Archive For The “Running Free” Category
Original Gangster Of Running Lisa Larsen Weidenbach Rainsberger had a laudable, lucrative, lustrous career. Finished as the First Alternate at the USA Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984, and again in 1988 and again in 1992.
Yeah, really. Three consecutive times in a row.
Coach Chatman was beloved as coach and mentor of legions, who only last September concluded a 8,814-day (almost 24 years) streak of running at least one mile daily.
Coming in as the previous champion, I was given race number, “W1” making me feel like I had a bullseye on my back. I remember the gun going off and the pace immediately heated up along with the air temperature.
“Greg Meyer was my toughest opponent. He would never give up, either in a workout or a race.”
Who was the obsequious twit who continually described Bill Rodgers as “Mr. Downhill?” Was that supposed to be a comment on Rodgers tactics, or on his career?
This piece does not appear in my award-winning, not-bestselling When Running Was Young & So Were We. Copies of first printing still available on Amazon. Think I have found six-seven additional articles my esteemed book researcher missed. Hell, I don’t remember writing them, so he remains esteemed.
“If the question were ‘Who did you most enjoy competing against?’ the answer would definitely be Frank Shorter. Distance God.
“We hope we did some good.” – Bill Rodgers, Bill Rodgers Running Center
When sports scientists first heard about the Tendai Marathon Monks, they assumed the reports was exaggerated folklore. [The way sports scientists do.] So, in 2011, a team from Stanford flew to Mount Hiei to document the damage. They expected to find knees ground down to bone. Hips riddled with arthritis. Ankles held together by scar tissue.
“You don’t run 26 miles at five minutes a mile on good looks and a secret recipe” – Frank Shorter. What Frank said is true for a two-ten marathoner. But what about sub-two? What about running twenty-six miles at four minutes and twenty-three seconds per mile? What about that?
Many storylines, but there is one I have yet to see noted. You might say, an actual secret. Because over a half century later, few understand, After The Work, The Rest Is Easy.