Don Kardong

Donald ("Don") Franklin Kardong (bornDecember 22, 1948) is a noted runner and author from the United States; he finished a close fourth in themarathon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, just three seconds behind the bronze medal winner.

Kardong graduated from prestigious college-prep school, Seattle Prep in 1967, earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Stanford University in 1971, and, in 1974, another bachelor's degree in English and a teaching certificate from the University of Washington in Seattle.He then taught school in Spokane from 1974-1977 at Loma Vista Elementary. From 1977 to 1986, Kardong owned and operated a retail running store in Spokane; he founded the Lilac Bloomsday Run (12 km (7.5 mi)) in 1977.

In college at Stanford, Kardong ran primarily the 5000 meters (3.1 miles).

As a journalist and author, Kardong was a contributing editor for Running magazine from 1980 to 1983, and a contributing editor (1983–1985) and senior writer (1985–1987) for The Runner magazine.Since 1987, Kardong has been a contributing writer for Runner's World magazine.

Kardong was president of the Road Runners Club of America from 1996 to 2000.He served as executive director of the Children’s Museum of Spokane from 2002 to 2004, and as race director of the Bloomsday run since then.

• Thirty Phone Booths to Boston:Tales of a Wayward Runner (Macmillan Co., New York, 1985, selected an editor's choice of the American Library Association)
• Bloomsday:A City In Motion (Cowles Publishing, Spokane, WA, 1989)
• Hills, Hawgs and Ho Chi Minh(Keokee Co. Publishing, Sandpoint, ID, 1996)