"Who is Jon Sinclair?"

This is what I often asked myself after I moved to Fort Collins. I had been running for years but had never heard of this local running icon. Like most of America, the athletes I recognized were the ones who made a mark at the Olympics. But once I entered the local running community, I began to hear his name everywhere. I gained tidbits at races and from other runners and began to understand his impressive credentials as a leading road racer - a career that spanned 15 years from 1979 to the mid 1990's. Jon Sinclair is the all time cumulative men's point leader in the Runner's World road race rankings (rankings began in 1979), meaning he's placed higher in more road races than any other runner in the world. Not a small feat.

But still, who was Jon Sinclair? In a brief interview, I found a little insight into this remarkable runner in person.

When we met Jon, I was surprised to realize that I had talked to him before. I had been doing repeats at the CSU track and he told me that if I increased my long runs from 60 to 90 minutes, my running would take off. At that time I had no idea who he was - no idea he had been a famous world class runner or that he had coached an athlete to the Irish Olympic team and another to the U.S. Olympic Trials. But I had taken his advice and had indeed seen an improvement in my running that year.

I wasn't expecting a sign on his head that said, "I was a world class runner" but still, I was surprised that there wasn't anything remarkable about him in appearance. Jon looks like the typical long distance runner - wiry, chiseled and much younger than his 47 years. And though very friendly and accommodating, he was at first a little intimidating. His serious demeanor seldom breaks into a smile while he answers my questions with his brisk, business-like manner. But I realize that his manner of speaking is only a reflection of his focused personality, perhaps developed from the intensity of his chosen career.

Like many runners, Jon began running because his ability in other organized sports was somewhat lacking. He had always done well in the Presidential Fitness running tests but it wasn't until 9th grade, when he learned that only two of the three travel spots for the mile were filled and he was guaranteed the travel team, that he joined track. It was evident from the start that he had talent and running became a way of life for him. He would later be surprised in college when he learned that some of his CSU teammates didn't enjoy training and had only run during the season in high school - he had run year round for the pure enjoyment of the sport. It was a lesson for him, his "modus operandi" for the rest of his life - if he could train more consistently than other runners, he would have an advantage.

Jon's road to professional running was a relatively easy one. He likens his experience to riding a huge tidal wave. He ran well in college, earning an NCAA All American title in the indoor mile, and he was being offered money to run in races right out of school. When he made more in a weekend than he made working at Gojo Sports, he realized the potential career that lay ahead of him. Jon graduated from CSU in 1980 at an interesting time when running was gaining in popularity and money for appearing at road races was flowing for top athletes. But at that time the AAU, then the governing body for track and field, stripped your amateur status if you accepted money for racing, thereby ending your chances of making an Olympic team, the end-all goal for most elite runners. Jon delved into an interesting dissertation on the running politics of the period and the struggle for athletes to support themselves through racing. It was something I had no knowledge of. At the time, if you just ran in a race with a professional runner, you, yourself were considered a professional as well. This was called the Contamination Rule which Jon says was just a way for the AAU to control the athletes and keep money out of the sport. Most runners were taking money under the table until 1981, when Jon and a group of other elite runners decided to take a stand and openly accept money for the Cascade Runoff in Portland, Oregon. At the time he had no realization of the monument of this stand but it led to a series of events which eventually evolved the sport to where it is today. So in a sense, Jon created the ability for himself to make a career in running.

But, aside from politics, what was it like to be a professional runner? Running for a living sounds like a dream to most avid runners. Jon enjoyed a lucrative income, international travel, and a career he loved. When asked what his most fulfilling experience as a runner was, he had too many moments to limit it to one: making the Olympic Trials three times (1984 - 5000 meters, 1988 and 1992 - marathon), a stage race from Glasgow to London in which he ran every day for three weeks (yes, like a running Tour de France - I didn't know those existed either), World Cross in Paris (1980), his first 50 mile race, a relay race in Pottsdam (1991) when his team finished second and beat the Kenyans, winning Peachtree (1982) and winning Bloomsday the second time (1986). It seems like an ideal life - one in which he could only think of one thing he might change - one New York marathon he tries to forget. Not bad, to look on your life and only find one thing that you might do differently.

