I lived right around the corner from Ed Ayres in 1976-77 when he, Phil Stewart, and Rick Platt were starting RT. I'd pop over when I had some free time and do little errand like things. I remember taking a load of magazines to New York to distribute at a race in Central Park as a promotion. It was February, the temperature was in single digits and I couldn't afford a hotel so I slept in the back of my VW Squareback wagon, ran the race and then passed out freebies at the post race gathering which thankfully was in a building with heat. I also did a little writing and race reporting.
A big reason Ed started RT was because even in the 70s we talked about how Runner's World had lost interest in the competitive side of the sport and was catering to new runners, fitness joggers and people who cared more about how their shoes looked than how they ran in them. Ed wanted a magazine that appealled to "serious" runners while not becoming an elitist publication. I thought he did a great job of maintaining that vision. When RT was sold at various times over the years I always wondered if the new owners would be true to Ed's vision and they always seemed to do that to a reasonable extent. When they announced they were going to six issues a year I thought this day was inevitable but I thought there would be a bit more of a time lag. I'll miss it.