Is Ken Martin Too Young To Be An OGOR?

Original Gangster Of Running: a title awarded more for who you are than when you were running big time. 

But thinking 1966-1976 for our purposes here.

Think about it.  A walk-on runs a sub-four minute mile AND a sub-two-ten marathon.  An American, more than a few decades ago.

That’s some pioneer stuff right there.  Hadn’t seen Ken Martin for many, many years, many years.  Then maybe four years ago, he was winning some well-deserved award and I was there taking notes.  Beers may have been involved.

Big fan of Dick Harter and The Kamikaze Kids.  Running was the next sport after basketball.  Ninety-eight (98) pounds going into high school.

He’s from Coquille, Oregon.  Which is near Bandon.  Near Coos Bay.  Never ran all year round.  Only twenty (20) miles per week in those high school days.

His distance coach was a high jumper.  Never won a state championship at Coquille.  Near Bandon.  Near Coos Bay.  You’ve probably heard of Coos Bay.  He liked Eugene, the big city.  He shopped there, it’s different… hippies.  Met some kids at basketball camp.

Doesn’t think he ever went to a track meet at Historic Hayward Field.  May she rest in peace.

Al Tarpenning – interesting man – recruited Ken to Lane Community College. The Titans of LCC kicked some ass in the Seventies.

He didn’t know you can walk-on to the team at the University of Oregon.  As it was then known.

“A couple of weeks before going to Eugene as a frosh,” Ken recalls, “I started doing three five-mile runs daily.  Five miles, three times.  For a week or two.”

You can almost see the memory wash across his face.  “I mean, I had no idea.”

He made up his own workouts, stupid stuff.  16 x 200.  Next day 16 x 400.  On asphalt.  This from a guy who had once thought running twenty miles weekly was some serious training.

“My first year at Lane, I beat the Duck’s fifth runner,” Ken says.  “Think it was Art Boileau.”  Seen above chasing.

At the same time, South Eugene High School was a force.  “At Lane, we were basically doing the South Eugene High School training.”

“I could just barely hang on to their top guys,” he admits.  “Which impressed [Coach] Dellinger.”

Spent 78-79 at the U asking himself, where is it going to be the best for me as a runner?  Consider – 2:13 marathoners were a dime a dozen.  They were painting houses.  There was a couple-year plan for some guys.  A few made it.

Finished getting Ducked in 1980, that fall went to Athletics West, Nike’s local company team.

Nike was blossoming.  Got his first pair of Nikes from Geoff Hollister.  Track spikes, white with tan swoosh.

Eugene was the nirvana of the running world as far as Ken Martin is concerned.   “A magical time to be there,” Ken remembers.  “So many greats came through town.”

He left town.  Most everybody does.  “I wanted to get out of the rain.”

Toughest opponent and why?

1. Henry Marsh, although I’d be more inclined to use smartest rather than toughest.  Being a few years older than most of us at the time, Henry would let the more aggressive younger steeplechasers push the pace until he’d pick us off as we tired.  He was a very good hurdler and sprinter, regularly running down the leaders over the last 200 meters.

2. A chronic leg problem that limited my training.  I tried many different types of treatment to try and solve an issue that would develop in my right calf after races or after higher volumes of speed work, if done in spikes.  However, wearing racing flats kept the problem to a minimum, which influenced me to race more on the roads. Years after retiring from competitive running, I had an x-ray done and on it we noticed a bone problem at the head of my femur. We determined this was probably what was causing the calf problem by preventing my leg from properly rotating enough inward.

Most memorable run and why?

Junior year (1975) high school state track meet, 880.  Until then I was just another guy who had qualified from one of the district meets, nothing outstanding, no ‘big meet’ (invitationals) performances, more interested in basketball really.  If I remember correctly, I ran a PR [personal record] to win my semi-final and felt easy doing it.  

I then realized I was as good as some of the other guys from around the state whose names and times I’d been seeing in the newspaper’s box scores.  In the final I was last at the bell but came in second behind a guy going to Oregon, which was another PR for me (1:57.7) and about a 5 or 6 second improvement from before state.  After that race, I was a runner.

Favorite training tip and why?

Jack Daniels explaining to me how and why to do tempo runs.  I think those were responsible for my large improvement in the 10k and my marathon successes.

Maybe I would’ve tried those tempo runs if I knew how?

If I remember correctly, Jack said that at least 20 minutes at my 4mmol-lactate threshold pace would improve my ability to clear lactate, eventually allowing me to run at a faster pace  before reaching that threshold – I would then run faster before significantly fatiguing.  

After doing tempos for about 18 months I – relatively suddenly (~ six weeks) – started running them a lot faster (from low 5:00 mile pace to mid-4:40 pace).  At that time there wasn’t information about tempo runs longer than 20 minutes, so I always stopped after 20 minutes, except one time I did two 20-minute tempos, separated by two minutes. That session was in Albuquerque [5355 ft. elevation.] before my marathon PR at NYC (1989)

You lost me at millimoles.  Biggest disappointment?

Doping’s influence on sports.  Sadly, I no longer view track and field with the same passion that I used to.

What would you do differently today?  I mean, besides the Afro.

Be more patient.  I’d back off on the frequency and on some of the intensity I used to do.  I’d try adding more volume (if my calf would allow) at slightly lower intensities and on fewer days per week (2 rather than 3 high-intensity days/week).  I’d slow down on my easy days.  Plus, I’d add more agility and strengthening drills – the further away I got from basketball or steeplechase drills, the weaker I think my body became, which I think over-stresses the major running muscles.

Tell me about your sub-4, please, & your sub-2:10.  Any special manly self-confidence come from that range?

