Bob Cooper (journalist)

Bob Cooper (born 1954) is an American freelance journalist, a regular columnist and contributing editor for "Runner's World", a former executive editor of "Running Times", a competitive long distance runner, and a longtime San Francisco Bay Area resident. From 1980 to 1990, he held various editorial positions for "Triathlete", "Inside Triathlon", and "City Sports" magazines.

Running and racing

Cooper started running in 1969, and since then has achieved a great deal of success as a competitor. As an ultramarathoner, his fifty mile time of 5 hours and 42 minutes ranked seventh in the US in 1977. He also has run seven sub-2:30 marathons. As a teenager, he was part of a truly cross country relay in 1973 thate traversed the breadth United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. During another such relay along the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to Canada in 1981, he ran a dozen two hour legs in a little over nine days, averaging about eighteen miles per leg.

Cooper's top performances include a win at the Silver State Marathon, second places at the Tucson Marathon and the American River 50 Mile Run, third place at the San Francisco Marathon, and a fourth place at the US 50 Mile Championships. Since turning forty, he has won numerous masters titles around Northern California.

Journalism career

In 1973, Bob Anderson published Cooper's first national magazine article in Runner's World magazine. Cooper continued to write for "Runner's World" after the magazine was sold to Rodale Press in 1984. His feature articles have appeared regularly in magazines including "Men's Journal", "Men's Fitness", "National Geographic Adventure", "Men's Health", "Spa", and dozens of others. He won two journalism awards in 2005: the American Society of Journalists and Authors' "Making A Difference" Award for a story on the charity, Room to Read, and an award from the Bay Area Travel Writers for a story on the Ventura (California) ArtWalk.

After serving as an executive editor for "Running Times" between 1990 and 1992, Cooper became a full-time freelance writer while continuing to work as a regular contributor to "Runner's World". He published two guide books for runners interested in exploring favorite Northern California running venues, "The Valley At Your Feet: 50 Walking, Running and Racing Courses in the Sacramento Valley" and "San Francisco Running Guide"; the latter features 35 of the most scenic and challenging running routes and ten top races—from 5Ks to marathons—in the San Francisco Bay Area: Marin County, the East Bay, including Oakland, Berkeley, Fremont, and the South Bay, including Palo Alto, San Jose, California, Woodside, and Cupertino.

Books

* Cooper, Bob, "San Francisco Running Guide" (part of the "City Running Guide Series"), (1998) Human Kinetics Publishers, ISBN 0-88011-703-6
* Cooper, Bob "The Valley At Your Feet: 50 Walking, Running and Racing Courses in the Sacramento Valley"(1998) ISBN 0-88011-703-6

References

External links

* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_9_19/ai_106652959 FindArticles.com] - 'Carpe diem, carpe noctem: the best time to eat, sleep, work and work out depends on the birds—that is, whether you're a lark, an owl or something in between', Bob Cooper, "Men's Fitness" (September, 2003):* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1608/is_12_18/ai_94672564 FindArticles.com] - 'Form fixes: run more efficiently to maximize your fat-burning and endurance gains', Bob Cooper, "Men's Fitness" (December, 2002)
* [http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100126692 MSM.com] - 'Change of Scenery: New route, new distance, new sport—try one or all to become a better runner', Bob Cooper, "Runner's World"
* [http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-187-0-0-9819,00.html RunnersWorld.com] - 'A team of runners looks to drop the hammer at the world's toughest adventure: Adventure racers must be jacks-of-all-trades--runners, cyclers, paddlers, climbers, navigators, and blister-menders--all while competing on a medical resident's ration of sleep', Bob Cooper, "Runner's World" (June 1, 2006):* [http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-51-54-0-8164,00.html RunnersWorld.com] - 'True Grit: For a workout that'll strengthen your legs and incinerate calories, hit the beach', Bob Cooper, "Runner's World":* [http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-51-0-0-1171,00.html RunnersWorld.com] - 'Tapering for the Marathon: It takes months to train for a marathon, but tapering in the final weeks is also critical. Here's how to do it', Bob Cooper, "Runner's World"