I wanted to be a distance god. There. I said it. I would’ve broken out of the lead pack and surged away, thrown down some impossible splits, devastated the elites as I stretched my lead, merciless, alone…almost floating. The field would’ve strung out and withered behind me as I burned and buried the best runners on the face of the planet. I would’ve become immortal. Was that too much to ask? See, running consumed me—sometimes like love, sometimes like cancer. – Tim Tays, Wannabe Distance God
Between the elites and the also-rans, far ahead of the joggers, there once was a caliber of runner as serious about the sport as the most ardent pros – the wannabe distance god. Don’t see many at all these days. Don’t know why that is because I can’t yet explain why it was. Busting your ass for a decade, let’s say, and for what?
Biography
Steve Pierce has run his entire life. He competed in cross country and track in high school, where he left with school records for the 1- and 2-mile. He continued into college, running at Wichita State University, then the University of Kansas. Afterwards he took to the roads racing frequently over distances from 10k to the marathon. In his thirties he turned to triathlon and duathlon, qualifying twice for the world age-group duathlon championships, and was ranked 14th American at age 38.
Having studied in Italy and being fluent in the language help land him a job with a photography company based in Germany. For eleven years this seasonal work had him travelling throughout Germany and Italy and left free time to travel the rest of Europe. When back in the US he worked for several professional photographers, from whom he learned much. He did free lance work and had a stint with the Kansas City Star doing product photography.
After the birth of his second child and a move to small town Kansas, he sort of as they say, settled down. He taught high school and continued to run logging 60-mile weeks for many years, but all for health and out of habit. There was some racing, but it was more for grins.
When did you start running and why?
I have two brothers close in age to me and we three constantly entertained ourselves with backyard football, basketball on the driveway, hitting fungo in the park, tennis, you name it. We were sports crazy. But we also were pretty small, and I had enough organized football in grade school to know I didn’t belong among those giants.
Given two options in the fall of my freshman year – I was going to go out for something – I chose cross-country. My older brother was a senior and had done well previously running cross-country and track. We were fiercely competitive, so I did my best to run with him in practice. He knew I was close, so he ran harder. We quickly became numbers one and two on the team – there wasn’t a lot of talent at our small school. We finished that way at every varsity meet of the year. I won the two freshmen-only races I ran.
In track season I put up a pretty good time for the mile for a freshman – 4:44 and nabbed a school record in the two-mile (10:04). Between having a letter jacket before Thanksgiving and getting noticed for my precocious achievements, I was hooked. So, I’ll point to day two of that first cross-country season as the day I started running. Day one I puked at about 1½ miles. On day two I kept my brother in sight and running goes on from there to the present.
Toughest opponent?
Quite possibly myself. I was constantly overtraining and getting sick or injured. In the Kansas City road race scene there was a group of us that traded off beating each other. They were all tough. I’m thinking of Frank Murphy, Doug Clark, Terry Drake, Brian Franke, Jeff Mittelhauser, Kent Rader, Bob Busby, Jim Eastman, Rick Clear and there were others. We were all chasing Charley Gray and few, if any of us, bested him.
Most memorable run?
That’s an impossible task for me. I had the good fortune to live in Europe for some years with a lot of travel opportunities. I’ve run in 20-plus countries in Europe, in Hong Kong, China, Mexico, Canada, and Costa Rica, not to mention the many places in the US. There were so many urban runs in major European cities, and many more in the countryside all over the continent. There were 20-milers in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Florence, Vienna, and Milan. London, for sure.
I ran in so many beautiful rural areas. The places that leap to mind are in Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, Hungary, Belgium, and thousands of miles all over Germany, which was where I spent most of my time.
Biggest disappointment?
Not having a 1 in the tens-of-minutes column of my marathon PR. I was within a few miles of getting it a couple of times, but as my wife—a more accomplished marathoner than I says, “You have to run fast the whole 26 to get credit.” So, I’m not allowed to say anything about my outstanding 23-mile times.
Special song of the era?
Elton John’s “Daniel” came out in 1972, my freshman year of high school and would get stuck in my head on my solo runs outside of track or cross-country practice. It will take me right back to those flat roads west of Wichita if I hear it again.
What would you do differently if you could do it again?
