Bob Cooper (journalist)

Bob Cooper is an American freelance journalist, an award-winning travel writer, a 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 has achieved impressive success as a competitor. As an ultramarathoner, his 50-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 cross country relay run in 1973 that traversed the breadth of the United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in 19+ days. He also participated in another such relay along the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to Canada in 1981. He is believed to be the only runner to ever participate in relays spanning the length as well as the width of America.

Cooper's top performances include a win at the Silver State Marathon, second place at the Tucson Marathon and American River 50 Mile Run, third place at the San Francisco Marathon, and 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 articles have appeared regularly in magazines including Men's Journal, Men's Fitness, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, Wired, and dozens of others. He won two journalism awards in 2005: the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) "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. In 2008, he won the ASJA "Outstanding Service Article" Award for a story on America's most popular marathon training programs. In 2014, he won three North American Travel Journalists Association awards for travel articles.

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 guidebooks 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.

More information about his running and his writing, including article links, can be found at www.bob-cooper.com.

Books

References

    External links

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