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Dr. Russell Crandall 

By Randy Mayes 

Growing up in San Francisco, Russell Crandall ran 9:27 for two miles in high school. He moved on to Bowdoin College, a liberal arts school in Maine, where he participated in cross country and track his first two years. As a government major, he spent his junior year in Chile doing research. During his senior year, he took a break from running after deciding he would enjoy the cross-country ski team more. 

In 1994, Crandall started his first teaching job in a small town in Honduras with first graders. He recalls surprising several rural farmers while training in the countryside. Being fascinated with the Latin American culture, he enrolled as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University and received a Master’s Degree in International Relations in 1997. He also worked on a project in Colombia, South America that provided financial and logistical support to human rights teams throughout the country. He cautiously continued training as he often worked in zones of conflict.  

In 1998, after a year of working and training at 10,000 feet in Colombia and Ecuador, Crandall began competing in road races in the Washington, DC area. He was ninth at the GW Parkway 15K (50:34) and won the Buck Elliot Half-Marathon (1:12:00) and Jug Bay 10K (32:21). 

Last year, he placed fifth at the GW Parkway 15K (48:20) and second at the Lawyers Have Heart 10K (32:50). He won the MS Half-Marathon (1:09:21), Jingle Bell 10K (29:59-short course), Buck Elliot Half-Marathon (1:10:16), and the Jug Bay 10K (32:16). After a return trip to Columbia, this time to do field work, Crandall finished his Doctoral Thesis on “U.S. Policy Towards Columbia in the 1990s” while living and training in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. With a map and no idea of mileage, he did three to five hour trail runs through snowfields, meadows, and across rivers. 

On matters relating to South America, he has testified before Congress, appeared on television, and has been quoted and published in numerous newspaper articles. As a lecturer at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C., Crandall teaches the Evolution of the Latin American Political and Economic System class. He recently finished defending his doctoral thesis and plans to continue teaching college and doing public service and volunteer work related to foreign policy.  

While frequently training with the Washington Running Club, he logs 50 to 60 miles per week. In the Fall Runner Rankings (Jan-Feb ‘00 issue), Crandall was ranked third in the open division. While not caught up in the marathon fad, he has set a challenging goal to run a sub- 1:06 half marathon. He is currently somewhere in the Peruvian mountains working on an economic development project.

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