Director of Olympic Marathons

October 24, 1999

Julia Emmons, Director, 1996 Olympic marathons, and consultant for the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia, chats about running, fitness and her Olympic experience.

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SocialNet: Welcome to the Social Series Chat! Joining us is Julia Emmons, Director, 1996 Olympic marathons, and consultant for the 2000 games in Sydney, Australia. Welcome Julia!

Julia Emmons: Hi!

MelAnIe: Why running, and not some other sport for you? What started the attraction?

Julia Emmons: I started running when I was 28, which was three decades ago. I've been running since 1968. That was about 4 years before it became popular. A friend in graduate school, who had gotten rather plump, came by for dinner and told about his adventures down at the Cambridge, Massachusetts YMCA. He suggested that running might be fun. So I went out and tried to run a half-mile, and found that I could go about a couple hundred yards. I thought to myself, "If I'm in this shape when I'm 28, what am I going to be like at 40?" So I began running with shoes, polyester shorts, and polyester shirts. And I became hooked very quickly, even though I had no talent whatsoever. I've been running ever since.

Lazyjoe: What suggestions do you have for someone interested in starting running?

Julia Emmons: To start wisely, I would get a book like Jeff Gallaway's book on running. It is a good common sense approach. I would start walk/jogging. A good way is to do what we call 'telephone poles,' or 'mailboxes.' You measure out a mile route. Then you jog or run 5 telephone poles, or mailboxes, then walk 5 until you do your mile. Over time you jog more mailboxes and walk fewer until you can cover the whole distance. And after that, you just slowly increase your distance. But the secret is to do it very slowly. You need to work your way up, or you can get injured.

32456: What does your training schedule look like?

Julia Emmons: In my life I've had many phases. In the first 10 years or so, I just ran for fun, and ran about 2 or 3 miles. Then, from when I was about 36-37, till I was about 46-47, I ran to the very best of my ability. I trained a great deal more than I needed to, to maintain good health. And since about the last 10 years, since I have been so involved with race management, and really had no natural talent, I have drifted back to running about 20-25 miles a week. I still do all our Atlanta Track Club Races. And I generally just compete with people around my age group, or much, much older men. It is still fun as long as I don't take myself too seriously.

Socialclimber: Where are some of the best places to run in the US? How about abroad?

Julia Emmons: That is a very difficult question to answer since I have, of course, not lived everywhere. And you need to live in a community for a long time to learn where the best places are. I suspect that every place in the United States has good places to run, and that is one of the beauties of the sport. But the places that I have personally enjoyed are mostly places of great, natural beauty. For example, in Vermont, Colorado, Oregon, or in cities that are beautiful like San Francisco, or Boston. But I really feel that there is probably good running everywhere in the United States, as long as you understand the community.

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