Bob Hodge’s Serial Running Novella
Raleigh, North Carolina
In the fall of 1979, a long-term goal for the GBTC was accomplished and I made the podium again.
The GBTC as we knew it thus ended on a high note.
I had joined the Greater Boston Track Club in 1974, and every year after that our primary goal in the fall was the National Cross Country Championship in November. The original mission of this club was to provide opportunities for post-collegiate athletes, many of whom were already at or close to a nationally competitive level. Say, you might be good enough to qualify for the National Track & Field Meet or the Olympic Trials.
Jack MacDonald, the club founder and mastermind, brought Coach Bill Squires on board from his day job at Boston State College. A loose group of mostly middle-distance and distance men formed and would meet at Boston College weekly with Squires. Coach would dispense a workout, subject to negotiation and change, and a nice bond of being in it together was formed.
Both the athletes and coach had jobs and lifestyles, families, and commitments. Although there was a seriousness toward the endeavor and specific objectives and goals were made, fun and enjoyment were a large part of the bargain. We were all grownups here, with one exception: Alberto Salazar, a precocious high schooler from Wayland, Massachusetts. Post-workout get-togethers over pizza and beer on occasion gave us all a chance to share our hopes and dreams and plans and schemes.
Coach was light-hearted but also dedicated to his teacher role, and he gave some of us more fatherly advice at times. When I returned from a trip across the country in 1977, Coach said, “Bobby, I’m glad you finally stopped picking daisies and got serious.”
Somehow this easy-going formula, along with the commitment of Squires and MacDonald in securing what little finances they had at that time, caused the GBTC to just take off. Jack started a beach race, and the Freedom Trail Road Race was also formed by club members; both served as fund-raisers to send those athletes who were qualified to national events. Many times, we all just piled into cars and traveled as inexpensively as possible to New York City, the Penn Relays, and so on. It was a club by athletes for athletes. For some time, until running began to change, it worked very well.
Many of us became involved with athletic-shoe companies, and some were even employees or had received contracts and were ostensibly being paid to aid the company with feedback and ideas on shoe development. Nike had formed Athletics West in 1977 and had even tried recruiting Randy Thomas and Bill Rodgers from GBTC. Perhaps it was possible to make a career as a runner? It is impossible to say what would have become of my own running had it not been for GBTC. Perhaps I would still have had my successes, but I am happy not having to find out.
By 1979 Alberto, Greg Meyer, Danny Dillon, Randy Thomas, and I had all had our share of success. Alberto, now at the University of Oregon, was the 1978 NCAA Cross Country Champion, Greg was the 1978 AAU Cross Country Champion and 1979 Canadian Cross Country Champion, and Danny and Randy had tied for first in the International Cross Country Trials in 1978. We knew we had a very strong team, even if Alberto ran for Oregon, as he had done in 1978. We were all hoping he would run with us at AAU Nationals in 1979 for old times’ sake, and he did, although we weren’t sure of it until a few days before the event.
Alberto raced Henry Rono, and the GBTC mostly raced among ourselves at the Canadian Cross Country National in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where we won the team title, and at the New England Championships in Boylston, Massachusetts.
Danny recollected,
“I remember we sharpened each other in the races leading up to Nationals. I especially recall you, me, and Greg trading the lead several times on that rocky course at Boylston that wasn’t fit for Billy goats. We probably could have and should have tied or ran through those races, but I think we were trying to get the most out of them to get ready for Nationals. When I think of that GBTC team I think several of us could visualize winning the individual title, and with a GBTC team like that I had no doubt we would win.”
Danny was back at Providence College but sitting out the collegiate season. He was working out with John Treacy and others.
I remember a “group” workout at Franklin Park, that turned out to be just Greg and I at a Newton golf course. And a track workout the week before Nationals on a frigid night at Boston College – Randy, Greg, and I did a 4:19 mile, an 8:56 two mile, and a 3:15 three-quarter mile. I believe there was some influence from the camp of University of Michigan coach Ron Warhurst, as we had never previously done workouts like that.
Outside the GBTC top five, we had Pete Pfitzinger, who moved to Boston and joined GBTC in the summer of 1979. There was also Bruce Bickford, Bill Okerman, Mike Quinn, and Paul Oparowski. Both Danny and Greg remember some “trash talking” from the Coloradans. The reaction of the locals was, “Boston don’t kowtow to nobody; the thin air in Boulder must be having an effect on their brains.”
A few weeks before the National competition, I changed shoe companies and was now running in the shoes of upstart company Reebok. The problem was that I had barely any shoes or clothing, including spikes. I grabbed a pair of Sauconys from the shelf at the RUNNERY and went to a nearby golf course for a light workout in them to make sure they would be okay.
When I met everyone at the airport for the flight to Raleigh, I packed up a rucksack because I did not want to be seen in the gear of my former shoe company sponsor New Balance, including baggage. Alberto quipped, “Hodgie, are you going camping?”
On our arrival in Raleigh and after checking in at the hotel, we went out to view the course and have a run over it. It was a tough one, and I liked the layout – in particular, the steep uphill in the last mile. The start was nice and wide open for the mass start but soon funneled into a narrow path and a steep downhill run nearly to the mile marker, where Alberto was clocked at 4:08. He didn’t buy the time being that fast, but I was 4:10s and that seemed entirely possible to me. I was in a good position throughout the top dozen or so, as were Greg, Danny, and Randy. Alberto was at the front with Herb Lindsay and a few others. We ran close, as we had done in our previous races.
I knew we would win the team event, and I started to think grander thoughts for myself. I moved up steadily, and on the last long steep uphill, I moved up to Herb Lindsay’s shoulder. We were second and third, with Alberto barely in sight seventy-five yards ahead. The last quarter mile was flat and slightly downhill, and I was windmilling my way to the finish with some very fast finishers just behind me. We kept those places, and Danny and Greg finished fourth and fifth, right on our tails. Randy was twelfth, a half minute behind me.
GBTC had done it – we won the big one! This had been a long-term goal of the club, accomplished after several years of trying. We all celebrated that evening, and we soon went our own ways.
We would meet again often, no longer as teammates with GBTC but always with a nod to the past.
It was not the breakup of the Beatles, but, you know, in our little world it was somewhat momentous.