Some people feel ‘transformed’ from the first day they begin running; others feel that it’s just plain hard work.
Most of us realize it is both.
I know how great running can feel, but I also know it can feel not so great, even downright awful!
It can be fun, but it takes work to have that fun. – Grete Waitz
Women’s Track & Field World.
The New Testament of The Sport.
October 1983. On The Road Again.
[Heavily edited for brevity. Shout out to Jan Merrill and Nancy Ditz]
Summertime, and the living is easy. Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high.
Before you know it, tans are fading, school is starting. Then it’s cross-country season, big guys are knocking each other down on weekends and the Olympics are less than a year away. The days are shorter and the night are colder.
Can we do summer over again?
Grete Waitz probably would not mind a replay or two. She would certainly like to start Peachtree (Atlanta, Georgia, July 4) over again. Waitz covered the 10K route in a course record 32:01 but it wasn’t easy. She didn’t get off to a good start.
“I ran five meters, then someone pushed me to the ground,” she recounted. “Thirty people ran right over me. I almost cried, but decided to go for the win.” Does Grete ever go for anything less?
Bleeding from a thigh and an elbow, Waitz gathered herself together, catching early leader Dorthe Rasmussen by 2K Grete waited until the mid-course hills before pulling away to win by some 73 seconds over the Dane.
Linda McLennan was the first non-Scandinavian finisher in third (33:27) ahead of New Balance TC’s Sue King (33:50). Debbie Eide was 5th at 33:52 just in front of not-quite-so-well-known-at-the-time Marianne Dickerson (34:00). Lagging far back were Eleanor Simonsick, 14th in 35:50 and Lorraine Moller, 29th in 37:34. Even the greatest have their bad patches, particularly in 80 degree heat and 87% humidity.
Judi St. Hilaire of NIKE’s Athletics West had a good run at the 5th Maggie Valley Moonlight Five-Miler (North Carolina, July 30). St. Hilaire took the first mile downhill in 4:53 and built a fifteen-yard lead by two miles. She was never seriously challenged, winning the out-and-back race in 26:43.
St. Hilaire fared slightly less well at the Pepsi Challenge 10K National Championship (New York City, July 3). Oh, she did fine, running 33:20 worth $2000. But that was for the runner-up spot.
New Zealand’s Anne Audain was in attendance, so naturally she copped the crown, earning $5000 (US) for just 32:29 minutes work. No other woman bested 34 minutes.
“My races are never easy,” said Joan Benoit after winning her third consecutive Falmouth road race, her fifth victory here (Massachusetts, August 21). Despite a sore foot, caused when a toe became infected, Benoit broke her own course record, covering 7.1 miles in 36:21. That’s about a 5:07 pace. Only Nancy Rooks of Canada gave Benoit much of a challenge, finishing strongly at 36:47.
23-year-old Lisa O’Dea Martin of the University of Oregon and Australia has been enjoying some regional success in her initial road campaign. Mrs. Martin won Seattle’s Seafair/Pepsi Challenge 10K (August 5) in 33:16. Nine days later, she captured the Portland Pepsi 10K at 33:27.
Regina Joyce of Ireland and the University of Washington won the inaugural edition of “The Race,” as a Eugene, Oregon, event (June 5) was so egotistically labeled. Joyce covered the 8K in 25:50. Marty Cooksey placed second in her first serious competition in fourteen months. Coming off leg surgery, Cooksey logged a 27:17. She’ll get faster.
The San Francisco Marathon (July 24) title went to Janis Klecker, whose 2:35:44 broke the course record by over eight minutes. 38-year-old Gabrielle Anderson placed second in 2:38:15.
One who hasn’t tested the 26.2M distance yet is Anne Audain, but an outdated (April 10) result indicates some potential. The Kiwi star jogged a hilly 20-miler in Denver’s mile-high altitude to win in 1:58:35. That’s 2:35 pace.
Since we’re running late, how about this May 22nd note out of San Diego. Julie Brown showed up at a low-key 10K and gave the macho types a serious lesson in humility by finishing second overall in 32:31. The winner, I’m guessing, set a personal record.
Looking over the results of the New York Six Day Run – completed on June 10 – I was hoping to learn that no women entered. I’ve always figured them for more sense. (Sounds like something President Reagan might say.) Anyway, Lorna Rickey not only finished, she set an American Record, covering 401 miles, 919 yards. That is a pace of approximately 21 1/2 minutes per mile.
I imagine anyone interested in the women’s marathon at the World Championships (Helsinki, August 7) watched the show on television. Since I’m interested and didn’t view the telecast…
The race started at 3:05 p.m. on the meet’s opening day, with the leaders reaching 10K in 36:13, a tactical pace. Included in the pack were Grete Waitz, Julie Brown, Charlotte Teske, Jackie Gareau, Laura Fogli, Marianne Dickerson and three Soviets. Regina Joyce must have been somewhere close.
Gareau led past 15K in 54:24, but at 17K Joyce commenced the competition. She broke away and led by 23 seconds at 20K. The Irish lass led still at 25K (1:29:10) and at 30K (1:47:36). However, by that last split, Waitz was only three seconds back, trailed closely by Dickerson and Raisa Smekhnova of the Soviet Union.
Grete ran the next 5K in 16:51 to capture the lead and then did 16:22 to capture the win. Her time was 2:28:09. Dickerson trailed Smekhnova until the American youngster, running just her fourth marathon kicked past to finish in 2:31:09. That makes Marianne America’s fifth fastest performer.
Smekhnova, a sub-4:00 1500m runner, held third, four seconds back.
Teske dropped out, as did Brown, who pulled up with a torn Achilles at 37K.
Dickerson will go faster, as Waitz will have to do if she hopes to repeat this scenario at the Olympics. Joan Benoit and Anne Audain, among others, aren’t going to allow the Norwegian Queen to warm up for the first thirty kilometers.