V 13 N. 95 Two Diverse Efforts of Endurance That To Me Show a Surprising Link to Our Existence

The Prefontaine/Diamond League meet is history, and what history with wonderful races and field events hotly contested.  World records, none more incredible than the 14:00.21 5000 by Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia and getting almost no mention during my viewing of NBC.   But there were just so many other great events with Mondo Duplantis setting a new pole vault record (6.23) 20' 5  1/4" , that 100 meter hurdles with Tobi Amusan proving her Olympic win was no fluke.  Karsten Warholm getting a backseat to Rai Benjamin  , and Jakob Ingebrigtsen showing that he is still an incredible finisher if there is no Scotsman in the race.  What a two day double.   Emmanuel Wanyonyi (19 years old) coming on in the 800 to edge Marco Arop, 1:42.80 to 1:42.85.  Joe Kovacs beating Ryan Crouser in the shot (22.93) 75' 2  3/4"  to (22.91)  75' 2".   Andre De Grasse's comeback in the 200.  Too bad there was no hammer throw, or Canadians would have been lifting their Molson's again.  

Whatever I mention, someone can legitimately say,  "And what about __________(fill in the blank)?  Every event was a barnburner.  And I regret not being there.  I'm heading down to Ohio tomorrow, and putting those two trips back to back would have been more than this old body could endure.   You all saw the event so I will go no further but instead will relate to you what came across my screen this morning from other sources about other events that may be as important or inspirational in their own way as any of these briefly noted events above.

Okay sports fans, here is a conundrum.  To move on to the next plateau of existence in the universe, you have to complete a feat of endurance that few people have ever done.   You have two choices, either of which will get you to where you wish to go. Here are your choices.  

Choice Number One:   Run 3100 miles in 52 Days.   That averages out to 59.61 miles per day. Spiritual awareness is the prize. 

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the course you will run is a 0.54 mile loop in Jamaica, Queens, NYC.  Sound exciting?

Choice Number Two:  Dig a 15x20 meter  fish breeding pond  (4000 cubic feet of dirt) using only yourself and a shovel.  This will be done on a very limited diet of corn starch and beans, and of course water.  No sports nutritionists or psychologists, or massage therapists will be available to support you.  To complete the task is to assure survival of your family and your village.

Former Peace Corps Volunteer  Mike Tidwell's description of this clam dig is like reading about a muscle destroying marathon. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, this future pond is located somewhere in Zaire (Dem. Republic of the Congo), in the hot sun, with malaria carrying mosquitos, the occasional puff adder to contend with, and you will not have a pair of work gloves to wear.

Feet, hands, blisters?  But of course.  I do concede that on the run you will have shoes. 

Here are the links to the two stories; they are worth the read:

Why Have a 3100 Mile Race? by Gary Corbitt

I Had a Hero by Mike Tidwell   from Peace Corps World Wide

Although both stories were great, I preferred the digging because that seems much harder to a runner.  Enjoy your long trip home.  Bill Schnier

This note came in from Steve Smith a few minutes ago adding more clarity to what the Eugene event meant.

as Tom Jordan always says

BEST MEET EVER 

This appeared in World Athletics today Sept. 20, 2023

World records from Gudaf Tsegay and Mondo Duplantis contributed to the Wanda Diamond League Final – held in Eugene on Saturday (16) and Sunday (17) – being the highest quality non-championship meeting in history based on competition performance ranking scores.

Along with the two senior world records* set in Eugene, there were also five Diamond League records, a world U20 record, nine area records, 14 meeting records and 14 world-leading marks, making the 2023 series final a highly memorable one.

All-time competition performance ranking

99,156 - 2023 Prefontaine Classic, Eugene (DL Final)
96,927 - 2022 Weltklasse, Zurich (DL Final)
96,763 - 2021 Weltklasse, Zurich (DL Final)
96,001 - 2019 Weltklasse, Zurich (DL Final)
95,985 - 2018 Herculis, Monaco
95,949 - 2015 Herculis, Monaco
95,753 - 2015 Prefontaine Classic, Eugene
95,715 - 2001 Weltklasse, Zurich
95,562 - 2015 Meeting de Paris, Paris
95,523 - 2017 Prefontaine Classic, Eugene

In Eugene on Sunday, Duplantis returned to the scene of his 2022 world title and added a centimetre to the world record he set earlier this year. In what was just his fourth jump of the competition, and in a series without any failures, he cleared 6.23m at the first time of asking.

