Gary Tuttle was playing basketball and baseball in high school until Jim Hunt asked him to join the cross-country team.  He followed Jim Hunt to Humboldt State University and Gary continued to improve his running skills.  In 1968 and 1969 he won the Division II National Championship in the steeplechase. 

By 1975 he was the fourth ranked marathoner in the United States yet he never really considered 26.2 miles as his best distance.  He was the first National Champion at 15k and also won the National Championship at 25k.   In 1976 Gary placed seventh overall at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Gary started his Inside Track store in 1976 in Ventura, California.  Gary's knowledge and devotion to the running community began Inside Track's long history with running and racing.

Gary is only a couple of months older than me and we have battled it out several times at the Carlsbad 5000 over the last 15 years.  He has beaten me each time but one.  One year I out kicked him.  It was a good moment for me.   I think we both were 51 and it took a 17:19 to beat him.   

I was sadden to hear about Gary's bout with prostrate  cancer but I am happy to know that he is on the road to recovery.  We will be battling again in Carlsbad April 2013.  (Interview by Bob Anderson)

Personal Bests: 4:03.8 (Mile), 8:32.9 (two mile), 13:10 (three mile), 28:26 (10k), 59:40 (20k - American record at the time), 12 miles 811 yards (Hour - American record at the time), 2:15:15 (Marathon)

1. Is there one race from the past that stands out in your mind?  Two races stand out in my mind.  The first kind of meaningless, and the second the best race I ever ran. The first was the Lasse Viren 20k within 20 miles of my house.  Viren was two-time Olympic Champion and consented to race in the 20k. In front of family, friends and the local running community, I won and beat Viren by over a minute.  I was a local hero for years.  The second race was the World Cross Country Championships in 1976 held in Wales. I ran strong and finished 7^th overall, first American.  Everyone in the top 15 was on their respective country’s Olympic Team but me.  I also beat my all-time hero, Gaston Roelants.

2. How soon after you started running did you start running world class times? I was an average high school runner, but got faster every year for 21 years.  I ran my PR 10k of 28:26 at the age of 36.

3. Did you just wake up one day and say I am going to start running? I was playing high school baseball, and we were running laps to finish practice. The track team was doing their workout and I paced with them.  They told the track coach and he contacted me about going out for cross-country the following year.

4. Tell us about your toughest training week ever. For 20 years after college, Bill Scobey and I owned a running camp.  We had two consecutive week-long camps which got about 100 campers each week.  Bill and I ran at least 20 miles a day for two weeks with them, leading every run.  In addition we would be awake and chasing high school kids back to their dorm rooms until early morning hours.  We ran 280 miles in two weeks.

5. Did you have a good coach? My high school and college coach was Jim Hunt.  He was, and still is, one of the top distance coaches in the country.  He had many NCAA champions, including a Division II NCAA championship team, and an Olympic Marathoner, Mark Conover.  After college he was always available if I needed advice.  We are still very close to this day.

6. Did you achieve what you wanted from running? No and yes.  It would have been nice to be an Olympian, and I didn’t have a 40-44 year old career due to injury. On the positive side I accomplished much more than I ever expected to.

7. Did you pay attention to your diet? I paid little or no attention to diet. I tried to keep everything in moderation.

8. What happened when you turned forty? And fifty? On my 39^th birthday, I ran 39 miles. The next day I ran too hard and tore my left quad.  I did not run from ages 39-44. I began riding my bike 250 miles a week and became an age group cycle champion.  I won the 40+ division in the Death Valley to Mt. Whitney bike race, and the Angeles Crest 100-miler.  I beat all the long-time bikers and they weren’t thrilled to see a former runner in front.  At the age of 45, I entered a 2-mile run, 20-mile bike, 2-mile duathlon. Both 2-mile legs were under 10 minutes.  I won with no quad pain and haven’t been on a bike much since.  My running since then has included many age group victories, including my age group at the Carlsbad 5k and the Oceania Masters Athletics 8K cross-country championships in New Zealand.

9. Tell us about your running store. What made it unique. The Inside Track Running Store was a running store for runners.  It was “function, not fashion”.  Run by runners, for runners. It was the second specialty running store on the West Coast.

10. Why did you decide to get out of the business?  I owned the business for 35 years, and it was time to move on. I decided to sell for four reasons.  I had a young runner, Josh Spiker, eager to buy.  I had just turned 59. The store was still very profitable, and I was getting burned out dealing with the shoppers who would use my inventory, knowledge and time, and then go buy off the Internet.

Photo: "My family is very important to me."

11. Have you had some injury issues? The only major injury I had in 170,000 miles of running was the torn quad at 39 years of age.

12. Was it tough to be pleased with your times as you aged?  I said years ago,” I will never be satisfied with age group racing,” but I actually love racing so much, I no longer feel that way.  Now it is just a question of “how slow before I’m embarrassed to race”?

13. What was your favorite racing distance? I loved racing any distance, 2 miles to 15 miles.  I didn’t like the marathon because I wasn’t good at it.  My best distance was right around an hour, or 20K.  Had there been an Olympic 20K berth, I would have made the team.  The 10k was a little short for me, and the marathon was far too long.

14. Do you love racing? Yes!  I have always been a much better racer than trainer.

15. How much are you running now? I was running about 5 miles a day until a month ago.  On January 24^th, I had my prostrate removed because of cancer.  The cancer had not left the prostrate so I’m CANCER FREE!  I get this horrid catheter removed soon.  Then I will start with a walking program, and get back to an hour a day of running.

Thanks Gary...you have done some amazing things and you are going to be back as strong as ever...
Bob Anderson 2/10/12 12:46 pm

Log In To Comment

16. How about racing? I hope to race again in 5k’s and get back under 19:30, which wins most local age group races.

Photo: "I like to run, garden, travel, watch birds..."

