Post by denis on Jun 12, 2020 6:22:29 GMT
The Pacific A.A.U. 10,000-Meter Cross Country Championship in San Francisco’s rolling, muddy Golden Gate Park – the transition from yards to meters was just underway in the American running scene, although this course was ¾ of a mile short for some reason. Running for the West Valley Track Club, I was fifty yards ahead of everybody at the mile mark -- I clearly didn’t know what I was doing anymore. I ended up fourth, soundly beaten by the winner, Nevada’s Peter Duffy (fifth in the 10K at the N.C.A.A, Championships that spring), the soon-to-be four-time Columbian Olympian Domingo Tibaduiza, and in third, the Oregon Track Club’s Jon Anderson, a 1972 American Olympian in the 10K who would win the Boston Marathon a year from now. (In a few years he would serve as one of Steve Prefontaine’s pall bearers.) I gave my medal to my girlfriend Lorrie – the first girlfriend who ever watched me race... Lorrie worked the next cash register over at “New Age Natural,” whose owner Fred Rohé – my new girlfriend’s ex – had recently authored a self-published pamphlet, “The Zen of Running,” in which he extolled the virtues of a joyful, gentle, "centered" approach to the sport. “We’re all entitled to our opinions, Fred, and I think distance running should be tough," I told him. "I like that running long distances makes me suffer. I like feeling pride in what I do! You get to know yourself when you become a warrior – a Spartan! And a suffering Athenian, too, if you wanna be… We’re all aspirants, Fred! We’re all temple runners! Running in a ‘gentle’ way isn’t the only way to be ‘spiritual’ and high-minded… Running long distances can cut through that part of your Ego that makes you think you’re special. To run really hard over long distances you need to get out there and do it. You work hard to be the best runner you can be, and when you do that, running will cut through your Ego like a swift, clean blade! Running – at least the way we did it at Stanford – running exacts a price. It’s not some joyous nature romp – at least not until you got into really fierce shape and then it sometimes does have an element of effortlessness – the ‘Zone’ people talk about. But serious distance runners – we’re wolves, Fred. So let’s just say that I think about the ‘Zen’ of long-distance running a whole lot different than you do…” Fred listened, nodding his head and stroking his long beard from time to time. He still preferred running ten-minute miles for hours, like the “Marathon Monks” Decker Underwood had told me about who ran around Mount Hiei. More power to Fred. But that wasn’t me...
From JOCK: a memoir of the counterculture, available on Amazon.
From JOCK: a memoir of the counterculture, available on Amazon.
