Archive For The “Running Free” Category
My first issue as Road Editor for Track & Field News was November 1979. It was a most excellent time and place for a writer who lived and breathed the sport. That garlicky smell was probably DMSO. August 25th, Herb Lindsay won the Bobby Crim Ten-Miler in 48:00, beating England’s Steve Kenyon by fifteen seconds….
It’s like you trade the virility of the body for the agility of the spirit. – Elizabeth Lesser Ode to an Aging Runner By Paul C. Maurer The couple was old. Fifty? Sixty? Beyond? Good Lord, I thought, give it up. And yet they didn’t. They would continue, trotting down the road. “Trotting” might be…
I have race walked exactly once. The same number of times I have performed many another bizarre or chancy act. Some things a person need not try but once. Too many years ago to count, I was in college somewhere out west, at very high altitude, and it was the Campus Indoor Track & Field…
From “On The Road” in Track & Field News. May 1982. Cover price $1.75. Auckland, April 3 – Steve Scott blazed to the fastest mile ever run by a human – 3:31.25 – but he only chuckled about it. Road miling made it from the sublime to the ridiculous with one swell foop. Scott’s scorching…
“During the winter, you head out into the darkness for a run. “When spring comes, and the first crocus pokes up its head… you know it was worthwhile.” When did you start running and why? I grew up in Brooklyn, active in all kinds of exercise. I was a speed bike racer, and a speed…
The introduction to my “On The Road” section of Track & Field News (September 1982) was written probably by Jon Hendershott, who was always very good to me. Nicely sets up the tone of the opening piece. Early-summer road racing was missing one important ingredient: Alberto Salazar. In Europe for much of June and July,…
Benoit Lowers American Record To 2:26:11 Eugene, Oregon, September 12 – Ho-hum. Another misty 64-degree day at the Nike/OTC Marathon. Another sterling field here to chase a $100,000 purse. More great competition and another (just the fourth in the race’s twelve-year history) American Record for women. Joan Benoit, the small woman with the giant heart,…
By Bob Hodge With a purpose I started slowly. Late afternoon sun through the trees beginning to change color. I read my body heart rate, raising my arms – a bit of heaviness – as I climb a small rocky rooted path and make my way to the road. Main Street. My thoughts wander but…
We exchange emails about ’82 Houston and, as is his style, Bill Rodgers tosses in How’d you like Papa Diacks story? To which I replied, Diack’s situation proves you don’t have to be Usain Bolt to make millions in athletics. He thought that was funny – Ha! – then I found the following. Commentary from Track…
February 1995. Over twenty-five years have passed, so the statute of limitations has expired. Anyway, it’s in my book. Makes a wonderful gift for runners of all ages. Jeff Johnson, Nike’s long retired first employee, makes Phil Knight, the company’s notoriously shy and reclusive founder, look like a flashy extrovert. There would be no Nike…