How KSTP’s Tom Hauser uses marathon running to deal with stress

For the first time in his career, Tom Hauser overslept.

“I’m literally incapable of sleeping past 7 a.m.,” Hauser said last Friday, apologizing for being an hour late for a scheduled phone interview. “I hit the snooze button on my alarm three times and I wasn’t even aware of it.”

Hauser, the current dean of political journalism on local TV, had a good excuse. He was still suffering from jet lag after returning from a trip to Sydney, where he had participated in his 37th marathon.

Hauser, 64, didn’t break any records at the Aug. 31 event. He finished 22,506 out of about 35,000 starters.

But the trip made him one of about 4,000 enthusiasts who have run in all seven of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, which includes races in Tokyo, Berlin, New York, Chicago, Boston and London. Sydney was added to the list this year.

He talked about his experiences, how running helps his mental state and what’s next on his bucket list.

Q: When did you start doing marathons?

Q: Have you found that running helps you cope with the mental stress of covering politics?

A: There’s no question. I’ve been in TV news for 43 years and the constant deadline pressure is really brutal. I find running to be as much of a mental release as it is physical exercise. Every day when I get up, I need to clear my head, think about the day ahead, the phone calls I need to make, the story ideas I want to pursue. It’s amazing how running can help with all that.

Q: You were already in Australia when the Annunciationshooting occurred. How did you handle not being here for such a big news story?

A: It was heartbreaking and frustrating not being there to cover it. In many ways, I felt guilty. I would have felt helpless if I had been there, but at least I could have helped out. They have a great newspaper culture in Australia so there were stacks of the Sydney Morning Herald in the lobby of the InterContinental hotel. There wasn’t a lot of U.S. news in there unless it involved [President] Donald Trump. But they had pictures and articles in there of the tragedy.

Q: How did running help you deal with the shootings of Minnesota politicians earlier this year? You knew the victims as well as any local journalist.

Q: Aside from the marathon, how did you spend your time in Australia?

A: I went in four days early to let my legs adjust to the flight and then spent four days there afterwards to let my legs recover. My youngest daughter, who came with me, loves to travel. She had quite an itinerary for us. I probably walked twice as far as I ran. The highlight, other than the race, was probably the coastal walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach, which is about 4 miles along the coast. It was stunning.

Q: Your pursuit of running in all the Abbott majors has allowed you to see the world. What are some of the highlights?

A: Most of the races go through historic areas, so it’s really kind of stunning the things you get to see, like the Sydney Opera House. In London, you end up at Buckingham Palace. In New York, you end up in Central Park. In Berlin, you finish at Brandenburg Gate. I always tell my friends that the real finish line for me is the beer tent. Although in Berlin, they were only serving nonalcoholic beer. Never did get the reason for that.

Q: What marathons would you still like to run?