“You would think there would be someone checking their work.” – B.D.
Let me make a short story long.
I have spent more time with Benji Durden than I can remember.
I know this is true, because in my diaries, I recorded runs together that I don’t remember.
So, when he had his recent surgery, I was alarmed and supportive.
Got competitive when the sonuvagun started reporting mileage from his hospital room.
(Reminded me of Ken Martin on his stationary bike while getting chemo. https://www.jackdogwelch.com/?p=20330 )
A few days, Benji walked to his follow-up at the hospital, then he walked back home.
Three miles each way. At altitude.
Well, I walked an hour this morning in the humidity. Every stride hurt, every step a good thing.
Benji said something along the lines of ‘running prepares you for old age.’ Think that’s what he said.
I am working on the sub-40:00 mile. Looks like a typo but it’s not.
Anyway, the conversation gets around to his Wikipedia page.
At least he has a Wikipedia page, let’s not go there.
“You would think there would be someone checking their work,” he tells me.
“Like what?”
Here’s what’s there now.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia…
Benji Durden (born August 28, 1951) is a Boulder, Colorado based coach of elite runners who came to prominence as a distance runner in the early 1980s, at the height of the American running boom. Durden was a member of the titular 1980 Summer Olympics United States marathon team, placing second against what to that point was perhaps the deepest field of American marathoners ever assembled. With a personal record of 2:09:58, Durden recorded 25 sub-2:20 marathons in less than a decade. He ranked among the top ten US marathoners six straight years, reaching seventh in the world in 1982.
Early life and education
Durden ran track in Sacramento, California as a youth, aspiring to become a miler. After moving to Georgia, he attended the University of Georgia, in Athens (UGA), where he ran the mile in 4:15 as a freshman. He graduated from UGA in 1973.
After college, Durden moved to Stone Mountain, becoming a fixture on the Atlanta-area running scene while working at Jeff Galloway’s Phidippides running shop.
Durden won the inaugural Cooper River Bridge Run, which was shortened to 9,850 meters by authorities after the gun started for the race, in 1978.
1980 Olympic Trials
In 1980, on a course running from Buffalo, New York, to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Durden finished second in the symbolic US Olympic Trials (the boycott had already been announced by the time the Trials were held in May) against one of the deepest field of American marathoners ever assembled. Durden surged into the lead at the 19 mile mark and built up a ten second advantage over the lead runners until Anthony Sandoval caught him in the 23rd mile. Sandoval pulled away in the 24th mile and went on to win the race. Durden finished second in a time of 2:10:40.3, a personal best by over three minutes.
The race was intended to determine the US Olympic team for the marathon at that summer’s Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR; however, President Carter had ordered the team to sit out the Olympics. Durden did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.[1]
Marathon career
Durden’s marathon career debuted at the 1974 Peach Bowl Marathon. After he dropped out, he told friends, “Anyone who runs a marathon is sick.”
In 1975, Durden returned to the Peach Bowl Marathon,[2] seeking to break 2:23, the Olympic trials qualifying mark for the 1976 Summer Olympics. He finished in 2:36, well off the qualifying standard. But at the 1976 AAU National Marathon Championship Rice Festival Marathon in Lafayette, Louisiana, he finished second in 2:20:23.
Durden’s first marathon win came in 1977, in Columbia, South Carolina (which had a marathon at the time; that race was last run in 2000 as the U. S. Olympic Women’s Marathon Trials) in 2:19.04.
Durden lowered his personal bests with impressive races at the 1979 Nike/OTC marathon (2:13:47) and the New York City Marathon (2:13:49), before having his big breakthrough in the 1980 “Olympic Trials” race. His lifetime best of 2:09:58 (4:57/pace per mile) came with his 3rd-place finish in the 1983 Boston Marathon.
Durden continues to run, returning to Huntsville, Alabama (where he had finished his last marathon fourteen years earlier), where he competed in his first marathon as a Grand Masters (50 and older) runner in 2005, finishing in 3:08:34. In December, 2006, he returned to Sacramento where he recorded a time of 3:01:03 at the California International Marathon.
