About this episode
Every writing teacher will tell you to “write what you know”. Jim Knoedel did exactly that, by writing about two fictional track athletes. Jim started his journey as high school track athlete, in Iowa City, Iowa. He then became a walk-on runner on the University of Iowa track team. During his time under legendary coach Francis Cretzmeyer, aka Cretz, Jim heard stories of Jesse Owens and watched Steve Prefontaine at the Drake Relays (almost high fiving him). It was in these days that Jim created the plot of his novel, where two athletes, from different eras compete against each other. Jim’s writing skills have been well honed by writing countless recruiting letters, during his years as a track coach at Northwestern, Loyola and UIC. Recruiting letters written so well, that athletes would keep them and refer to them later in their careers. If you’ve ever wondered, who was better, Jesse Owens or Carl Lewis? Michael Jordan or Lebron James? In A Golden Era – A Tale of Two Runners https://amzn.to/36xU0bs you have an opportunity to imagine those scenarios existing.