Timothy Sheehan

Timothy Sheehan

Get into Your Play - Wisdom from Dr. George Sheehan

About Timothy Sheehan and George Sheehan

The Red Bank physician and writer, George Sheehan considered play essential to the good life and growth at any age. Dr. Sheehan, the voice of the running and fitness movement from the 1960s through his death in 1993, is regarded as our leading philosopher of sport. Sheehan took up running for the practical health benefits of fitness, but soon recognized that he had gained much more. In a word: Play. His hour long runs stripped away the mundane and freed his mind and senses. Running was his play and play, his gateway to self-discovery – to becoming the person he was meant to be. His call for everyone to find their own play resonates today. To bring his ideas to a new generation, Rodale Press recently published his classic bestseller Running and Being and The Essential Sheehan, a new compilation of his writings. Sheehan’s son, Tim, will introduce the film “Sheehan on the Run” and discuss his father’s philosophy of play and what it means for us and our lives.

In 1963 George Sheehan was a respected cardiologist on the Jersey shore, when he started running. A year later he joined 200 fellow travelers to complete his first Boston Marathon. In 1968 he wrote his first column for the Red Bank Register. Two years later he became medical editor of Runners World magazine. In 1972, his first book appeared. He wrote that running brought more than the health benefits of fitness, it reintroduced him to play and a pathway to self-discovery and rebirth. He became the voice of the burgeoning running and fitness movement who Sports Illustrated named “our leading philosopher of sport.” His books include the classic bestseller, Running & Being, and Going the Distance his account of the duel with the cancer that led to his death in 1993. Tim Sheehan is one of George’s seven sons. Tim ran track at CBA and at Manhattan College and continues to be recreational runner at age 67. Following graduate studies at Johns Hopkins and a career in state and city government, Tim moved to CBRE where he is currently senior vice president. He has lectured on economic development at the Wagner School at NYU. Tim co-authored the foreword to The Essential Sheehan, a new compilation of his father’s writing.