Achievements
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representing the United States | |||||
| 1978 | Boston Marathon | Boston, United States | 11th | Marathon | 2:15:04 |
| 1979 | Nike OTC Marathon | Eugene, Oregon | 6th | Marathon | 2:13:47 |
| New York City Marathon | New York City, United States | 5th | Marathon | 2:13:49 | |
| 1980 | Boston Marathon | Boston, United States | 6th | Marathon | 2:17:46 |
| US Olympic Trials | Buffalo, New York | 2nd | Marathon | 2:10:40 | |
| Fukuoka Marathon | Fukuoka, Japan | 12th | Marathon | 2:13:25 | |
| 1981 | Miami Marathon | Miami, United States | 1st | Marathon | 2:12:34 |
| Tokyo Marathon | Tokyo, Japan | 4th | Marathon | 2:13:07 | |
| Nike OTC Marathon | Eugene, Oregon | 1st | Marathon | 2:12:12 | |
| 1982 | Houston Marathon | Houston, United States | 1st | Marathon | 2:11:12 |
| Montreal Marathon | Montreal, Canada | 1st | Marathon | 2:13:22 | |
| Nike OTC Marathon | Eugene, Oregon | 3rd | Marathon | 2:12:52 | |
| 1983 | Houston Marathon | Houston, United States | 2nd | Marathon | 2:12:20 |
| Boston Marathon | Boston, United States | 3rd | Marathon | 2:09:58 | |
| World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 39th | Marathon | 2:20:38 | |
| Toronto Marathon | Toronto, Canada | 1st | Marathon | 2:15:16 |
Source:Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) Runner:Benji Durden
References
- ^ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
- ^ The marathon was held in late December, and was part of the Peach Bowl festivities. The Atlanta Marathon name was restored in 1981 when it was moved to its present Thanksgiving date.
External links
- Boston.com – ‘Meyer, Benoit Score for Massachusetts’ (April 18, 1983)
- CopacabanaRunners.net – ‘Run Long’, Benji Durden (1996)
- Prismnet.com[permanent dead link] – ‘The Path to Marathon Success’, Benji Durden
- RunningTimes.com – ‘Still Running, Still Dreaming… …Still Benji’, John A. Kissane, Running Times (January, 2006)
Looks good to me and congratulations. That was a pretty bigass running career. I always liked your work.
What don’t you agree with?
Benji: “Okay, here is my take on the first paragraph.
“I quit being a coach of elite runners (though was also a coach of many non-elite runners as well) around 2001. The summer of that year Amie & I became full-time race timers. Managed that business until 2020 when we retired.
“They are off on my personal record. My PR is actually 2:09:57.
“Here is the link from the Wiki page that shows my PR.
http://archive.boston.com/marathon/history/1983.shtml
“And something about that ranking looks wrong.”
https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/11-mMarRank.pdf
He checked. Wiki got the Ranking right – Benji Durden, #7 in the world, in 1982.
I’d be happy just to have a Wikipedia page. But you’re right, every second counts.
Benji: “To that first paragraph I would add something about the fact that I have continued to run marathons, having finished 136 to date.
“We ran the Atlanta Marathon March 1, 2020, the day after the Olympic Trials. We have run a couple virtual marathons here in Boulder this past year since traveling was something we weren’t willing to do during COVID, plus many of the marathons were not happening. We certainly hope to be able to run more in-person marathons, but that is dependent on COVID not getting in the way.”
Please tell me you don’t count virtual marathons.
Benji: “I don’t count virtual marathons. Here is a list of my marathons. I haven’t gotten around to adding Atlanta yet.
http://runningbears.com/BenjiLog/bdmarathons.html
“I would like to run the 2022 Houston Marathon since I won there 40 years ago and it is also the 50th anniversary of the race. If any of our territories have a marathon that we can get to, we would be interested (assuming once again COVID etc.). We started working on Canada, but that got stalled.
“Also, I have run a marathon in all 50 states plus DC in under four hours. Sub-4:00.”
That certainly seems Wiki-worthy.
What was the point to all this? Just a crazy fun thing to shoot for? What? Why?
Benji: “I was coaching a woman who had decided to run a marathon in all 50 states and learned there was a group that you could join that certifies that you had done it. It seemed like a good challenge to try for. I have a picture somewhere those shows us getting a trophy when we completed our journey.
