Original Gangsters Of Running (Benji Durden)

 

What would you get if you crossed Zonker Harris with a Rubik’s Cube?

Benji Durden.

Multiple sweatsuits in the humid Southern summer.  Always thinking.

Running the race of his life to make the Olympic team that didn’t go to the Olympics.  Stayed home.

Slipping in the volcanic ash of Mt. St. Helen’s.  Standing tall for professionalism.

For the Original Gangsters of Running, wasn’t what you did, it was who you are.

 

Jim Ryun inspired me in Junior High to be a miler.  I wasn’t that good at it.

After the 1972 Olympics, I began to think about road racing because of Frank Shorter’s performance, but I didn’t try a marathon ’til 1974.

Bill Bowerman’s hard/easy approach to training was the basis for my training over the years.

Bill Rodgers was the toughest opponent for most of us in the late 70s and early 80s.  He took no prisoners.

[‘Benji was a feisty racer,’ remembers Rodgers.]

Most memorable run and why?

The Olympic Marathon Trials in 1980, 5/24/80, would have to be the most memorable, though there are many candidates.
 
I was not favored to be a Top-10 finisher with a 2:13:47 PR from the Nike OTC Marathon 9/9/79. I had run three more marathons before the Trials; the New York Marathon 10/21/79 (5th in 2:13:49), the Honolulu Marathon 12/9/79 where I dropped out around 25 kilometers due to a bad achilles, and the Boston Marathon 4/21/80 (6th 2:17:46).

I had raced eighteen (18) weekends in a row including the weekend after Boston.

The weekend before the Trials, I had run fourteen (14) 8-minute runs over two days at five-minute pace on a treadmill under Dr. E.C. “Ned” Frederick’s watchful eye for a Nike study to determine if a new air shoe would be better than phylon for racing flats.  Most of the Nike top American marathoners were tested, as we were getting ready for the Trials to help us decide which shoes to wear (I was the only one who chose the phylon).

 I knew I was fit from all of the racing, but I was just hoping for a Top-10 finish. In both of my 2:13 races I had gone out too fast and faded at the end.  Boston was hot and I was conservative.  For the Trials I decided to be cautious.  At the mile I was last with a 5:00 split.  The field of over two-hundred (200) runners was going for it. Over the next five miles I gradually moved through the field, keeping my pace at 5:00.

Just before we started across the Peace Bridge into Canada I edged into the back of the lead pack. Around 15K as we came off the bridge I began to have a slight cramping in my left hamstring, but forced myself to relax (chanting under my breath “you’re okay, you’re alright, you are doing fine”). The cramp finally went away and things were calm with pretty even pacing in the pack of about nine guys for the next 15 kilometers. About then I began to realize that almost everyone I was running with had a faster 10K PR than me. After a brief moment of thought I surged from the 5:00 pace we were running to 4:45.

I almost got away with it. Around 22 miles Tony Sandoval caught me. I tried to hang on, but he shortly dropped me. With about a kilometer to go I heard loud breathing and began to worry that another runner or more was closing on me. We made a turn for the last 600-800 meter stretch to the finish and I risked glancing over my shoulder to see who was behind me. I could see someone a long ways back.

I then realized the breathing I was hearing was me. I began to have tunnel vision as I red-lined to the finished 2nd in 2:10:41, a 3:06 PR. Easily a top moment in a running career.

Listen to your body and allow for recovery after each hard workout.

Biggest disappointment?
Blistering badly at the Boston Marathon in 1983 and limping to the finish over the last ten kilometers.

This also resulted in a plantar fascia tear and was the beginning of the end of my elite running.

 
What would you do differently today?
Wear a different pair of shoes at the 1983 Boston Marathon.

 

I ran a lot of races every year when I was in my prime (I think around 35 was my high end). Most served as training and, in some cases, income since this was the time of appearance fees, not prize money. About four to six times each year I would rest for a race. Usually this was for a marathon, but there were some races, like the Cascade Runoff and Peachtree, that I backed off for. Usually, I just ran my normal routine and raced tired for the training benefit.

Career-wise, what would you do differently?
I don’t think  I would have changed much of what I did back then since it worked for me. There were races where I would have used a different tactic, but I enjoyed my overall approach to training and racing. In today’s racing climate with the emphasis more on prize money and sponsorship for income, I might have a different approach, but I’m not sure.

Will Rogers.

 

George Carlin.

 

 

 

 Personal Bests

4:13.2 Mile track 
14:10.8 5,000 track BC Relays 1981
28:36 10K Peachtree 1981
43:28 15K Falcon Run 1981
48:08 10M Bobby Crim 1981
1:03:10 Half Marathon Savannah 1982
1:16:17 25K Youngstown 1980
2:09:57 Marathon Boston 1983