I first ran the Boston Marathon, April 1973. Greg Meyer gave me a t-shirt in Honolulu, December 2014. Lot of running, love those years in between. Many many memories. Most of which I’ve forgotten. Some I have recorded.* I will be sitting on the edge of my seat tomorrow morning, as I’ve done every Patriot’s Day since 1972. – JDW
April, 1983.
“Boston can make a person, that’s true,” said Greg Meyer over dinner a day or two before being made. “But you are only as good as the people you beat. If the field weakens, it will be a shallow victory. The top runners will recognize that. And if it comes down to running for thousands of dollars somewhere or running for nothing here, you know what they’ll do.”
That paragraph, that quotation, goes a long way toward explaining or understanding Greg Meyer. Thoughtful, outspoken, a lover of children, chocolate eclairs and off-color jokes, the bearded, balding 27-year-old winner of the 1983 BAA Marathon is nothing if not direct. If you don’t understand Greg Meyer, it must be because you are not listening or he has chosen not to share himself.
JDW: What does the Boston win mean to you?
GM: Well, I tell you, I got kinda upset after winning the marathon, with everyone telling me how much Boston was worth financially. What it does for me athletically is much more important. It opens so many doors to better races and bigger competition.
JDW: What about the race itself?
GM: I was surprised Benji [Durden] ran so hard, so early. I thought he’d wait until 17 or 18, then go for it. Actually, I was surprised at how bad I felt the first half of the race.
JDW: You’re credited with 2:09:01. Couldn’t you have found a couple extra seconds somewhere?
GM: I know I was on World Record pace for 20 miles. But a record didn’t matter. I was there for the win and that’s all. I know I can run faster. The last mile was on automatic pilot; I did 5:26 or something like that. I had been holding up well, but I was looking around quite a bit to see if anyone was closing. Then some guy on the press truck hollered, “Man, there’s nobody coming!” and I just shut down.
I was more than happy to be alone in the last few miles. I still have vivid memories of crawling on my face the last four miles in ’81.
JDW: Why run Boston at all? Alberto [Salazar] didn’t seem to think it was necessary.
GM: Al had already won it. I didn’t feel people took me seriously as a marathoner last year, despite the third-fastest time in the country. I won Chicago in 2:10 and it was a deeper field than New York’s, but it didn’t seem to get the credit it should’ve. I figured people couldn’t discount Boston. Except for Al and [Dick] Beardsley, it was a dry run for the Olympic Trials.
JDW: But you surrendered your berth at the World Championships.
GM: Looking at ’84, I did not want to run only marathons. I thought that would hinder my development. Besides, I’m still looking for credibility on the track. I’d rather go the Pan-Ams at 10 kilometers. People don’t look at the roadie as important as the trackster. That’s not fair.
Herb Lindsay, Jon Sinclair, me, we all had to build our reputations on the roads. Five years ago, it was a rare athlete who could come out of college and make a living at running. Roads were where the money was, so that’s where we went. Now I want to show what I can do on the track.
JDW: Did your 27:53 10K at the Colonial Relays tell you something? It only hinted to the rest of us?
GM: When I ran that time, I almost skipped Boston. It all seemed so easy and it was a solo. I only wanted a 28:40 or 28:30, but once I pushed the pace a little, I found myself alone. I figured why not keep the pressure on. After that 27:53, I felt confident that it would be real hard for three people to beat me out at 10K.
JDW: 27:53 is nice work, but it’s hardly a guarantee.
GM: It was really easy, but you’re right. What’s important is that it came at the end of my hardest preparation for Boston. After winning the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler unpressed in 46:13, I put in my biggest mileage week. After finishing 120 miles, I stepped on the track, I stepped on the track and ran 27:53.
JDW: You’ve got quite a range of talent, having run a sub-4:00 mile and now a 2:09:01 marathon. Where do you see yourself on the Olympic team?
GM: The event I would like to be in is the marathon. I think I can run in the low 2:08s, which I feel should be able to win a place on the team. And I feel I have a better chance at a medal in the marathon. There’s more opportunity to use that talent you mentioned. The U.S. team should be very strong at the marathon, much more capable of success at the Games than in the 10K. We’re simply more world class at the longer distance.
JDW: What got you here?
GM: You mean world class? Well, I don’t think Boston was my breakthrough. The key, if there’s one in my training, is my hard 20-milers. They’re good efforts. But the real key has to be the consistency of my training in the last three or four years. Guys like Salazar and [Craig] Virgin have always thought of themselves as world class since they were kids. I never thought of myself that way. It’s only recently that I’ve become focused, that I’ve begun to think of myself on a higher plane. I feel I have much more room for improvement.
JDW: So, you expect some great things from yourself this summer?
GM: Well, I did. I’m injured. It was at Boston actually. During the indoor season I developed tendinitis – could be an inflamed bursa – atop the Achilles. After the marathon, about two weeks after, I went for my first long run. Fifteen miles easy. The next day I could hardly walk. I did the usual stuff… ice, aspirin, etc.
JDW: How is your Achilles?
GM: Well, now the big problem is a metatarsal on my right foot. When I try to run it’s like someone put a spike in it. I guess I hurt it compensating for my Achilles. I am having a cortisone shot in the Achilles but I don’t know about the toe. And after the injection, I can’t train for ten days or so.
This conversation – not unlike the film “My Dinner With Andre” – was interrupted continually as Meyer disappeared to refill his plate. The man eats like a shotputter with a tapeworm.
JDW: Anything going on in the sport you don’t like?
GM: Well, I don’t think it’s intelligent to have the track trials so close to the marathon [trials]. A number of people will try to double back and we’re just inviting them to get injured.
And the Olympics themselves. When’s the men’s race? Something like 5:30 in the afternoon. Summer in Los Angeles. What are those people thinking of? I ran a race there a few years back and I couldn’t take a deep breath for six hours afterwards. And that was a steeplechase! Sure, people could breathe, but running 26 miles in 2:08 is an altogether different matter.
JDW: What else?
GM: Uh, I wouldn’t mind seeing drug testing on the roads. A random check, every now and then… so the guys who don’t want to take them don’t have to just to compete. If it was just a case of who could perform better, then I wouldn’t be bothered. But when you put prize money into it, then you begin to interfere with someone’s ability to learn a livelihood.
JDW: Bill Rodgers?
GM: He’s a runner. I think he’ll be back. He’ll run 2:09 again.
JDW: Okay. So, who do you like in L.A. in ’84?
GM: I don’t have a problem with the heat. Alberto might. Seko has never run a warm weather marathon. De Castella doesn’t seem to be bothered by anything.
I’ve run a 1:50 half-mile – although not recently – so I’ve got decent speed. I change into a sprint faster, change my gears quicker, than most marathoners.
A lot can happen in a year but I expect to be in the thick of it.
One assumes that last statement was not a pun about the Los Angeles smog.
Meyer enjoys life obviously, a little more now that the Boston Marathon victory is behind him and a baby is July 15. (Greg, of course, thinks it will be early.)
The man seems to have a firm grip on life right now, almost as if it were a knife and fork.
Greg Meyer picks up the bill for half the table, including the mooching journalist, then clutches his wife’s hand, and walks off without looking back.
Track & Field News, June 1983
Many more such encounters in the critically-acclaimed, best-selling, award-winning book –
When Running Was Young & So Were We. http://www.amazon.com/When-Running-Was-Young-Were/dp/1909457167/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461012633&sr=8-1&keywords=when+running+was+young
* Photos used here collaged from The Cloud.
OGORs Volume 2 (Greg Meyer)
“To be good is not enough when you dream of being great.”
