My basic philosophy can be summed up by an expression we use in Norwegian: hurry slowly. Get there, but be patient. – Grete Waitz
Here’s an entry in the On The Road column for “The Bible of the Sport.” Track & Field News. July 1980.
Waitz Has L’Eggs
New York, June 1 – Grete. The name says it all.
Although 4011 runners finished the 1980 L’Eggs Mini-Marathon, there was never a doubt who the winner would be. And so Waitz did win – in a World best 31:00 for the 10,000 route.
Waitz had a 15m lead before the 800m mark; at a mile (4:55), the margin was 50m. She covered the initial 2M on 9:49, took a brief rest, then covered the 3rd mile in 5:06 and the 4th in 5:10.
Her 5000 time was 15:24, 33 seconds ahead of the battling duo of Patti Lyons-Catalano and Britain’s Joyce Smith.
Then the Norwegian accelerated! Her fastest split (4:53) came in the penultimate mile. Displaying some effort, she finished up with a 4:58. Truly a performance that can be described as “Waitzian.”
Catalano battled Smith for 5M before breaking away to finish in 33:03, a PR by 32 seconds. “All I wanted to do was be competitive and finish as close to Grete as I could,” said Catalano. “It really hurt. I tried to run as hard as I could for as long as I could. But I wasn’t discouraged to see Grete so far out in front. I was more happy to see her at all.”
Joan Benoit, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on March 26 and shoulder surgery on April 12, still managed to place 3rd in 33:43. She said, “I don’t use my surgeries as excuses anymore.” [As if she ever did.]
The overall depth of the race was nearly as incredible as Waitz’s domination of it: 22 women bettered 35 minutes, with 47 running sub-6:00 pace.
Other notables included 4th place finisher Lorraine Moller (NZ) 34:01 and in 5th Carol Urish 34:03. Smith (GB) faded to 8th in 34:13.
Here we jump ahead three decades. Think this past weekend.
It’s time to play “Can You Remember This Race?”
We have a winner. Patti C. Dillon does remember. Heck, yeah, of course.
“I had wanted to break 33. I mentioned it to Grete beforehand.
“She said, ‘Oh, you’ll get it.’
“Well , I didn’t.”
(Patti told me this in an e-mail, which sounded like she was still a little bummed.)
“When I saw her at the finish, Grete said. ‘Almost. Don’t worry…next time.’
“Both she and Jack (Mr. Waitz) were very happy that I was chasing her. If you can call finishing 2 minutes behind, ‘chasing.’
“After the race and before awards, they invited me to run cross-country races in Europe. They were enthusiastic about me wanting to beat Grete.”
They were looking for someone to push her.
We go faster together. How the greats think.
“And after the summer races,” Patti recalls, “Sports Illustrated did a big article, ‘No. 1 is No. 2… And Closing.'”
https://www.si.com/vault/1980/10/27/106775604/no1-is-no2and-closing
Grete Waitz (née Andersen, 1 October 1953 – 19 April 2011) was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. She won nine New York City Marathons between 1978 and 1988, more than any other runner in history. She won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles and a gold medal at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. Her other marathon victories included winning the London Marathon in 1983 and 1986. She was also a five-time winner of the World Cross Country Championships.
Just read it. Nice. Thank you. I would break 33 minutes, the intended goal, a few weeks later at Peachtree. 32:51, I think. The summer of records. – Patti