Jay Bates (a.k.a. “The Batesman”) is a reader, writer, runner, coach, and teacher. For seven years, in the late-90s and early 2000s, he wrote a weekly humor blog called “A Peace of My Mind,” whereupon he ruminated on such topics as sneezes, bellybutton lint, and the correct plural pronunciation of the snack food “CrackerJack.” In 2004, he enrolled in the Rainier Writing Workshop, a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. During the three years that he was in this program, he committed himself to marathon writing sessions that produced two things: a failed novel that has yet to be finished, and a rediscovered fondness for distance running that had gone dormant after his teen years. A proud public school English teacher, he also serves students as a head cross country coach and distance coach for track. In April, 2018—one day before his fifty-first birthday—he ran a qualifying mark for the Boston Marathon in a time of 3:27:15.

He lives in Puyallup (pronounced pyoo-al-up), Washington with is lovely wife. Their son and daughter, now college students, are also avid runners and members of their schools’ respective cross country and track teams.