Steven Walker

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Home and Family
Stephen Walker (AKA Steve Runner) lives in the small town of Oxford, Massachusetts with his wife Lynn and his sons Mat and John Michael. He is a native to New England and regularly vacations on the Allagash river in Maine. He has worked as a DJ, a radio engineer, and currently works from home as a network engineer. He enjoys a good glass of wine, with particular love of Argentine Malbec, Bordeaux, and Bordeaux-style blends. The wines of Long Island are a another favorite. He is a devout Catholic, a Red Sox fan, and welcomed a Beagle puppy named Indiana (a long overdue addition as his podcast listeners will attest to).
Running
Steve was once morbidly obese and self-deprecatingly describes the period of his life as one where he was tied to "the couch of doom" constantly eating "cheesy poofs". In 1998 he took to the road and became a runner. His first road race was in 1999 when he ran the Jeremiah's 5K Road Race in 22:22. Since then, he has run numerous road races including 19 marathons (seven Boston Marathons from 2002-2008). His marathon personal best is 4:01:31 run at the Philadelphia Marathon Nov 18 2007. On average, he runs over 1400 miles annually. He regularly runs the Falmouth Road Race and the Bay State Marathon. He sometimes calls in to Boston area radio stations during road races to provide "on the ground" reporting about the conditions and his performance. He recently was invited to again run the Boston Marathon. This will be the 113th Boston and Steve's eighth running of the historic race.
Run The Planet
Steve used to be a regular contributor to Run The Planet, one of the early websites devoted to promoting running by writing columns on various running topics.
Phedippidations
Steve is most well known for his (roughly) weekly podcast "Phedippidations". Named for the Greek hero Pheidippides, It has been in production since July 2005 and is nearing its 200th episode. Steve records parts of the show while running in his hometown and during road races. He answers email from other runners and shares their reports about races. The podcast has become a crossroads for the worldwide running community through the way that Steve cross-promotes other running and sports podcasts as well as running events around the world. The show features a "running blog of the week" which range from the newest runners just entering the sport to the blogs of long-time and veteran runners. Like many self-created and promoted social community products, he has had his doubts about his stamina to continue the rigorous production schedule of a weekly podcast, but he readily admits that when he cuts back on production, he really misses the work. The show typical contains a musical interlude near the middle where Steve features various independent bands who are willing to freely share their music such as Black Lab and Carbon Leaf. Infrequently, Steve produces short episodes of the show called "Intervals" on whatever topic strikes him.
Topics vary on the show, some of which are technical in nature and describe running training programs. Other themes include "Running Legends" in which Steve describes the historical events or famous runners such as Steve Prefontaine, Sir Roger Bannister (first man to rule the mile in under 4 minutes), Billy Mills, Fred Lebow, Frank Shorter, legendary track coach Bill Bowerman, and perhaps one of the most famous runners to the general populous Jim Fixx. Steve is not afraid to speak his mind on controversial issues in running, such as the working conditions of third-world laborers who create most of the shoes worn by runners in the US and other parts of the first world (see ). Prior to the Worldwide Festival of Races, Steve typically produces a show of clips from listeners who provide cheers of encouragement for runners to listen to during their race.
The podcast is published under a Creative Commons license. In the past, the show has been part of Adam Curry's Podshow network. He has intermittently accepted advertising money from sponsors that he personally endorses such as Audible. It is frequently among the top podcasts at Podcast Alley. The show won a Podcast Award for best Sports podcast in 2007 and was nominated again for the Health/Fitness category in 2008.
Worldwide Festival of Races
In 2006, Steve and several other running friends around the world came up with the idea of creating a race that anyone could run in, for free, wherever they happen to be on the planet. On the second weekend of October, 2006, the first annual Phedippidations Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge was run with hundreds of people running near their home and logging their times for all to see. The race even included a "goody bag" (a traditional part of registering for a road race) consisting of coupons for products and a free mp3 from the band Black Lab. In successive years, the Half-Marathon Challenge has expanded into a series of three races, the Kick the Couch 5K, the Zen Run 10K and the Half-Marathon Challenge. Steve and the other race directors promote the event as one designed to encourage people to run, participate in their communities, and to contribute to noble purposes and charities.
The Runner's Roundtable
Steve helped create an unscripted live podcast titled "The Runner's Roundtable". It features many other podcasting runners such as "The Zen Runner" Adam Tinkoff, Dr. Monte of "Fitness Rocks", Nigel of "Running from the Reaper", John Ellis and many more. Using the Talkshoe interface, listeners are able to call in and participate in the show as well.
Other Internet Sightings
Steve has embraced many rapidly changing internet tools to promote running. His training log is available for listeners to review at Buckeye Outdoors, he sends out updates about running and wine on Twitter, and is a contributor to websites such as Runcast.tv.
Notability
In addition to being nominated for Podcast Awards, Phedippidations is a mainstay among the top podcasts on Podcast Alley and as their #1 Sports and Recreation podcast. He has been interviewed for several online and print media outlets, including the widely read magazine Runner's World (Sept 2007, p32) showcasing his running and his contributions to the podcasting community.

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