Perhaps the biggest shock of the meeting, though, came from Tsegay, who took almost five seconds off Faith Kipyegon’s world record to win the 5000m in 14:00.21.

They were the latest standout performances in a 2023 track and field season where eight senior world records were set in individual track and field disciplines.

Kipyegon tore apart the record books in the middle of the season, setting world records for 1500m, 5000m and the mile. Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma, meanwhile, set a 3000m steeplechase world record in Paris, while Ryan Crouser broke his own shot put world record in Los Angeles back in May. Little more than a week before winning the mile and 3000m double in Eugene, Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a world 2000m record in Brussels.

Individual senior world records set in outdoor track and field disciplines in 2023

Women’s 1500m: 3:49.11 Faith Kipyegon (KEN) Florence, 2 June
Women’s 5000m: 14:05.20 Faith Kipyegon (KEN) Paris, 9 June
Women’s mile: 4:07.64 Faith Kipyegon (KEN) Monaco, 21 July*
Women’s 5000m: 14:00.21 Gudaf Tsegay (ETH) Eugene, 17 September*
Men’s shot put: 23.56m Ryan Crouser (USA) Los Angeles, 27 May*
Men’s 3000m steeplechase: 7:52.11 Lamecha Girma (ETH) Paris, 9 June
Men’s 2000m: 4:43.13 Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) Brussels, 8 September*
Men’s pole vault: 6.23m Mondo Duplantis (SWE) Eugene, 17 September*
*pending ratification

Including indoor, U20, road, and relay marks, there have been 29 world records in total set throughout 2023, 13 of which have already been ratified.

In the Diamond League alone, there were 18 Diamond League records set this year, 15 of which were in standard scoring disciplines.

As was the case in Eugene, where most of the record-breaking marks came about from enthralling duels among the world’s best athletes, there will be more excitement in store on 1 October when the Latvian capital hosts the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 – the final global event of the year.

V 13 N. 94 You Thought You Were Done With English 201? Not Quite So

 Our recent posts using literary profundities went well with a number of our readers contributing their own prose and poetry to those of us who can still read and reflect.    This inspired me to look for more passages from the lad from Stratford Upon Avon and I found that young Will may well have competed  in Cross Country for the Stratford U. A.  Blunderbusses to be able to finesse his memories into his later work.   Here are some of his bits shown in bold type, followed by my humble interpretations.  George

These quotes are taken from  A-Z Quotes   https://www.azquotes.com/author/13382-William_Shakespeare/tag/running

                                                A Running Race in 16th Century Germany

Bid me run and I will strive with things impossible.    

Life's challenges are mind over matter, and like running, gives me cause to test my mettle.

The course of true love never did run smooth.     from  "Midsummer Night's Dream"

Only a person of experience could know this.  I've also known a few cross country courses that ran like true love.

Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast.  Friar Laurence to Romeo.   Updated version:  Even pace, lad,  with this Juliette.  Too hard at the start and you will stumble over your cod piece.  Ah, a friar with life experience.  

A woman would run through fire and water for such a kind heart.   Mistress Quickly in "The Merry Wives of Windsor".   Act 3 Scene 4    Update:   A flame burns in me for her affection but I dare not say so in this time of political correctness.

The wildest hath not such a heart as you.  Run when you will, the story shall be changed,  Appllo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;  the dove pursues the griffin, the mild hind makes speed to catch the tiger, bootless speed, when cowardice pursues and valour flees.

You are the game changer on this day and my money is on you in the fifth race.  Don't worry about Appollo and Daphne, they are overtrained and their coach is an ass.  Small game such as the dove can often wear out a griffin, and the same for a fawn chasing a tiger.  Take off your shoes my man and don't worry about pre-meet rankings.  The Ducks arses will shrivel when they see what you have brought to the field today.

