Pete Pfitzinger, the top American finisher at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Marathons, is a distance running coach and exercise physiologist. He established himself as one of the best marathoners in U.S. history by outkicking Alberto Salazar to win the 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. That same year he received the DeCelle award for America's best distance runner and was named Runner of the Year by the Road Runners' Club of America. He is also a two-time winner of the San Francisco Marathon and he finished third in the 1987 New York City Marathon. As a coach, Pfitzinger has more than 20 years' experience, including working with distance runners at the University of Massachusetts, University of New Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke College.
In his current position as an exercise physiologist, Pfitzinger specializes in working with endurance athletes. He is a contributing editor for Running Times, which features his monthly column, "The Pfitzinger Lab Report." His writing has also appeared in American Health, Runner's World, and New England Runner. A graduate of Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts with a master's in exercise science, Pfitzinger lives in Auckland, New Zealand. He is the general manager of the New Zealand Academy of Sport, where he provides sport science and sports medicine services to Olympic and national class athletes.
Scott Douglas is a former editor-in-chief of Running Times. He has published articles in Runner's World, The Washington Post, and Women Outside and has been a columnist for Running Times and Marathon and Beyond. He was also an editor of Running & FitNews, a publication of the American Running Association. Douglas has co-authored two books with Bill Rodgers: Bill Rodgers' Lifetime Running Plan and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Jogging and Running.
Douglas has been a competitive runner since 1979, setting personal bests of 30:48 in the 10K, 51:01 in the 10-mile, and 1:08:40 in the half-marathon. Running competitively for almost 20 years, he has kept in tune with runners who have to fit training and racing around the demands of a career. Douglas resides in Bethesda, Maryland.