Marc Bloom: Pioneer or Self -Promoting Idiot

The Runner was a stellar mag, and nothing has come close to it since. Hard to believe if you were born after it's demise, which a majority of the nay-sayers on this thread probably were. If that was the only professional accomplishment of Bloom's career, he would still rank near the top of the list of running journalists. But I hear rumors he has done more.

I had the cover of Allison Roe framed, as many guys my age at the time probably did. Part of Bloom's genius was to include pictures of Roe running on a beach in her bikini.

I would just like to throw it out there that I was in the book. Remember the part about the kid who decided to play soccer instead of run his freshmen year...THAT'S ME!

We so often complain about magazines like "Jogger's World" that cater to the weekend marathoner and yet some people are complaining about a guy who promotes competitive running. I learned a lot from his articles when I first started coaching and I continue to pick up little ideas to apply to my teams. How can anyone say he is self promoting? If he is promoting his work, it is only because he wants to tell the stories of some great kids and pass on some positive messages for others to learn from. And if he is making some money off of his work, who cares? We need professionals to promote our sport and a guy can't put in all the work Marc has by volunteering his time. Thank you Marc for all the work you do to help young people.

Ok, let's get this straight, Marc Bloom is all about Marc Bloom. He and George Hirsch created the best running magazine ever in "The Runner". George sold out to Runners World. Mark Bloom has had a chip on his shoulder the last 20 years for being sold out to a magazine that is more interested in 5 hr marathoners than any other story. Yes, they are making a fortune, selling ads, and telling stories of those who never cared about their bodies for 20-40 years, then lost weight by doing Jeff Galloway shit for a couple of years.

Mark Bloom, he's another fake. He joined the coaching ranks to write a book about a Jewish coach, coaching at a Catholic School Cross Country Team, that is the basis for the book and his way to make money from a coaching experience. He had no other coaching experience, so he wrote a book to keep himself busy while Runners World is trying to figue out what to do with a writer who can't write about 30-40-50 old fat folks who lose weight.

m.o. wrote:

If he is promoting his work, it is only because he wants to tell the stories of some great kids and pass on some positive messages for others to learn from. And if he is making some money off of his work, who cares? We need professionals to promote our sport and a guy can't put in all the work Marc has by volunteering his time. Thank you Marc for all the work you do to help young people.

B.S. alert!! How do you know that 'it is only because he wants to tell the stories of some great kids and pass on some positive messages for others to learn from?' Give me a break. Maybe he ONLY wants to make money and if somebody picks up something or not, who cares? You may be right, but you're definitely presumptive. I still say that he's made absolutely no diffrence to 99-44/100% of runners of any age. It's not a knock, just a fact.

I was in college in the mid 70's when he came out with his newsletter/magazine, called "The Harrier". It was great. Covering X-C in all divisions in all parts of the country. It took a lot of work and I doubt he made any money with it back then. Is The Harrier, still going? (esp. with Track and Field News, bascially quitting, covering X-C, except for 1 page in December. They used to do a great job, but got too snooty, as purists.

Alright then, it's me again...weird weird coincidental occurence this evening...so here I am, a guy who has been running and racing steadily since 1968...now at age freakin 50 (can not believe it man) I am training my ass off to break 5 minutes for the mile at Sept 30th 5TH Ave Mile (gotta have goals, even as an old crusty way slowed down codger)...at any rate, looking for inspiration to keep my butt on track while doing lonesome 200s and 400s at the nearby high school track at 7 a.m. , I've been reading/re-reading running books...not my normal literary fare but desparate times call for desparate measures...so here I order on Amazon a book about Steve Scott..am ramped up to start this new book earlier this evening and lo and behold, its Steve Scott as told by Marc freakin Bloom! Weird timing for sure...that being said, if Marc Bloom is good enough for Steve Scott, he's certainly good enough for this old hacker.

Thought that I'd share this stupid/serendipidous moment with you all for what its worth.

Know that there are way way more important issues in the world around us then whether or not Marc is whatever or not...I'll reiterate that my personal and profesional dealings with the man have been nothing but straight up.

MF

Hey Mike, here's another weird coincidence.

Last night I posted after digging out the premiere issue of The Runner. That got me looking through the pages again. In the race results section are results from the '78 PA AAU Run 15K in Los Altos. Seventh place is Mike Fanelli (22) 48:25.

I was just a kid then.

Now we're both old.

How'd that happen?

Since I was a fool and threw out all my The Runner mags years ago, I've spent a small fortune buying up old copies to replace those I tossed. Let me tell you, The Runner magazine was excellent and I go back now and read the articles for training and racing advice.

Pioneer-

I met him for the first time last night while working out on an indoor track in Jersey. When I asked him his last name I was stunned! He was so graceful and humble, I could not even get him to talk about himself even when I tried. He never mentioned his book. He was doing 1600M repeats indoors in the 6:30's at age 68!! I am coming back from rotator cuff surgery so I rabbited him on 2 or 3 of them for 800M. So, I will dig into my archives from my days in the 1970's in NCAA X-C and look at some of his work. If anyone has good examples, please feel free to post!

We all should be allowed to make a living off our passion so long as it does not materially affect the job we do--without being thrown under the bus.

Why can't you help the sport and make money at it?

He loves the sport and made it his life.

Believe me, if I could find a way of adding $50,000.00 a year to the $10,000.00 I get for coaching, I would stop working and devote my life to running and promoting running.

He's great for the sport and I met him once at VCP- he seemed like a genuinely decent guy.

We talked about his first book- which I have read and re-read- and he was a little embarrassed about it.

I told him it fit the time and was excellent.

My father had a subscription to The Harrier in the early 90's, and it was a window into the elite high school programs at the time. Looking back over 20 years later, it seems incredible to me that Marc was able to gather national coverage for such a niche high school sport! I remember reading about Louie Quintana's training, the two-generation success of the Keino's, and even favoring a crush on Melody Fairchild- all through that B&W publication.

Back then, to even be mentioned in The Harrier was something to be proud of. I'll never forget having my high school team being mentioned as one "to watch for" in our state after a successful first half of the season.

All the best to one of the key writers for the sport in recent memory!

The majority of "running" reporters are grounded in their stories by years of experience watching, participating, or coaching the sport. However, reading much of what is printed by Bloom, Milesplit, Runnerspace, etc. lacks solid research to back statements or any true journalistic training. In the end, its all just a blog when it comes to these sites and writers. There is seldom follow up to stories first reported later to be found inaccurate. Just an opinion.

I have the opportunity to get an Advanced Review Copy of this book by Marc. Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/164313079X

First I’ve heard of it, but I will do put it on my want list