Be advised; Heat not the furnace for your foe so hot that it do singe yourself: we may outrun, By violent swiftness that which we run at, and lose by overrunning.  Know you not, the fire that mounts the liquor let run o'er, In seeming to augment it, wastes it?

Never but never overtrain for that seeming invincible foe, for you shall burn yourself out before the race begins.    It seems that Shakespeare's high school team may have had this problem as he repeats himself on occasion about going too hard and burning out or stumbling.  Maybe that is why he suggested going barefoot in one of the above passages.  And modern shoes were still six centuries away from development.

We may outrun by Violent swiftness but lose by overrunning.  

There again is that recurring theme.  Stay on our race plan at 72 seconds for the first two furlongs.  

If thou remember'st  not the the slightest folly that ever love did make thee run into , thou hast not loved.    from "As You Like It"  

We can't be crazy out there.  This ain't no county track meet.  Use your bleedin' heads and you are not going to the prom the night before the state meet.

Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?  And the creature run from the cur?  There thou mightest behold the great image of authority - a dog's obeyed in office.   from "First Quarto of King Lear

This obviously is a metaphor for politics.   However the Bard recalls those long runs through the countryside on Sunday's when he should have been in chapel and thus equates a nasty dog with with a member of the local Stratford town council.

Time and the hour run through the roughest day.    

You got beat today, but it is a lesson to be learned for the next battle.  Be strong, my team, and say your prayers, for tomorrow is another day, and ye best be ready.  The clock will not slow down.

I will not trust you, nor longer stay in your curst company.  Your hands than mine are quicker for a fray,  My legs are longer, though to run away..

As we all know, "runners are guys with few options"*,  too small to play football, can't make the three pointer in basketball,  or  can't hit the curveball.  Therefore they are runners.   Our protagonist admits he is a wimp, but the bully will never be able to catch him.  He can run to save himself.   

* This idea is taken from Bill Schnier former coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Coward dogs must spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten runs far before them.

Again our author shows his experience with vicious dogs along the path of his long workouts.   They cannot outrun him, their barking mouths are spent in trying to catch him.  He shall prevail.

And so we leave you to contemplate the wisdom of 16th and early 17th century running.

The written test on this lesson will be next Tuesday.   No computers, compasses, or calculators will be permitted in the classroom,  only pencils and bluebooks.

You humble the rest of us with your erudition.  Paul O'Shea

I thought the wrath of Cain had descended on my head when three comments came in today from 

Peter , Paul , and John

George

George,

Thanks for service to those of us still coaching.  You’ve given us a great source for Coachly Inspiration.

Roy B.

Comments are getting a little out of hand so I'm taking some down.   ed.

V13 N. 93 Not Straying from the Literary Path, W. B. Yeats is Misquoted on Marathon Medal

 September 12, 2023

 Yeats,  Shakespeare, Mad Magazine?  Who says our blog will not make you a better conversationalist while you are rehydrating during a marathon race?   The Guardian today had this interesting bit on a medal with a misquote for an upcoming marathon in Ireland.  Still it's a nice quote no matter who wrote it.         written by Ella Creamer.     ed.  

‘Only the great writers are misquoted’: Dublin marathon medal has wrong Yeats quote

‘There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t met yet’ is engraved beneath an image of the Nobel-winning Irish poet. Only he didn’t write it

Ella Creamer

Tue 12 Sep 2023 12.46 BST

Participants in next month’s Dublin marathon are due to receive a medal engraved with a quote attributed to WB Yeats, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Irish poet receiving the Nobel prize in literature. However, there is no record of the quote in question having been written by Yeats.

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t met yet” is written along the bottom of the medals, below a portrait of the poet. However, there is “no evidence of any kind” that Yeats wrote those words “either in his numerous articles, essays or book reviews, or in his almost 400 poems and 23 plays”, Yeats Society Sligo director Susan O’Keeffe told the Guardian.

Event organisers said they “noted that while this quote is widely attributed to Yeats it has never definitively been proven to be his quote”, but that the quote nevertheless “reflects the values of the Dublin marathon”, which is known as “the friendly marathon”. The race will be held on Sunday 29 October and has a capacity of 22,500 entries.

