by Randy Ashley

Coming out of college, runners have a huge life decision to make. The world around them is saying, “Get a real job. Use your degree. There is no money or career in running.” And what the world is saying is true. Our country has no minor league system to allow runners with potential and drive to develop. As a result, our country has lost a Titantic boat load of potential stars to the “regular way” that we Americans choose as the norm.

However, Brevard College’s Jeff Campbell chose a different path. He sacrificed the luxury and security of a nine-to-five job in order to answer questions about his soul. His reward is not a pension or a 401k, but a knowledge in his bones that he has pushed his being to its best. In sport, the ultimate victory is the feeling that, even if just once in your life, you absolutely laid it all out there. Jeff Campbell has laid it all out there over and over again.

An accomplished youth runner, Campbell won six state titles in cross country and track for Randallstown High in Maryland. His success in the crab-cake state earned him a free education at Brevard College. There he further enhanced the storied success of the junior college powerhouse by winning a 10,000 meter track title for Brevard. Then Campbell transferred to the University of South Alabama, where earned two NCAA Cross Country All-American honors. After graduation, Campbell decided to return to the mountains and streams of the Blue Ridge. He settled back into Brevard, ever aware of the lurking white squirrel, and began to train diligently under the tutelage of his former Brevard College coach Dave Rinker.

I was living in Brevard at the same time and trained with Campbell. I vividly remember the 27 x 400 meter workout Rinker put us through (write me and I will give you the details).

As a training partner, I witnessed firsthand the work ethic of Jeff Campbell. He had it in his bones to run hard and he did. More than once, he was on all fours beside the old black track, hurling taters. But the hard work paid off in November of 1995 when Campbell went to the Senior Bowl 10K in Mobile and popped a 28:34. Coming into the race, he had a 30:20 track personal best, but he shaved two minutes off his PR and finished second to marathon bad-ass Mark Coogan while in a dogfight with five other top-notch runners.

A breakthrough like this is rare, but after he hit that high note, he proved to be a consistent competitive runner on the national scene for ten years. Campbell has represented the U.S. in international competition eight times. He finished eighth at the Marathon Olympic Trials in 2000 and was on the 2003 Pan American Games Marathon team. He set his marathon PR of 2:16:25 at the U.S. Marathon Championships in 2003, finishing fourth.

After training like a champion with The Hansons (www.hansons-running.com) in Michigan for the past three years, Campbell has once again returned to the Blue Ridge Mountains he loves so much. He’s now kicking up dust along the French Broad and the Davidson with other elite running locals Bill Baldwin and Joe Gibson. The Asheville running community is infinitely richer to have Jeff Campbell calling this area home once again.

Randy Ashley is a running coach with Zap Fitness (www.zapfitness.com). Feel free to email him at wrashley@hotmail.com.