After running Boston in 1978 in 3 hours 20 minutes, I came back to run the race again a year later. The rapid growth in the marathon’s popularity in those years was evident: in ’78 there were 4,764 official runners;…
There are days when everything just seems to fall in place. For me, Monday, April 21, 1975, was one such day, although there was a good bit of worrying on my part as it was unfolding. After the debacle that…
One day I was searching through my race results, to look over my marathon finishes. I ran sixteen marathons in the ’70s. I was somewhat surprised to find I only had printed results for seven of them. Through the years…
Running marathons, I never had a great day on a good course in good weather. Of my two fastest races, one was plagued by heat and the other by rain and a sloppy track. But certainly of these two races,…
As I recollect my memories of the Boston Marathon and how I came to run it, it is much like writing my own obituary, because it rises to the top, like the perfect foam on a Guinness beer. That is…
First, a little background: My so-called road racing career began in fits and starts; but the initial date is easy to pin down: the day I read an article in the June 01, 1964, issue of Sports Illustrated about American…
Although I was more of a plugger and a plodder than a natural speedster, from an early age I always enjoyed long distance running. While in college during the mid 1960s, I ran cross country for North Carolina State University.…
I fell in love with the Boston Marathon in 1964. I was running through the woods with the neighborhood dogs when I first saw it. For me, running was a form of communion with nature and a way to rejoin…