High school and college I’d probably leave alone. The successes were small, but enough to keep me confident that there was something there. Had I been a multi-time state champion and Big Eight medalist, I might have thought, “Hey, that’s great. I’ve done it.” And maybe I wouldn’t have continued. I suspect some great runners missed legendary status with that thought.
After college I would have done well to take on a coach. I’m a DIYer from my upbringing—still am—and being self-coached meant my tendency to overtrain caused unnecessary down time.
Favorite philosopher? Quote?
Enlightenment philosophers: Locke, Hume, and Voltaire are the ones I’m most familiar with.
“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts,” John Locke said that.
“All knowledge degenerates into probability,” was David Hume.
And Voltaire cautioned, “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”
Enlightenment is sorely missed these days, it seems.
Favorite comedian?
Steven Wright. Cleverly worded one-liners and the delivery!
What was your best stretch of running?
1983 – 1986. I ran my PRs for 10K and marathon in those years and had a lot of solid road race finishes.
Why do you think that you hit that level at that time?
There was the strength that comes from maturing into one’s mid-twenties—not uncommon for distance runners. But also, I had a very large distance base from college and not only distance, just a lot of hard work. I often think that while I had the strength to do that very demanding program at KU, come Saturday when it was time to race there wasn’t much there. But all that running changed my physiology and made me a more efficient runner.
After college when I had to work as opposed to sit in a classroom for ten to twelve hours a week—I skipped a lot—my running workload would stay around 70/wk. I was getting in the 4x1mile, or 12-16 quarters, a long run and maybe a tempo run and not punishing my body so much. In fact, I remember that anytime I pushed it into the 90s, I’d get sick or injured. So, I guess I accidently found the quantity/quality mix that was right for me.
What was your edge?
On hard training days I went hard. I made myself stay in the pain zone. My attitude was that if I dealt with a ton of hurt during workouts by myself for weeks on end, then with some rest and having the adrenaline of the chase, the pain on race day would seem like nothing. Just let it fly and it will hurt, but it’ll be way more fun than those track workouts.
What supplementary exercise did you do?
Coach Timmons had us lift weights and run stairs. After KU I truly did nothing extra.
Personal Records
1 Mile – 4:24 (Done in a workout in college.)
2-mile – 9:24 (Same as above.)
5K – 14:55 (The two-mile split was faster than above.)
10K – 31:00 (Another digit I wish were different—that 1.)
Marathon – 2:27:26
What was your toughest injury and how did you deal with it?
I ruptured the plantar fascia in a road race after college. Rookie mistake. I had been wearing orthotics for several years, in both running and street shoes. I went to this race quite fit and wanted to get close to or under 19 for four miles. At the last minute I decided the weight of the orthotics should be eliminated, so I took them out. Minimal racing flats and…well, it wasn’t pretty.
The podiatrist said if it were any worse, he’d want to do surgery. He prescribed crutches for two months and it did heal up just fine. I was pretty bummed of course. But that was fall of 1982 and ’83 starts the good years.
But what made your ‘average joe’, back in the day (1945-79) run one hundred plus miles a week, grateful for the invention of the midsole?
I have often wondered this, too. A college teammate’s high school had a very successful program with large numbers. One track season their fourth fastest miler at regionals had the fourth fastest time in the state and didn’t qualify to run in the meet. At regional cross our senior year, they went 1-6, I was seventh and their 7th guy was 8th. My teammate told me once that in the summer they’d call around and ask how far the other guy ran and there might be a response like – Ten!? Pussy! I’m going to go twelve.
Where did that strong need to excel at distance running come from? There is the hero factor. We had Jim Ryun as Kansans. Then there was Shorter’s win. Then Frank and Billy getting after it. Alberto came along. But it seems almost like other fads. Okay, maybe that’s a big stretch—bell bottoms to running. But other social movements went from zero to having many adherents, like protesting the war, smoking weed, promoting peace and love.
I simply found something where achievement brought recognition, even if it was mostly from fellow runners. We didn’t get the space in the newspapers or school yearbooks that football got. And there was the feeling that running well gives. That feeling of power and smooth, graceful running. Coming in after the run and feeling – knowing – the effort was beneficial fed into that positive feedback loop that helped make the next one a good run, too.
