Corbitt: The Story of Ted Corbitt, Long Distance Runner

by John Chodes

Thirty six years have elapsed since the original publication of "Corbitt". Ted Corbitt died in Houston, Texas on December 12, 2007 at the age of 88. Until the very end, he was still competing in marathons, and ultra-marathons! He finished well over two hundred of them. I say "well over" because as age crept up, he lost the enthusiasm to run them, so he raced-walked through his competitions, and often failed to write the results down. Yet, age-group records and new accolades kept coming. At the end of this book, immediately following the "Complete Marathon Record of Ted Corbitt to May l978,'' there is a brief addition of some of his major ultra-marathon races to the end of his life. There is also a listing of his athletic and professional awards. I wrote this book about Ted Corbitt as a tribute and a thank-you to a man who was much more than someone who was a great athlete and who brought me into the running game, and gave me a life-long passion for this sport. I wrote this book because Ted Corbitt was my mentor and spiritual father who, without directly advising me, led me to a productive life by following his example.

168 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2010

Reviews

[Cozette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book if you are looking for motivation to start or keep running long after you 20's or 30's.

[Bryan O’Barr · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a running fanboy I love to compare what I understand of modern training to the past. I also love how the storytelling of races is conducted as there is little to no coverage of these old races. Every course seems to have had “roller coaster hills” or was in the worst possible conditions with our famed runners showing themselves that they could still cross the finish line regardless. It’s a fun book with some cool insights to training methodology at the end.

[Alden Roth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a minute to get into the book, but I ended up liking it a lot. The race coverage was interesting, but enjoyable. It’s crazy the amount of training and racing this man did. I wonder if anyone could still sustain, or would even want to, the kind of running he did. The medical knowledge and methodology around running efforts seem to have changed much since he was running ultras.