“When we got started on going from state to state a friend introduced me to the 50<4 club which was a smaller group that had the goal of running a marathon in all 50 states under 4 hours, which as I got older, became more difficult. There were certainly times it was fun as well as not so fun.
“We had a nice trip to Alaska that we wouldn’t have taken without this challenge. Then there was the race we ran where we timed a race in the morning, got on a plane that was delayed because of snow and got to our car rental really late. When we finally got to the hotel we had time for two hours sleep and ran our race auto-pilot.
“I admit that I don’t remember some of the races that well.
“Then there is this marathon trivia -“
Longest Time Span Between First and Last Marathon Wins
Men
40y292d 05 Feb 1977 => 24 Nov 2017 Benji Durden (28 Aug 1951,USA) 37y256d 24 Jun 1978 => 06 Mar 2016 James Miller (06 Sep 1958,USA) 33y289d 04 Mar 1978 => 18 Dec 2011 Charlie Viers (29 Aug 1941,USA) 33y190d 10 Sep 1977 => 19 Mar 2011 Terrence Stanley (05 Sep 1952,USA) 31y154d 10 Aug 1985 => 01 Jan 2017 Miroslav Krisko (11 Dec 1957,SVK)
Forty years between marathon wins should be in Wikipedia for sure.
Benji: “October 16, 1976, I placed 2nd in the AAU Marathon championships in Crowley, LA, in 2:20:23 improving my PR from 2:36:19 and becoming noticed by others in the distance running world. With that new attention, I received my first invitation to run a marathon February 4, 1977. Russ Pate, a good marathoner in his own right and a physiology professor at the University of South Carolina, invited me to run the Carolina Marathon in Columbia. Additionally, he put me up in a hotel and gave me $50 for expenses. The big time.”
That was the first win.
Benji: “I don’t remember that much of the race, but Bob Varsha and I pushed each other for much of the race. Around 18-20 miles or so we began to climb back towards the campus for the finish. I broke away on one of the hills and left Bob. I ended up with my first sub-2:20 in a PR 2:19:04 (T&F News reported it as 2:19:03). Bob was second in 2:21:33 and Russ Pate ran a respectable (considering he also worked the race) 2:22:47 for 3rd.
“After we completed our challenge of running a marathon in all 50 states, we turned our focus to running one hundred marathons. Amie wanted her 100th marathon to be the 2015 Houston Marathon. By mid-December she still needed two marathons to set up that goal. We had heard about two marathons in Dallas that were near Christmas. So, we ran Saturday & Sunday marathons to reach Amie’s goal (the first time we ran two marathons in a weekend).
“This was our introduction to these races in Dallas. They are held around Memorial Day (Saturday, Sunday, & Monday), Thanksgiving (Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday), and the weekend closest to Christmas. These races attract people who are basically trying to have a large number of lifetime marathons. The course is certified on a roughly five kilometer loop around Bachman Lake.
“By 2017 we had run there many times. We were there for the four Thanksgiving races. Amie planned to run a marathon all four days, but I was going to run three half marathons and one marathon. I used the half marathon on Thanksgiving as a warmup. Friday I was trying to break 4:00 for the marathon.
“The half and the marathon start together in the dark. Both races do a short out and back section to add to the loop so the total distance is correct. This makes it hard to tell where you are in the race, since you see runners of both races as you run around the lake. There are recreational runners on the loop as well. During the race I was simply trying to maintain a pace that would get me to the finish in less than 4:00. When I finished in 3:58:11, I thought I might have won, but wasn’t sure until the lap counters checked their notes. I had and became a marathon trivia note.”
The last win.
Unless, unless… I wouldn’t put it past him.
But I can’t help thinking, Aren’t you the guy who said, “anybody who runs a marathon is sick.”?
Running prepared Benji for old age.
Running prepared me to spend hours in a constant state of pain. A lot like the same thing, only in Florida.
Runners think running prepares them for everything. They might be right.
Promised Benji I’d write an angry letter to the management at Wikipedia to complain about these egregious errors and outrageous oversights.
Didn’t say I send the letter in my real name. Wouldn’t want to squelch my chances.
I still have hope.