Success isn’t always about ‘greatness.’ It’s about consistency.
Consistent hard work gains success. Greatness will come. – Dwayne Johnson
Last year I took the day off. I purposely skipped a workout last January 2nd. Purposely missed a day right off the starting line, so I don’t spend the rest of the year maintaining a streak I know will not be in my own best interest. Sometimes you need a break.
Mark Covert didn’t take a day off for 16,436 consecutive days or 149,651 miles. (Not a misprint.)
Let me say that again. Mark Covert didn’t take a day off for 16,436 consecutive days or 149,651 miles. (Not a misprint.)
I am streaking myself, going on two months now. This year I am not going to skip a day on purpose.
One thing I know every runner knows about Mark Covert. Okay, two things. He’s the determined type and he is inspiring.
Just thinking about it inspired me. True.
The man told this to John Ortega in the L.A, Times. Sept. 1991. His streak had twenty-two (22) years or so yet to go.
“I just don’t get a lot of enjoyment from running 34 or 35 minutes for 10,000 meters,” Covert said. “If I could do speed work on a consistent basis, and run what I consider to be competitive times on the roads, I’d race more often. But every time I’ve tried to run speed for any period of time in the last couple of years I’ve broken down. I have a lot of problems with my feet.”
Covert, 40, was a national-class distance runner in the early 1970s, winning the NCAA Division II cross-country title for Cal State-Fullerton in 1970 and finishing sixth in the marathon in the 1972 Olympic Trials. He is in excellent physical condition for his age but he has raced seldom in the past four or five years.
Covert is also tired of being compared to the runner he once was, Ortega wrote.
“I ran (less than 33 minutes for a 10k) a couple of years ago and a woman came up to me after the race and said, ‘Didn’t you used to be Mark Covert?’ ” Covert said. “A lot of people just don’t understand that you get old. I have a family and a full-time job.
“I’ve run over 100,000 miles during my career. After you go that far in a car, you trade it in.”
“Name something that isn’t a shadow of its former self.”
Something else you might know or not, cool enough to be repeated. Mark Covert is the first runner to cross a finish line wearing a pair of Nike shoes.
Five runners wearing the Moon Shoe started the 1972 marathon trials. Of them, only Covert finished.
Mark got his shoes from the hands of Geoff Hollister who was Pre’s friend and I am suddenly thinking Six Degrees of Mark Covert.
Toughest opponent and why?
Rick Hitchcock, Bakersfield College. Rick and I were the top two runners in Cross-County and Track in the California Community Colleges for the school years of 68-69 & 69-70. During those two years Rick or I won every race but one that we were both entered in. We both won a state XC championship and a two-mile championship.
Rick beat me a lot more then I beat him, but there were only a couple of runaway races. Almost all the races were close at the final 400 or so. Over the two years, we would race 15 times with Rick winning a large majority of the races. But we split the championships at the end of each season.
Rick would go on to Kansas State where he would run the 1320 leg of the Distance Medley relay when Kansas would break the world record. We would only race a couple times after that, splitting our two races at the NCAA Div 1 XC meet.
Most memorable run and why?
By far the Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows run. When I got to Cal State Fullerton our summer training camp was in Yosemite Valley.
I think the first time we ran this was in 1973. Our run would start at the camp site and head out past Mirror Lake heading towards the Snow Creek trail. Once we got to that trail, the run would start for real. You make a sharp right turn onto the first switchback of over 100 [switchbacks]. In the next 2.6 miles you will climb 2700 feet to a foot bridge and then start another set of switchbacks that take you above treeline heading towards Olmsted Point that has an elevation of 8300 feet.
For the first time in the run you are back on the street headed towards Tuolumne Meadows. One more climb and then you drop down to the Meadows about 9 or 10 miles on the street.
Twenty-Three (23) miles, 5000+ feet of climbing. The first time I ran it, it took me 2 hr 53 min. Doug Schmink and Dave White were not far behind.
Awhile later, we were waiting for the others to finish, and for our ride back when a ranger came up to me and asked where we had run from. I told him the Valley floor. He asked how many days it had taken us. When I told him that it took us less than three hours, he said the fastest he had ever heard anyone had done previously was two days.
Everyone that took the run that year still talks about the run and how tough it was. It is something we will never forget.
What would you do differently if you could do it again? Why?
I would have done all my long runs with White and Schmink. They did those 20-22+ mile runs every week and I only ran them once in awhile. I didn’t like to go much more then 16-18 and I ran them hard. I could recover quickly from them and get onto the next workout. When I did the long runs, I would have to take some easy days to recover and I didn’t like to do that. For me the wheels would always come off between 18-21 miles, due to the lack of those long runs. I didn’t figure that out for a long time.
Favorite philosopher?
Laszlo Tabori. I say this as he would have a big influence on how I would coach for over 40 years. The things he taught me about hard work and what we can do in training, left a mark on me and would influence me in many parts of my day to day life.
Favorite Comedian?
George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld
PRs
800 1:56
Mile 4:09
2 Mile 8:55
3 Mile 13:41
6 Mile 28:08
10 Mile 48:07
Half-marathon 1:04.26
Marathon 2:21:35
Major wins
California Community College State XC Championship 1968 – 2- mile Championship 1970
NCAA DIV 2 Cross-Country Champion 1970
Mark gave me the answer to a question I didn’t ask him. But now I am going to ask everybody. What was your best stretch of running?
“Maybe my best stretch of running was in the fall of 1970 when I won the Division II Cross-Country meet. A week later, I was 16th at the Division I meet and five days later was 13th at the AAU meet, running for the Pacific Coast Club. PCC would beat FL Track Club by 3 points. I was the 3rd man on the team.”
Savvy follow-up. Why did that happen then, do you think?
“Not really sure but there were a couple reasons I think. First I was healthy for almost six months but for a week when I had a small hip problem. Next having been a part of the Olympic training camp in Pullman, Washington, that summer really did a lot for me mentally. Being around so many of the guys I had seen in Track &Field News for so many years and training with them made me believe it was only a matter of time before I could become part of that group. Last, I had a couple of really flat weeks leading into our conference meet which I lost. I knew that I was ready for a upswing in my running and I hit it just right.”
Mark Covert didn’t take a day off for 16,436 consecutive days or 149,651 miles. I find that inspiring. Truly do.
But that streak is not what makes him an Original Gangster Of Running. What makes Mark Cobert an OGOR, he was tough in the woods, he was tough on the roads. Consistently.
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-07-23/sports/sp-16092_1_mark-covert
https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/06/worlds_greatest_sneaker_how_a.html