Bill Gookin

Gookinaid inventor Bill Gookin of San Diego dies at 86; ran distances into his 40s

Friday afternoon, I was decompressing after a busy week by checking Facebook. Then I came across a post by Olympian Ruth Wysocki, who replied to a sad note about the death of Bill Gookin, a San Diegan famed for inventing the Gookinaid fluid-replacement drink. I jumped into action, contacting Gookin’s first wife Donna (a masters track and LDR star) and Bill’s daughter Debra. I wrote several San Diego running gurus and did a ton of Googling for my story in Times of San Diego. I didn’t finish writing, tweaking and formatting until 5 a.m. I’m proud of the result. (I…