Women’s Track & Field World
The New Testament of the Sport.
July 1983. On The Road Again [edited for brevity but not enough.]
I ran my first road race on Memorial Day just eleven years ago. It was a five-miler in Greenwich, Connecticut, and I had been jogging for a couple of months. You could tell simply by my attire that I was a serious competitor. I had scissored the sleeves off a white undershirt which hung loosely over a pair of baggy cotton twill swimming trunks. In those days, a substantial percentage of any field dressed not unlike Johnny Rotten and The Sex Pistols. Running and Punk Rock apparently share common roots, at least as far as tattered t-shirts are concerned.
There must have been 250 people assembled at the starting line, surely one of the largest events in the country. Amby Burfoot won the race (if John Vitale didn’t) after warming up for what had to be ten miles or more. He seemed seriously psychotic about this racing experience. An unknown writer, Jim Fixx, was probably running that day; Jim had begun his racing career at this same run two years earlier.
It was a hot day and the course went past the town’s waste treatment plant. Not exactly a highlight but the memory lingers. So too does a short hill that seemed to be painted like a mural on the side of a building. There was a park, sunshine, and a sense of ‘why am I doing this?’
As I plunged down a gently hill in the last mile, a police officer hustled an elderly woman out of the path. (“Lady, today the street’s for runners!”)
I turned a corner onto the cinder track of the high school, and seeing the finish line 330 yards away, I tried to accelerate. I might actually have done so. Some people clapped, I passed an old man in canvas high-tops, and crossed the line in 35:25. A personal best – 7:05 pace. [Course was 4.81M, I later learned.]
Some of us have come a furpiece since then. Certainly Fixx has, now a millionaire and a leading apostle with his “Complete Book of Running.” Amby, bless his organic soul, continues to be about the only reason trees should die for Bob Anderson’s magazines. I can still run five miles in 35:25, despite fifteen marathons, 30,000 miles and a patella relocation. Running is still fun for me, although awesomely different. For all of us it must be different.
For Debbie Eide, winning the inaugural KGW Run Between The States was different in a most pleasant way. “Not third, not fourth, but first for a change,” exulted the Oregon teacher. Covering the 12K (7.456 miles) route in 40:01, Eide was challenged only by Linda McClennan, who placed second in 40:09. Marjorie Kaput (41:38), Joanne Lanit (43:08) and Barb Clark (43:15) followed in what was billed as the largest first-time running event ever held – 12,000 starters.
For a week, Spokane’s Lilac Bloomsday (May 1) was the biggest race ever with over 28,000 official entries. Anne Audain, a stride or two ahead of Henry Rono, defended her title setting a course record for 7.546 miles in 39:29. The Kiwi great beat a strong field, unchallenged except by the chunky Kenyan. Lynn (nee Kanuka) Williams, a Canadian cross-country specialist, placed second in 41:06, just two seconds in front of Debbie Eide.
Ruth Kleinasser Wysocki was 19th in 45:08 and Doris Brown Heritage, now forty years old, placed 22nd in 46:20. Don Kardong and the Spokane community truly put on a magnificent event.
Mary Decker used the OTC Women’s 10K (May 1) to test her endurance. Mary passed the test, I guess, essaying an American Record for a loop course with a time of 31:52. This breaks the previous mark of 32:04 held by Jan Merrill. As is Decker’s custom, she built a huge lead early – oh, about 22 seconds by the one mile split – and won by almost three minutes.
University of Oregon trackster finished second in 34:38 with Marilyn Matthews next in 35:53. The U of O’s Ranza Clark, primarily an 800 meter runner, stretched herself to finish fourth in 36:47.
Former world record holder in the marathon Jacqueline Hansen placed sixth at 37:32. Hansen, who tenaciously continues to regain the fitness that made her one of the world’s best, was running to demonstrate her LACK of fitness. She’ll be back, which is, by the way the locus of her current malady.
Remember, you can always look up any words you don’t understand.
Tacoma, Washington, has a damn good event with the Heart Run (May 14). Anne Audain showed she has heart by destroying Marty Cooksey’s 34:03 course record with a 32:33 cruise. By halfway of the 10K route, Audain already had a 300 meter lead over runner-up Gail Volk (35:00) The gap only grew.
Marcy Schwam, the world record holder at 50 miles, put her endurance to good use to win the Revco Marathon (Cleveland, Ohio, May 15) in a personal best of 2:48:41. Barbara Filutzee’s 2:49:38 for second place earned her a berth at the USA Olympic Trials.
You all know it’s 2:51:19 or faster, don’t you? Anyone who can break 36 minutes for 10K should have “little” trouble qualifying.
I seem to have managed somehow – it wasn’t really difficult – to lose a brief report on Audain’s stunning win at L’Eggs. Since anything worth reporting is sometimes worth reporting right, you’ll have to wait until next month.
Better renew…. I might tell you more stories about my own running career. You wouldn’t want to miss that, now would you?
Would you?