Original Gangsters Of Running (Doris Brown Heritage)

“I stayed positive through many untimely injuries, injustices, whatever. I stuck to being a good role model, trying to see what was of service to others, hoping my running, coaching and speaking would open up opportunities to impact local, national and international athletic organizations.”

I can’t run. I walk as hard as I can and imagine I am running. Like an intramural mindmeld. Sometimes I imagine I’m running trails with giants.

One day recently, I asked myself, clipping along at an imaginary sub-six minute pace, what if you could take a run with Doris Brown Heritage or Steven Roland Prefontaine, what questions would you ask?

Don’t really have a question for Pre except, won’t you please call Uber next time? But there is no next time, is there? Hate that a lot.

Imagined we were both dead, because that’s what virtual running is like. At least for me. Floating along at a pace I could hardly accomplish in real life a half century ago. Your experience may vary.

Pre does most of the talking, He’s something of a chatterbox.

One morning – the new puppy trying my patience – I decided to run with somebody I didn’t know, had never met and admired since the very beginning. Doris Brown Heritage. Talk about your joyful warrior.

And the first thing she says to me is, “I’m not dead.”

So I made a call. And she made a call. And pretty soon, I get a call and it’s her. DBH.
I imagine her smiling. She’s feeling less than spiffy. I still imagine her smiling.

It seems you know the climate of our sport when Jacqueline Hansen and I were lively athletes and I could speak openly about that time.  It was a good time but also difficult. I am still a little unsettled  from it.🙂… in some respects.

Something caught in my throat. She is after all the woman who is said to have said, “When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting.”

Running is a road to self-awareness and reliance – you can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet.

– DBH.

Thank you for inviting me into your “Original Gangsters of Running” It is an honor. Here are my “off the top” responses to your questions.

When did you start running and why?

From childhood, I have always run…started when I commenced walking at about one year of age. The neighbors suggested to my mom that she put me on a leash! Through the years I just loved to run everywhere I went. When other kids rode their horses and bikes, I ran along.

While in High School I had a summer job on a playground. I was young enough to enter a Park Department meet with the kids in Tacoma, WA. The events were 50- and 75-yard sprints and also the Long Jump. That was my first competition. There were no longer races. I really loved the long jump. An elderly man who was at that event saw the need for girls to have a team, I was ready! My folks weren’t…plenty of work at home on the farm. But soon after they did let me join.

My first meet was in Vancouver, B.C. I did the long jump and 440. Our team didn’t have workouts given us but we met on Sundays after church and I did whatever events they did…a few starts, jumps and a 440 after they were done. At home I daily charged down the road 440 yards, rested a bit, and hammered back home, feeling sick with bad cramps. I didn’t know why until after visiting our doctor and learning about warming up and cooling down. That is about what I did until going to the 1960 Olympic Trials and going to the USA Team Training Camp and learning about intervals and more from Junar Bellew and Ed Temple, the coaches.

Toughest opponent and why?

Probably me! I loved to run and actually was training in a way. I ran everywhere on our beach, in our woods, lots of miles. But in those days that was not “training”. But I had success early on and so felt a lot of pressure to keep doing well for those who believed in me and to be a “good example” for the rest.

As an individual opponent? A Russian athlete or three. Lyudmila Bragina was one who always caught me at the finish line. Not surprising as the 800m was the longest Olympic race then for women, and I was enjoying my “natural ability” as an endurance individual and didn’t have the fast twitch muscles or specific training to be quick. And I used no drugs.

Most memorable run and why?

The first World Cross-Country Championships for women took place in Barry, Wales, in 1967. I went with my coach Dr. Ken Foreman and I unexpectedly won! With all those famous male athletes so excited for me and welcoming to us female athletes! The future looked great for a USA Team the following year in Blackburn, England, and we won, travelling again at our own expense.

“Traveling again at our own expense.” Ah, yes, the good old days.

Also, the first indoor track mile in Vancouver B.C. My coach Dr. Foreman was also there and a couple of Falcon Track Club teammates. Again, an unexpected win for me and a new World Record. I became the first woman in the world to break the five-minute mile barrier for women on an indoor track. I loved the high banked tight turns! Again, it seemed it would lead to increased opportunities for U.S. women.

Biggest disappointments and why?

1960. I didn’t make the Olympic Team trip to Rome, as none of us met the qualifying standard. Only one athlete got to go and I was runner-up. Out of luck by 1/100th of a second. 00.01.

1964. I had a broken foot and could not race well.

1968. I finally qualified and actually had the fastest time going in, but was impeded by another athlete on the final turn, lost my rhythm and again felt disappointed but challenged for 1972.

1972. Finally, a 1500 Olympic opportunity for women. But on the way to the starting line from the practice track under the stadium when we were marching in for our race, I stepped on a small section of curbing that was loose and did not see as I was walking behind another athlete,and tore my perennial tendon and broke five bones in my foot. They taped me up and numbed my foot but I could not run.

These were the BIG OBVIOUS disappointments. Others that hurt Badly in other ways had to do with our Federation’s unfair treatment of athletes, especially female athletes and more so distance runners.

What would you do differently if you could do it again? Why?

I can’t answer this quickly right now (relates to the above comment) I prefer to look back on a wonderful “Journey”, even though the precise goals were not often achieved. The real stuff of the journey was beyond expectation. Friendships, travel, a vocation and avocation, satisfactions like knowing the rewards of tough and enduring efforts. Realizing results, both in running and gains for those who would come after me. Of late I have also continued to be humbled by what has come my way as a result of vision, effort and maybe just stubborn striving alongside others, for what athletes (especially women athletes) should have coming to them.

