Never explain: your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. – Elbert Hubbard
Cleansing my computer of thousands of old emails, I come across “Chapter Introductions” from Halloween 2013. Seems D&B Publishing wanted an explanation of the contents of When Running Was Young & So Were We.
D&B – not the most supportive nor artist-friendly, I must say – but at least I am not self-published. So, there’s that.
The best part was not the four-figure advance I have yet to clear but long ago spent. The best part was not doing all the non-writer work. Ironically, any time I have to fill out all the paperwork, nothing gets dpne.
Chapter Introductions
1. Personal Best
Of all the many races in which I competed, turns out I only wrote about three. (Not a big market for stories about the escapades of ‘the world’s slowest professional runner.”) I wrote about my worst marathon, my best marathon, and a race I only ran in my imagination. The imaginary race can be seen perhaps as an amalgamation of all the races I ever ran.
At my best, I wasn’t as good as the best runners, but I was faster than most of the rest. I recall one event in Phoenix where I was running ahead of a rather large field. Spectators, who I had to guess, hadn’t been spectating long, cheered me loudly as I strode past them. I admit it, I waved like I deserved the applause.I know they hadn’t been there long, because if they had been, they’d have seen the lead pack – so far ahead – pass by a few minutes earlier.
Another time, I was at a small race, so small you could look over the milling crowd and basically determine your finishing position before the gun even sounded. I was thinking maybe low single digits myself, when a long, many-windowed van came to a sudden stop in a cloud of dust. A coterie of lithe young kids leaped out. Oh, crap, it’s the Tuba City cross-county team. Suddenly, I am thinking mid-teens, if I have a good day.
Well, I had a good day, a few guys got away and I am running alone, just knowing any minute now a bunch of speedy Native-American children are going to come scampering past, they have no mercy and frankly their talent is scary. I can hear their footsteps and so I accelerate and when I hit a turn, I surge, trying to get away, trying until I can’t really try any more all I can do to hold this pace, which is too fast. I can hear their footsteps, so finally I work up the courage to turn around and see how many of them there are. And there is no one there.
2. Some Of The Men
Missed some guys. Nothing personal. I never wrote an article about Frank Shorter, although I have his autograph. (Got it for my mother. No, really.) I did a piece on Bill Rodgers, an interview which does not appear in this collection. Benji Durden and Don Kardong, two of my all-time favorites, absent. The athletes whose exploits are recounted here were newsmakers at a time when somebody was willing to pay a certain writer actual cash money. That simple. It was business.
3. And Some Of The Women
Same story, different gender. Newsmakers? Back in the day, the ladies were nothing less than great explorers, seeking the outer limits of, well, their limits. Who knew how fast they could go? Who could have guessed how many millions of women would follow?
I remember thinking early on – this how crazy I am – if I was a female, I would be the 13th fastest marathoner in the world. Not long after, the only way I could keep up was by riding the press truck and getting a head start.
4. In Their Own Words
I have been studying running and runners for almost half a century. [Beyond six decades now.] The subject is endlessly fascinating to me. And so when I have an opportunity to sit down in an intimate setting and have a face-to-face conversation with a great runner, I try to let them do all the talking. And sometimes the tape recorder is doing all the running.
5. Training And The Coaches
Successful distance running is most easily achieved with the assistance of a knowledgeable coach. Good coaches can be just as talented as good runners – knowing how to get the best out of a runner is a unique skill…. Greg Shank is such a coach. He was instrumental in the success of Chris Fox, a five-time U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier in events ranging from 5,000 meters to the marathon. Mike Spinnler was instrumental, too.
If you study how coaches work with their athletes, you will be more capable of improving your own running. That is the theory at least.
6. At The Races
Sometimes there are places to be. The Honolulu Marathon in early December is such a place, especially for one escaping the rain of Oregon. Oregon, home of world-class events like the Cascade RunOff and the Hood To Coast Relay.
Sometimes there is history to be made. The first women’s USA Olympic Trials in 1984 was historic because the sport finally came to age, an age of equality.
7. More Than A Business
There is a rather hackneyed expression, do what you love, the money will follow, which I know for a fact is not a universal given. Running is an expression of one’s self at its most elemental. To be great in the running business, you have to love the sport.
8. Politics And Money
We’ve gone from a $100 stuffed into an amateur’s spikes to corporate sponsorships and million-dollar prizes. The transition wasn’t always smooth, wasn’t always easy. And as the number of runners, as participation grew exponentially, those who craved power swept in to fill the vacuum. Others manned the battle stations to protect the sport. In the middle were the athletes. And I offered my opinion.
9. The Greatest
And the first shall be last. If there was a Mt. Rushmore of running, the four faces carved in stone would be Joan Benoit, Alberto Salazar, Mary Decker, and Steve Prefontaine.
These are personal choices, with no disrespect to many other deserving athletes, but this quartet transcended the sport and their names will live forever.
Epilogue
Spare me your mail about my old acquaintance Alberto. Mean that in the nicest way. Call it CRT – Critical Running Theory. WRWY&SWW is basically one story about the first running boom. When we busted ass and changed the sport.
An entire photo album in words and yet a snapshot. Imagine a world without the internet and selfies. When magazines ruled.
Running was a mystical place and we were explorers.
D&B Publishing hooked me up with Amazon and wrote this stellar appeal.
For many years Jack Welch wrote for Running magazine and Track & Field News, chronicling the extraordinary developments of running during the 1970s, 80s and 90’s.
When Running Was Young and So Were We is based on his columns from this period and is a unique book – telling the story of how running became a way of life for millions.
· It’s a book about excellence, inspiration and greatness. Not just what it takes to cross the finish line first, but also the lessons learned along the way.
· It’s a sports book – offering an up-close and personal look at Olympic greats, big races and long runs.
· It’s a training book – outlining many of the techniques and strategies that make you a winner, on and off the field of competition.
· It’s a celebration of the human spirit – examining what happens when both great athletes and keen amateurs are driven to challenge their own personal limits.
What do greats like Alberto Salazar, Joan Benoit, Dick Beardsley, Mary Decker and Steve Prefontaine all have in common? Read their stories and be inspired!
Note D&B Publishing omitted my middle initial.
Think brown M&Ms backstage at a Van Halen concert.
Can’t speak for other writers, I don’t actually need sales reports, but, please, get my name right.