Summary: At the 1976 Olympic Marathon in Montreal, American runner Don Kardong<br> used a patient and disciplined strategy to finish in fourth place, <br> losing out on a bronze medal by a mere 3 seconds.<br> However, Don’s future in running was influenced much more by a race <br> he ran and won just before the Olympics, the Peachtree Road Race 10k in <br> Atlanta.<br> That experience ultimately led to the founding of the Bloomsday Run <br> in Spokane, Washington, a 12-kilometer race that attracts nearly 50,000 <br> finishers annually.<br> Don and the Bloomsday organizers have done a great job of including <br> all sorts of charity and fun running while maintaining the race’s roots <br> as a top-level competition for some of the best runners in the world.<br> Some of the things that Don and I discussed included:<br> <br> Don’s own running career and the training that made him one of the top-ranked runners in the U.S.<br> The race strategy that Don employed to finish 4th place in the marathon at the Olympic Games<br> How the Bloomsday Run came to be and the rapid growth it experienced in its first few years<br> The extreme importance of communication between all parts of the race organization when planning and putting on a race<br> One of Don’s craziest experiences as race director<br> <br> <a href="http://runnersconnect.net/running-interviews/don-kardong/">Interview With Olympian Don Kardong</a><br>