I stayed positive through many untimely injuries, injustices, whatever. I stuck to being a good role model, trying to see what was of service to others, hoping my running, coaching and speaking would open up opportunities to impact local, national and international athletic organizations.

More to the question of “do differently?” Should I have been more aggressive, more outspoken, more of a troublemaker for the Federation? Fortunately, in our pack of individuals who put the causes ahead of our personal desires and plans, others were more adept at other aspects of accomplishing what needed to happen. I don’t feel I did less than my part. My coach Dr. Ken Foreman and I always tried to be honest, fair. Probably quite naïve, too. We always fulfilled our Seattle Pacific University responsibilities and squeezed in many “causes” that kept us from personal gains. Which I don’t regret.

I do feel Coach Foreman sacrificed too heavily, but that was the case for the few who will get their reward in heaven.

What was your “best stretch” of running?

1966 to 1972. Cross-country was “my thing.” DBH won the world cross country championships from 1967 to 1972 — the first five years in which this international competition took place.

That’s when our efforts for endurance competitions were commencing on the track. Races were getting longer and I seemed more able to meet the challenges as a female runner, teacher and coach. Honestly, I feel God inspired me to rise to the continuous challenges.

That’s when I finally qualified – or was noticed – to be selected to the U.S.A. teams and my competitive efforts allowed me to have a voice in our sport. It lead to my election to some committees. I could represent not only active athletes in track and X-C, but also several other sports organizations. I coached men and women when they were NAIA, NCAA and, a short time, the women’s AIAW organization, as well as being active the PNWAC.

My edge?

My love of running and all it brings is my lifestyle. I just want more of it, so I hang on for what will come next.

Stubbornness – Never Give Up. Accepting the challenge against the odds. And being dedicated, disciplined, and worked toward being my best self by honoring God and by serving others.

Favorite philosopher?

What quickly comes to mind while on this subject of running is George Sheehan. My coach Dr. Ken Foreman was equally a philosopher and had a philosophy I live by and is a part of his legacy.

The short version is the acronym: REACH.

R – Risk. E – Expect. A – Act. C – Choose. H – Hustle.

Also, the Bible philosophers who wrote Psalms, Proverbs and James. These men really said it all. King David was the best of examples of what men (and women) can live by.

Special song of the era?

Can’t think of one now. Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” Maybe not of this era but it never gets old for me. The theme from “Chariots of Fire” maybe.

Favorite comedian?

Bill Cosby. He was a friend of athletes at the time.

Found that response, ummm, surprising. Impolitic, in fact. Had to ask her if she had a second favorite. No joke.

I have to ask for more about your Bill Cosby answer to favorite comedian. Given that he’s in prison for numerous sexual assaults… Do you want to explain further why you name him as your favorite? Would another comic also be a good answer? I sincerely truly want to make certain you are okay with the Cosby answer.

Bill Cosby WAS my favorite comedian and I don’t have a new one that comes to mind.  I knew him as he spent time with us at Indoor and Outdoor track meets.  He had a fine family TV show. His humor was healthy and he had tapes (in the old days) about his past time as a student athlete I enjoyed.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” Bill Cosby said that back in the day.

And Doris Brown Heritage is still full of life. I imagine I will imagine running again with her real soon.

The USATF Hall Of Fame.

A pioneer in women’s distance running, Doris Brown Heritage won the world cross country championships from 1967 to 1972 — the first five years in which this international competition took place. Undeterred by the obstacles women faced in the sport during those years, she had already developed her versatility as a runner. After being barred from even using the school track while she was in Peninsula High School, she joined a local running club and set a national record in the 440-yard dash. She next trained for the 800 meters — the longest event then on the Olympic program for women — and finished third at the 1960 Trials.

Unfortunately, her time didn’t qualify her for the Rome Olympics. That year, she entered Seattle Pacific College and began running with the men’s team. A broken foot kept her off the 1964 Olympic team, but she pressed ahead. In 1966, she became the first women to run a sub-5 minute mile indoors, clocking 4:52. By the following year, she began her string of five world cross country championships. In 1968, she finished fifth in the 800 meters at the Mexico City Olympics. She set world records at 3000m and two miles during 1971, and that year, took a silver medal in the 800m at the Pan American Games.

In all, she represented the U.S. on nine world cross country teams and won 14 national titles. An outstanding distance running coach at Seattle Pacific University, she was named an assistant coach for the U.S. women’s team at the 1984 Olympics and 1987 Outdoor World Championships. She is also the first female member of the Cross Country and Road Running Committee of the IAAF, the world’s governing body for the sport. In addition, Heritage is a member of the Distance Running Hall of Fame and the National Track Coaches Hall of Fame.

Records Held
World Record: 3,000 m – 9:26.90 (July 7, 1971)
World Record: 2 mi. – 10:07 (July 7, 1971)

Events
800 m – 2:02.20
1,500 m – 4:14.40
3,000 m – 9:46.90
2 mi. – 10:07

Championships
1968 Olympics: 800 m (5th)
1968 & 1971 Pan Am Games: 800 m (2nd)

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a20850905/50-years-ago-doris-brown-put-u-s-womens-distance-running-on-the-map/