But behind that image of a fairy tale life was the work or "focus" as he would call it. For him, running was 24 hours, 365 days a year. During the Colorado winters he would board in a "training house" in New Zealand and train 120 miles a week. There all he did was run, eat and sleep. When he returned to Colorado, his life was not much different. To give me an understanding of what kind of commitment this was, he gives me his response to athletes who say they want to be the best runner they can be. "Okay, quit your job, say goodbye to your family for two to three years, tell your friends you're not going to see them for awhile and move into my basement. Kim (Jon's wife) will fix all the food that you need. You can go out to run twice a day, you can watch TV, and you'll sleep. That's all you'll do for three to four years. If you're willing to live like that, you'll be the best you can possibly be. Anything short of my basement, and you're making tradeoffs." This comment drives it home for me. He understands that most people would not want to make that kind of commitment, but he feels that his willingness to embrace that necessarily obsessive life is what set him apart from a lot of the people he raced against and which gave him the advantage over some people he felt may have had more talent than him.

I asked if he felt like he missed out on anything because of running and he answered with an emphatic, "Oh yeah... completely." He laughs and tells us about his "one thing" rule, something he found he shared with other professional athletes. Every day he could do just one thing that wasn't focused around running, whether it was going to the grocery store, a movie, or out to dinner - but that was it. There were a lot of things he wanted to do that he couldn't. Many might dream of such a life as he's had, but few, in reality, would actually commit to it.

So what could keep him going for so long? Simply, he loved what he was doing. He loved the travel and competition, "knocking heads" with people, and "chasing dollars" and running on U.S. teams. These things were "joyous" to him. And he knows the price he paid but feels that "you have to be prepared to give up a lot to get a lot."

When I ask how he measured his success during his professional running career - by how much money he made, how many races he won, or how fast his times were - Jon is not completely sure. The business of his career involved sitting down each spring with his coach and agent and choosing the races that he wanted to run which would also maximize his income potential. Races were chosen that matched his talents - strength versus speed. Jon feels his talents lay mostly in the 10 mile or 12K races, of which he is the current U.S. record holder (34:19). He still says his favorite race is the mile or 1500 meters and if he could have made money running that race, he would have. But every race he chose to run, Jon felt confident he had the ability to win it. Once his schedule was determined, he put the thoughts of money out of his mind and raced to win. So ultimately, he says his success was probably determined most by how many races he won, but that in turn was tied to how much money he made.

His measuring of success by winning led me to another question. What was his experience once he passed his peak? For many runners, the very motivation to workout and race is the hope of a PR. What happens when that hope is gone? For an elite runner I imagined the experience to be exponentially more difficult.

Jon answered easily - it is an issue that had been dealt with long ago. His career transitioned so much that his peak in different races came at different times but one day in his early 30s he realized that he would probably never PR again in a distance that mattered. He says it was "discouraging and upsetting at first". It was definitely harder to train and harder to hit times he used to take for granted. He says, "you can be upset by it; I'm just not sure there's anything anyone can really do about it." What was hard for him was that he had created a lifestyle and income completely around his running and now he had to find a way to re-create his life.

After working with an agent for other professional athletes for a couple years, something he found he had no passion for, he made the transition to coaching. He started Anaerobic Management in 1995 (www.anaerobic.net) and has been coaching ever since. His coaching career has blossomed and he is sought out from people all over the country. His athletes, all of whom he considers very motivated, remarkable people, range from someone who is working up to their first 5K to ones who are trying to make it to the Olympics. This variety keeps his work fresh and fulfilling.

Aside from coaching, what is Jon up to these days? He's doing all the things he couldn't do while he was focused on his career. Though he isn't making a living through racing, Jon never feels like he ended his competitive career. Even today he can't imagine running without racing at some level. He recently ran his first ultra, the Old Pueblo 50 Miler. When asked if he enjoys running more now, he replies, "It's different." There is less pressure; his running goals are now more fun-oriented. He shares coaching and running with his wife, Kim Jones, a remarkable runner in her own right, and still loves to travel, enjoys cross-country skiing and has such a passion for rock climbing that he says if he could never run again, it would be okay as long as he could climb. This is not surprising given the mental focus and endurance that sport takes - the very requirements of distance running.

His long list of memorable moments shows how fully he's lived his life, something he is very aware of and very grateful for. In a way, Jon's life seems like a series of fortunate decisions and opportunities. He's quick to attribute his success to a lot of good people that surrounded him from his high school coach who first instilled the love of running in him to his agent who he worked with his entire career. Yet, at the same time, throughout the entire interview he reiterates that he has created and chosen the life he has led.

I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Jon. He is a wealth of knowledge to draw from whether it's running history, training, or where to find the best local trail runs and he seems eager to share his knowledge with others. But back to my question, "Who is Jon Sinclair?" He is an amazing individual who gave a tremendous amount to the sport and received a great deal in return, but mainly, he's a guy who loves running and followed his passion without compromise.

Marcie Glass is an avid runner, who enjoys long runs and racing at the local venues. When not running she can be found climbing at the local crags, curled up reading, or working on her latest article.