands of runners, before Nike and Reebok, there was a distance running subculture in Southern California.
You wouldn't have known it existed from the Los Angeles Times or local television and radio. But a vibrant distance running community was out there in the 1960s, under the radar. The community was linked by a network of all-comers races, weekly road races and the recently-established marathon races. Most consequential, among this community new ways of thinking were emerging about long distance running as a lifestyle, as well as about workout regimens, diet, lifelong training, and the inclusion of women. Â
My older brother Jim, then a senior at Fairfax High, introduced me to long distance running in the summer of 1967, a few months before I was to enter the school. My first run was from our house in the Fairfax district to the top of Mt. Olympus in the Hollywood Hills. Though I ran only the first two miles and walked the rest, I was soon hooked.
Fairfax did not have a strong tradition of long distance and track athletes. According to Gabe Grosz' history of Fairfax track, Fairfax lost every track meet between 1962 and 1965. But all changed in the fall of 1967 with the arrival of a new coach, John Kampmann.
Like other successful high school coaches, John Kampmann brought a commitment and passion to the sport that was contagious. Â Running was not done part-time or occasionally; it was a daily, year-round regimen. Â Running was a part physical, and a larger part mental. Â Running was linked to diet, sleep and focus.
Long distance running training under Coach Kampmann was a mix of approaches: speed-play techniques from Finland, repetitions on the track, and long slow distance (LSD). We ran in the Hollywood Hills, on the trails of Griffith Park, at the La Brea Tar Pits near Fairfax. We ran at the area's golf courses, throughout  Brentwood and  UCLA, at the Santa Monica beach.
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The Distance Running Subculture of Southern California in the 1960s
(Few readers know that our publisher, Mr. Joel Fox, was a distance runner in the 1960s, and ran the Boston Marathon in 1969, 1970 and 1971. So I knew he wouldn't object if I slipped in as this week's "California Employment" posting a note on the distance running subculture of Southern California. A version of this posting first appeared last week in Zocalo Public Square.)
Before distance running entered the mainstream culture in the 1970s, before marathons and road races attracted thousands of runners, before Nike and Reebok, there was a distance running subculture in Southern California.
You wouldn't have known it existed from the Los Angeles Times or local television and radio. But a vibrant distance running community was out there in the 1960s, under the radar. The community was linked by a network of all-comers races, weekly road races and the recently-established marathon races. Most consequential, among this community new ways of thinking were emerging about long distance running as a lifestyle, as well as about workout regimens, diet, lifelong training, and the inclusion of women. Â
My older brother Jim, then a senior at Fairfax High, introduced me to long distance running in the summer of 1967, a few months before I was to enter the school. My first run was from our house in the Fairfax district to the top of Mt. Olympus in the Hollywood Hills. Though I ran only the first two miles and walked the rest, I was soon hooked.
Fairfax did not have a strong tradition of long distance and track athletes. According to Gabe Grosz' history of Fairfax track, Fairfax lost every track meet between 1962 and 1965. But all changed in the fall of 1967 with the arrival of a new coach, John Kampmann.
Like other successful high school coaches, John Kampmann brought a commitment and passion to the sport that was contagious. Â Running was not done part-time or occasionally; it was a daily, year-round regimen. Â Running was a part physical, and a larger part mental. Â Running was linked to diet, sleep and focus.
Long distance running training under Coach Kampmann was a mix of approaches: speed-play techniques from Finland, repetitions on the track, and long slow distance (LSD). We ran in the Hollywood Hills, on the trails of Griffith Park, at the La Brea Tar Pits near Fairfax. We ran at the area's golf courses, throughout  Brentwood and  UCLA, at the Santa Monica beach.
The Distance Running Subculture of Southern California in the 1960s: Most consequential, among this community ne... 
The Distance Running Subculture of Southern California in the 1960s - Fox and Hounds Daily (blog) 
The Distance Running Subculture of Southern California in the 1960s: By 1975, distance running had soared in pop... 
The Distance Running Subculture of Southern California in the 1960s
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