For me, my sub-4 minute mile was flat out speed the whole way. When it came down to last 100m sprint, I tied up, having no extra gear.  I lost over 2 seconds on the winner and finished 5th.  I was thrilled to break 4 but concerned that I couldn’t kick, knowing how important that was for winning races.  Go figure, I’m a sub-4 minute miler with no sprint.  Doesn’t seem to make sense, but I attribute it to, at that time, my lack of understanding effective speed training.
 
Running sub-2:10 in the marathon was hard at the end, but not as bad as hitting the wall, which I had done once before while on 2:08 pace.  I felt great on 2:08 pace at ~ 20 miles in Chicago in 1985, then suddenly started breathing really hard and slowed nearly 1 minute per mile.  In NYC in 1989, we went out just as fast (~ 1:03:40) as 1985 Chicago (except for Steve Jones who was minutes ahead of the pack).  
 
However, in NYC I got fatigued but was able to hang on.  I was tired but didn’t hit the wall, which I think is different.  I did lose ~ 30 seconds on the mile entering Central Park, but I still had a kick left to hold off Bordin who was catching me near the finish line.  [Italian Gelindo Bordin is the only male to win both the Boston Marathon and an Olympic gold medal in the marathon. – ed.]
 
I remember talking to an agent before that race who asked me what time I was expecting to run.  I said “sub-2:10”, then he laughed at me.  After the race, in his presence, his girlfriend was the first to effusively congratulate me!  That still feels good!
 
It sounds good that there are only 20 of us who have done both sub-4 and sub-2:10, but that’s not counting the 1500m conversions, and there would be a lot of those.  Still, more people have climbed Mt. Everest than broken 4:00 for the mile.  Add a sub-2:10 marathon to that and, well, I’m not sure what to compare that too.  It sounds cool, so I’ll simply go with that.
 
Accomplishing those two things doesn’t really hit me until I go watch a race and realize that some guy who looks to be running fast would be behind me.  I think the sub-1:50 800, sub-2:10 marathon crowd is more impressive. There are probably only a few of those guys.
 
How did running prepare you for life’s hurdles. e.g., cancer?
 
My first thoughts about this are fairly basic and go toward the discipline that training develops, plus the patience needed to see a plan through.  There were times when I trained alone, for weeks, in countries where I didn’t know the language.  I had to contend with boredom, locate resources (track, trails, transportation, physiotherapists, grocery, etc.), and simply take each day as it came.  
 
This is not unlike the extended time I spent on the hospital’s isolation ward during my stem cell transplantation.  There, I was often bored and had to organize myself, including training, in an unfamiliar setting.  I remember thinking, this is kind of like that time I was training in such and such place – develop a routine, find out what is available that I like to eat, find out what resources are available to me, get on a consistent sleep/wake schedule, find things to do in my free time, interact with the ‘locals’, and take precautions not to get sick.
  
The hospital’s isolation ward became another training environment where I fell back into a familiar disciplined routine, but for sure with different outcomes and expectations. 
 
I believe that cancer first showed signs in me as far back as the summer of 1991, which would mean that I set two personal best, 28:11 track 10k (September 1991, Memorial van Damme) and 13:34 track 5k (Prefontaine Memorial win in 1992) with cancer.
 
However, my career at that point had become unpredictable, with periods of good training and progression interrupted by unexplained periods of poor performances that I couldn’t seem to rest my way out of.
 
After tiring of the frustrating, unpredictable ups and downs, I ‘retired’ from competition in the fall of 1994.

Favorite philosopher?

Hmmm, I don’t read typical philosophy, I’m still trying to sort out my college ‘Free will and determinism’ class!

Jesus of Nazareth; and, Proverbs writers, particularly King David.  Some Proverbs are applicable to internet trolls:  “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.” Proverbs 9:7 (New International Version). 

Favorite comedian?

I liked the quirky stuff Steven Wright and Gary Larson did.  I also have a friend who is a comedian and I used to attend a lot of his shows.  It was interesting seeing him work – writing, fine tuning jokes at open mic nights, switching up sets, using call-backs, etc.  I now appreciate the writers we never see but who write the good line(s) in a monologue, sketch, or show.  Today, I miss the Key & Peele show.  

Favorite song of the era?

Nothing immediately comes to mind.  I grew up cash poor in rural Oregon, which means I mostly heard AM top 40 pop.  I just remember some quote about track being a symphony while road racing was rock and roll.  

Not sure what ultra’s would be.

Ken Martin (9/10/58)

High School:

880 1:57.7 1975

mile 4:19.4 1976

2 mile 10:06 1976

College:

steeplechase 8:20.9 1980

5,000 13:37.1 1980

10,000 29:42 1978

Post-collegiate:

1500 3:42.2 1983

mile 3:57.86 1981

steeplechase 8:20.4 1984

10,000 28:11 1991

marathon 2:09:36 1989

Two time U.S. World Cross Country Team member1980 & 1992, Team silver medal 1980 in Paris, France (3rd US team runner placing 21st).

Two time Pittsburgh Marathon winner, 1985 & 1989

Two time Bobby Crim 10 miler winner, 1985 & 1989

Two-time USA Marathon Champion, 1984 & 1985 (Sacramento Marathon & Pittsburgh Marathon).

Running Free
1 comments on “Is Ken Martin Too Young To Be An OGOR?”
  1. JDW says:
    December 18, 2018 at 12:42 pm

    This in the middle of the night from Ken: I just woke up thinking, Hey, Solomon, King David’s son, wrote most of the Proverbs, not King David! Went to check, yep. Oh my, some folks will have fun with that gaffe.
    Must have been the recent sermon we had on David and Bathsheba that stuck in my head. Ought to use some of the Proverbial wisdom and proof read better and check sources!

    Back to bed.

    Reply

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