If you have ever run a marathon, there is a decent chance your fridge once held a printout of one of Hal Higdon’s training plans. The Chicago-born running writer, coach, and Boston Marathon stalwart turned 95 on Wednesday, and runners around the world spent the day saying thanks.
Higdon, who lives between Long Beach, Indiana, and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, started racing in 1947 and never really stopped. He ran in eight U.S. Olympic Trials. His first Boston came in 1959. Five years later, in 1964, he finished fifth overall at Boston and was the top American across the line in 2:21:55, a personal best most lifelong runners would frame and hang on the wall.
To mark the day, runners began posting their own stories under the hashtag #MyFirstMile, a nod to how many of them got into the sport through a Higdon plan. The announcement came from the Higdon family, who shared the news on Higdon’s 95th birthday.
A Friend to the Sport’s Trailblazers
Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run Boston in 1967, said Higdon understood early what the sport could be.
“Hal is special because he envisioned how running would become a movement, and that included women,” Switzer said. “Hal was one of the first world-class male friends I made in running; eventually, he and his wife Rose even created a travel business for women on the Avon global women’s running circuit.”
She added that his writing had its own pull. “It was his ability to write about running, often with an acerbic wit that made you laugh out loud, that was especially endearing.”
Jack Fleming, president and CEO of the Boston Athletic Association, called Higdon part of the fabric of Patriots’ Day. “His stewardship and guidance have had an impact on thousands, and his spot in Boston lore is only further solidified as a top American finisher,” Fleming said.
Records, Books, and 111 Marathons
Higdon’s racing kept going after Boston. He won a Masters World Championship and set records that lasted decades. The most famous one came at London’s Crystal Palace in 1972, where he ran 14:59.6 for 5,000 meters. Barefoot. That American Masters mark stood for nearly 25 years.
He has finished 111 marathons in all. Before his 70th birthday, he ran seven of them in seven months, because of course he did. It is the kind of late-career consistency that keeps older runners coming back to the start line.
The writing piled up alongside the racing. Higdon wrote for Runner’s World, The New York Times Magazine, and National Geographic, and authored more than three dozen books. Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide is now in its fifth edition and still shows up on the shelves of first-time marathoners. He helped found the Road Runners Club of America in 1958, won its Journalism Award in 1980, and is in its Hall of Fame.
Amby Burfoot, the 1968 Boston champion and former Runner’s World editor-in-chief, put it plainly. “There’s no better marathon coach than Hal Higdon.” A look at the all-time greats of the sport tends to back him up.
A Family Operation Now
The Higdon name still runs the show, but Hal does not do it alone. All three of his kids (Kevin, David, and Laura) work in the business, which includes HalHigdon.com and the Run with Hal app. His nine grandchildren pitch in too. Together they reach more than 2.5 million runners a year, many of them following one of his marathon training plans.
Hal kept his birthday message simple.
“Running has always been about more than your finishing time,” he said. “It’s about discovering what you’re capable of, one step at a time, and engaging with others who also are enjoying their own running journeys.”
Then, a sign-off that lands the way only he can land it: “Stride on!”
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