The forgotten ‘weird sisters’ of WB Yeats who helped forge Irish identity

Read more

O’Keeffe said that the Yeats Society understands that the decision to feature the quote was made “in good faith” and that she is “really delighted” that the “national poet will be shared with over 20,000 people doing something they’re passionate about”.

“I understand exactly why the attribution was made,” said O’Keeffe. “It’s been made by so many people before this, along with several other quotes. It’s a sign of Yeats’s global importance – only the great writers, songwriters, poets, philosophers are misquoted”.

“We must always remember that not every word he wrote, or indeed word he said, was recorded,” she added. “And some records have, of course, been lost, during his lifetime or afterwards. But, as we are here in 2023, there is no evidence for what indeed is the perfect quote for a marathon where strangers do indeed make friends”.

O’Keeffe suggested that the organisers could have used an alternative quote, such as “Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams” from the poem He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven. “It would have made people smile.”

Yeats, known for his poems such as The Second Coming, Adam’s Curse and Sailing to Byzantium, is considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He played a key part in the Irish literary revival movement and received the Nobel prize in 1923, becoming the first Irish person to win the award. He later served two terms as a senator of the Irish Free State.

  The following came to us from Dr. John Telford,  Detroit, MI

'The Great Gray Ghost'

Hannibal and Balthazar

Cast him stardust from a star.

He was famed from near and far--

*Northwestern High School's Henry Carr.

- JT

*Detroit NWHS's colors are red and gray

Henry won the Olympic 200 in 1964 as a student at Arizona State.

And the following from a former world class 800 runner who wishes to remain anonymous.  

Henry the 5^th Act 4 scene 1

"It's good for men (and women) to love the hardship they suffer because they see other people suffering.   It eases the mind.   And when the mind is strengthened, the formerly dead body breaks out of its sleepy grave and moves again, casting off tiredness and gaining new energy."

Taken from the new translation of Shakespeare's original words, plus I added

" and women" to be politically correct these days.

Of course unfortunately I never got this message completely as my mind wasn't eased and I couldn't cast off tiredness or gain new energy down the home stretch very often.

George,  

What if Kipling had been born 35 yrs later, would he have written, “If you can fill the unforgiving 440 yds with 60 seconds of distance run, times four, you might break 4:00, and then you’ll be The Man my son.”

Coach W.S. Benson

V 13 N. 92 Did Shakespeare Know Cross Country? You Bet Your You Know What He Did.

 Here good ladies and fellows is our annual nod to the Bard and his unflinching courage to present to the world a treatise on one of our greatest sports.  "Oh, tennis?" you say.   Nay,  a curse, though be it small, on you for such false thinking.   "Oh",  you repeat, with a nod to the NFL and college footy."  Nay again we say.  If we may be so bold with a small clue, the word begins with  Cross.    "Oh" you repeat,  "the holy sabbath, the way, the do unto others bit?"  Again must I be so bold as to ask you to put down your hymnals and focus?  

It is near the onset of the third season,  the leaves are beginning to turn,  the dew is on the grass, the smell of linament is in the aire.  Do you not recall?  It is the time of Cross Country.   

Now do you get it?  Are ye with me?   Okay.    So pull up your chair, settle down with a brandy and enjoy this tale of the past.

Here is the link:    Shakespeare Knew Cross Country

V 13 N. 91 An Interesting Find from L.A. 1932 and Mad Magazine View on Running 1980

 Yesterday was a day of ups and downs,  started down but went up.   I was expecting some bad health news before going to see a 'specialist' who I thought was going to tell me I was looking at a new bout with the big C but the news was better than expected.  There is definitely something there in the pancreas, but it is too small to deal with, come back in a year.  We don't do 17mm only 20mm and bigger.  