17. How important has running been to you?  Has this changed over the years.  Running is and always has been very important in my life.  Of course an hour once a day is a lot less than the hour twice a day that I averaged in the old days.  I no longer train, I jog and scavenger hunt for coins and other items of value on the road.  During 2011, I found $368 in bills and change on the road.

18. What do you think about the present running scene? Except for a few races, racing has become about quantity, not quality.  Most events are fund raisers and parties.  Many races don’t recognize the overall winners with awards.  Often the drawing prizes are nicer than those for the age group or even overall winners.  I believe excellence should be rewarded and acknowledged.

19. In your day, was there much prize money around? I was fortunate enough to make money off of running.  First of all my store was very successful; secondly, New Balance paid me a monthly stipend for 12 years.  I made a small amount of appearance money, and won some great overseas trips representing the USA.  I had over 26 foreign trips in my 15 years of world-class running, and dozens of in-country trips.  The most I won at one race was $6000 and a trip to a Japanese race for finishing second in the 1985 Boston Marathon.

20. How did you make ends meet when you were racing at your best? The Inside Track was profitable. My love for running supported me. The better I ran, the busier the store was.

21. Would you have run better times if you were being paid big bucks to win races? Today’s big money would have had no effect on my performances.  I think I got as much out of my abilities as I could have.

22. What do you think about the big races today? The big races are fun to watch.

23. Are most your friends runners? Until about 10 years ago, all my friends were runners.  Since I sold my business, I have broadened my scope of friends.  Now I also have travel friends, birding friends, basketball coaching friends and local Democratic Party friends.

24. Your wife is a good runner? My wife of 22 years is also a great runner.  Ruth finished 20^th in the women’s 1992 Olympic Marathon Trials, she ran 2:41.30. She is 11 years younger than me and gives me all I can handle in a 5k. She wins most races she enters in the over 50 age group.  She won the Cook Islands 31k an astounding 13 years in a row.  She also won the Napa Valley Marathon, the Bordeau Marathon in France and the Santa Clarita Marathon, and the 50+ Bay to Breakers age group. 

25. Do you train together? Except on vacations, we never trained together very much.  For many years I was too fast for her, and the last seven years, she runs too fast for me. 

26. Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know.  I’m a dedicated birder, an activist in the California Democratic Party, a gardener and a girls’ high school basketball coach.  I was elected to the Ventura City Council and served for eight years.  My final two years I was Deputy Mayor.

27. You have run the Carlsbad 5000 many times.  I always enjoyed Carlsbad for many reasons. Ruth and I both raced there, but my race was before hers, so I got more time in the beer garden.  We also enjoy San Diego area, and I always enjoyed beating my old friends who show up. 

28. What has been one of your most challenging moments? My bout with cancer has certainly been the most challenging event I have faced.  Knowing I had cancer for six weeks before it was removed was difficult, but nothing compares to three weeks with this catheter.

Photo: Some of the top runners at the Cooper Clinic in the early 1970.  Gary is second row third from the right.  How many of these top runners can you name?

29. Is America ever going to be at the top of the distance running world again? The USA of the 1960’s and 70’s was a terrific time for distance running.  Unfortunately, the late 80’s and 90’s were pretty poor for USA.  The last few years have seen improvement at the front, but there is little depth in the field.  I finished in about 68^th place one year at Boston in 2:17 and was something like 50^th American.  Last year, a 2:17 at Boston would have placed in the top 20 overall.   I partially blame the rise of soccer in America for taking away large numbers of prospective fast runners here.

30. How closely do you following the running world? Has this changed over the years? I try to watch every big event on TV.  Ruth and I have attended four of the last six US Olympic Track and Field Trials.  Locally, I’m a certified high school track starter and start a dozen or so track meets each year.  When I got hurt at the age of 39, I hated to watch running.  That lasted until I became older and knew I would not be in the Olympic Trials anymore because of age slowing me down.

31. Have you ever been over weight?   I raced at 132 pounds.  I have gotten as high as 153.  One of the effects of my bout with cancer, because of diet restrictions, has been a quick drop in weight.  I’m now down to 143. Much of the loss can also be attributed to a “no beer diet” for three weeks. 

32. Is the Olympics what they used to be? Olympics are still the highpoint of my sports world.  I don’t leave my 57-inch high def TV for two events: the Olympics and the Tour de France.

33. Is there anything you wished you had done differently in your life? The only thing I have regretted is getting older and slower.

34. If I gave you one million dollars, what would you do with it? I don’t really need the money to continue to live the life I enjoy.  I guess I would spend a little to travel.  A nice chunk of cash would go to the two junior college track and cross-country programs here locally that are being canceled.  I would make a big donation to the Democratic Party and President Obama. The remainder to cancer research.

35. How different is your life now compared to twenty years ago? I don’t have to go to work every day.

36. Are you still setting goals? My immediate goal is to beat Bob Anderson at the 2013 Carlsbad 5k. I also hope to have a team to coach during the 2012-13 basketball season.

Photo: Ruth and I playing Scrabble

37. What do you like to do besides running? I like to run, travel, watch TV, garden, coach basketball, read, support the Democratic Party, bird watch and play Scrabble against Ruth. In 2011 Ruth beat me 60 times and I beat her 40 times.

38. What is the one thing you are most proud of? I’m most proud of my daughter Kristie and her husband Fred.  They are both chemists working for a drug company in England. Fred does cancer research and Kristie does diabetic research.

39. What if you had not found running? I most likely would have followed in my father’s footsteps and became a full-time teacher and basketball coach. He coached for 40 years and is the California Sports Hall of Fame.