150: Tracy Sundlun — Co-Founder of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series

Breaking Ordinary with Andy Petranek

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Tracy Sundlun is best known as one of the co-founders of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, which with his involvement, grew to 29 events in 15 states, Washington DC, and 6 other countries, in which over 500,000 runners competed each year. He has over 4 decades of involvement in virtually every facet of the sports of track and field, long distance running, and race walking.

His experience includes everything from coaching (including at Georgetown, Colorado, USC, and over 100 athletes going to the Olympic Games); to sports administration, event creation (founder of the National Scholastic Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships), and athlete representation, sponsorship sales, and charity fundraising.

Tracy has been at the forefront of a number of the sports’ innovations and advances over the past 40 years, including the1974 effort to introduce and involve chiropractic in track & field, in 1980 when he initiated the first test case with prize money and above-the-table appearance money in long distance running, and more recently in 2005, he created the first Wave Start plans for marathons and half marathons to better manage the density and comfort of runners on the course.

Tracy's actions, events, and programs have always epitomized his core belief that sport should positively impact all of society and look to include as opposed to exclude, involving all constituencies and athletes of all ages and abilities. His recent accolades include induction into the Running USA Hall of Champions and being named head manager of the United States Men’s Track & Field Team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro

Tracy now runs Everything Running, a small consulting company focused on “anything and everything track and field, running, and race walking."

From Andy:

It's rare these days that you get a chance to sit down and hear stories from a true legend, leader, and innovator in a modern sport. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to do just this with Tracy Sundlun. His stories are mesmerizing, as he takes me back to times in the running world when things that we take for granted today were totally non-existent. This is modern-history (that isn't done yet) and storytelling at it's finest. ENJOY!

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Connect with Tracy

• Rock 'n' Roll Marathon
• Facebook: Tracy Sundlun
• Twitter: @TracySundlun

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REVIEW THE PODCAST ON iTUNES - bit.ly/breakingordinary

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127: Steven Sashen – On Why You Should Consider Running Barefoot – With or Without Your Shoes On

Image of Tracy Sundlun speaking courtesy of Phillips Exeter Academy

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