So with that revelation I treated myself to something I had seen in an antique store 6 months ago.  Back then I thought $75 dollars was too much for some frivolity.  No, Ernie, it was not the first edition of 'Playboy'.  But it does relate to the subject of this blog.  It is an aluminum casting of some sort of decorative item from the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932.  I've seen this logo on some items from those games but never in this particular form.  It may have been attached to a plaque or it may have been some kind of decorative item for a door or a mailbox,  your guess is as good as mine.  I've scoured the internet and not seen anything similar other than the discus thrower on a poster.   Maybe you SoCal lads might have some ideas?   Below is a picture.

   There are two pin holes under the 'L' and the 'A' probably to nail to a flat surface. On the                      reverse side the number 13 is inscribed, possibly a limited edition?  Could a Canadian athlete have pried this off a door in the Olympic village and brought it back to British Columbia?  So un-Canadian an act.  Who knows?

This may remind you of the plaque from the British Inter Counties Championships of 1951 I found several years ago and tracked down to it's possible original owner and then wrote about: link  

                                                     A Winter's Tale        

If you have any ideas please share with me at   irathermediate@gmail.com     Thanks,  George Brose

                                                            Mad Magazine on the Running Boom

Now on to less serious frivolity.  I also recently found an old copy of Mad Magazine recently dated January, 1980.  You may remember those  days of the Jimmy Carter presidency and the American withdrawl from the Olympics because of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.  Now we've been there and done that, and the Russkies are banned for cheating and probably should be for their current international behavior.   But wait, didn't we do some unprovoked invasions too?  I can't keep up with the politics of the IOC.  

Anyway by January, 1980 the Running Boom was well underway.  Gosh that was 43 years ago?  And 'Mad' in their satirical way with all the usual due diligence had a few pages about it.  Some of these observations about running have been made millions of times since then, but this was probably pretty funny stuff at the time.  Just being recognized in 'Mad' was an honor,  I think.... maybe?....well I dunno.    Below is the cover of that issue and the cartoons.

 

FYI   Spider Man also got the needle in this issue.  GB

I actually like the article by mad magazine on running.    who knows if the article got people prompted to......jog   Mike Waters

 Loved the Mad magazine comics.  Mad and SNL have been the best sources of humor during our lifetime, cutting out the extra and getting to the point.  All of them are true.  I'm trying to decide which is worse, a new runner or a new parent.  Bill Schnier

 

 I remember seeing Mad the first time, about 4th grade,  and thinking that I could not let my teachers or parents see me reading this, but then it gradually became a very accepted form of humour in America teaching us that we could  laugh at ourselves.  I always looked forward to the Spy vs. Spy page.   George

V 13 N. 90 New Book Out by Dr. John Telford: "Athletes,Activism, & Apple boughs"

 

If you are in my generation (early Baby Boomers) you may remember John Telford of Wayne State 

University as one of the top quarter milers in the US.   All his life Dr. Telford has been an activist in his Detroit community including serving a term as superintendent of public schools.  

As a high schooler I vaguely recall seeing John run the quarter in Dayton at an AAU meet.  That was a day when the 440 in Ohio was primarily run around one turn and runners broke for the pole and duked it out on the back stretch and on into the second turn, then saw who had anything left on the main stretch.  

This is the description of John when he was inducted into the Wayne State Hall of Fame in 1978:

A 1957 graduate of Wayne State University, John Telford is the youngest athlete ever to be inducted into the Wayne State Athletic Hall of Fame at the age of 42. Telford was a four-year letterman in track from 1954-1957. His greatest achievement was being ranked fourth in the World during the 1957 season. He excelled in all distances, from 60-880 dashes or running events. Telford still holds the Wayne State 440 yard record of 46.8 seconds and the record has stood for the past 20 seasons.

Not only a success on the athletic field, Telford has also excelled as a writer and an education administrator. In 1965 Telford authored, The Longest Dash, A Running Commentary on the Quarter Mile. In 1971, the book went into its second edition.

John Telford also served as an Executive Director of Secondary Education for the Plymouth-Canton Public School System.

Below is the Amazon hype on Dr. Telford's book:

My good friend and fellow poet John Telford has been a world-ranked sprinter, a championship track coach, a teacher, a college professor, and a Detroit Public Schools superintendent. He remains a lifelong civil-rights activist.

- Blane Smith, All-American Purdue and NFL linebacker

Telford is Detroit's Robert Frost! - Joseph Preville, PH.D., Harvard University

John's Detroit-oriented poetry is shameless kiss-and-tell - and it's brilliant! - Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum, Michigan Boxing Commissioner Emeritus

This All-American athlete and physical marvel tells poetic tales of love and ecstasy with a blunt, unruly truth that transcends the tyrannical rules of decorum. - Sunanda Samaddar Corrado, Ph.D., Columbia University

Dr. Telford's autobiographical verse is evocatively erotic, and he's also a poetic genius. - Mildred Williams, Coordinator, the Detroit Poets and Authors Society

Coach Telford is a legend. - Spencer Haywood, NBA All-Star forward

Herein are fascinating pages of Detroit's athletic and civil-rights history, also recounting this busy Bard's AMATORY history, as well. - Greg Dunmore, Pulsebeat TV Arts, Entertainment, and Culture journalist, Detroit

John Telford has fully tasted the forbidden fruit. - Willie Wooten, vice president (retired), Detroit Public Schools Organization of Administrators and Supervisors

I'm going to read this poetic masterpiece over and over again! Come and join me! - Greg Thrasher, radio and TV commentator, Washington 

Salacious material apparently. Caution to us geriatric readers is well justified. Ned Price

V 13 > 89 New Book "Distant Finish" by David D. Bruhn and Jack Leydig

 

Received a note in the mail today from David Bruhn about his new book on Northern California running boom in the 1970's.

Here's our back and forth and a description of the book.

Hello George, 

I wanted to make you aware that Distant Finish, a book devoted to road racing in northern 

California in the 1970s, is now available from the publisher, Heritage Books:

https://heritagebooks.com/products/distant-finish

 

 

 

Distant Finish takes readers back in time to the 1970s, an extraordinarily 

exciting period in the formative years of road racing. This era, 1969–1979, 

began just before the “running boom” spurred by Frank Shorter winning the

 gold medal in the 1972 Olympic Marathon; transitioned into the early years 

of Nike; and ended on the eve of the 1980s, a period that saw the advent of mass 

running events. As the popularity of running expanded rapidly in the 70s, 

myriad new running clubs “popped up” to support legions of newfound athletes,

 men, women, and children, eager to “take it to the streets.” A few, long-established,

 renowned races, and many new community-sponsored ones, provided opportunity

 for runners—young and old, experienced and novice—to test themselves against

 the courses, the distances, and their fellow competitors. This period was characterized

 by striped “Dolfin shorts” made famous by Shorter, cheap entry fees that included 

a cotton t-shirt, and fresh heroes, emerging along with running clubs, that to this day, 

inspire and support runners and races in their communities. Runners wanting to 

learn more about their new love, could subscribe to the holy trinity of distance 

running journalism (Nor-Cal Running Review, Track & Field News, and Runner’s World,

 all of which were, fittingly, based in northern California at the time). The so-called 

running fad that developed during this period never slowed down once it laced up its

 shoes. One hundred seventy-six photographs and maps; an appendix; and an index 

to full names add value to this work.

 

David D. Bruhn and Jack Leydig

David,

Thanks for sending.   I'll post this in a day or two.  I'm sure the west coasters 

will especially like this.   Nothing like an old $2.00 entry fee. After a few runners dropped

dead the liability lawyers and insurance companies got into it but it didn't destroy the sport.   

Thing is in those days the median times for all distance were much better.  Now we've got 

so many more non athletes 'jogging' the quality is down, but the health benefits are up for 

the public.  Unfortunately they all expect a reward and probably deserve it for their $50 and 

$100 entry fees.  We were lucky to have ribbons for the first three places.   Remember when 

the leader carried the stopwatch and if he got passed, he handed the watch to the new leader?  

Then the winner called out times to the rest of the field when they crossed the line.  And you 

hopefully got results mailed to you in a week.

David Bruhn	2:03 PM (17 minutes ago)
to me

Hello George,

Professor Britt Brewer, who wrote a foreword for Distant Finish, observed about the book and that era:

Perusing the plentiful snippets of race results in this book, I was struck by the astonishing quality 

and depth of the fields. In contrast with subsequent running booms and boomlets in this country, 

the one that transpired in northern California in the 1970s was marked not just by hordes of people 

running, but by hordes of people running fast! The emphasis on speed was apparent both in the front 

of the pack and further back, where age-group battles played out. Distant Finish details the exploits of 

many of the colorful characters and introverted ectomorphs who trod the roads, tracks, and trails. As a 

young runner, I benefited immensely from the advice, encouragement, generosity, mentoring, support, 

and transportation I received from many older runners—some well-known and others not—in multiple 

northern California running communities.

Sincerely,

David 

This came in from Geoff Pietsch (with his permission)

     In 1973 I ran the West Valley Marathon that was organized by Jack Leydig. I P.R.ed in 

2:31:18. A few weeks later I got a letter from Leydig asking if I could house overnight 3 other

 guys and him in in Miami. They were en route to Bogotá and had a layover. Jack, a 2:25 

marathoner himself was going as both runner and AAU rep. I said sure and asked who the 

others were. Answer: Frand Shorter, who had won gold in Munich a few months before, 

Jon Anderson who ran the 10,000 in those Games, and Jim Johnson, the #2 steeplechaser in

 the country. They flew in in late April, about 10 days after Anderson won Boston. So I had 

the reigning Olympic and Boston champs as guests. Just another night.

    At the time I lived on the campus of the college prep school where I taught. Next door was

 a Latin teacher who drank a bit, And every morning I would hear him toss his empties in the

 outside trash can as I was going for a run. Loser.... So when the elite guys flew in, the first 

thing Shorter asked was "Where can we get some beer? And in the morning I was throwing

 empties in that trash can.

    That morning we went for an easy ten miler. A few miles out Shorter commented to 

Anderson, "I see you toe in with your left foot just like me," and the thought crossed my

 mind that if I sent that story to Runners World in those early Running Boom days, I could

 have crippled half of the newbies. 

   After the run, on a typically hot, humid Miami day, we went for a swim in the school's pool.

 And I noticed that none of us could truly float. If we took and held a deep breath and 

relaxed, our legs and torsos would gradually sink and go vertical, and only our inflated lings 

enabled us, with heads back, to stay above water and breathe. 3% body fat will do that.

Geoff,

I heard that Frank didn't like to stay in hotels if he could help it.  When he ran at the Dayton River 

Corridor half marathon he stayed at Dr. Baker's house and slept in a bunk bed with one of the kids,

 Jeff.  One of the great moments in young Jeff's life.

George

I suspect Shorter et al stayed with me simply because in those days there was no money 

(except under the table) even for elite runners. Leydig contacted me simply because I was 

probably the only one he knew in Miami. Interestingly 

I was impressed by Leydig. That same year, 1973, the National AAU marathon, then a pretty 

big deal, was held on that West Valley course. And he also produced the results laden. 

NorCal Running Review for many, many years. Probably inspired by Browning Ross's Long 

Distance Log. Glad to hear he is still going. 

Interestingly Anderson was 3^rd in that same 1973 West Valley Marathon in 2:#3:57. Used it 

as a training run prep for Boston. He lived nearby during his stint working at dimething to 

satisfy his conscientious objector deferral. Ran a bunch of road races. And Ron Daws was 4^th 

in 2:26:58. I recall commiserating with him about his having to train in a Minnesota winter 

and he said it was preferable to my having to train in Miami heat/humidity.  

Love those personal story bits!  Looks like an interesting read. Now if there was a similar one on Southern California I’d be right on it. Some really fun road races back then. Darryl Taylor

Got a query as to who are the runners on the cover.  Here is David's reply.

On the front cover is National champion and All-American Bill "Mad Dog" Scobey, and ultra-marathoner Luanne Park.  On the back cover is All-American Bob Darling leading Mitch Kingery (National High School record holder in the marathon) in a race, and Mike Buzbee handing off to Tracy Smith (World indoor 3 mile record holder) at the Tahoe Relays.

Sincerely,

David (Bruhn)