Still Running (weakly). Issue 16

PAST – inspiration – With the Diamond League climaxing in Eugene, Oregon at the weekend, my thoughts turned to Steve Prefontaine, who graced that track on many occasions. Why him? After all, he wasn’t that successful – some US records and a fourth place in the Olympics (1972 5,000 metres). But there was something about Pre, something magical, mystical, mythical even, that communicated itself to fans, to the public, even across the Atlantic to a fledgling teenage runner in Croydon.

He would always run from the front and try to burn the others off; any picture of him running shows his eyes narrowed in intense, zen-like concentration and effort; they said that, when he stepped on his home track in Eugene, the sun would invariably come out; he lived in a caravan at the foot of a mountain; he rebelled against the archaic amateur rules of the time; he looked like a pop star; he was a pop star to US track fans – they shouted, “Go Pre,” through his every race; and he died young, crashing his car after drinking perhaps too much beer, after winning his last race, defeating Olympic marathon champ Frank Shorter in a near US record 5000.

I only saw him race once – ironically, in the one race he didn’t finish – the Coca Cola 2 miles at Crystal Palace in 1974, where Brendan Foster deployed his trademark mid-race burst to gain a winning lead. But Pre was my first running hero and I remember him still.

PRESENT – perspiration – Pre had Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon; I have Alice Holt Forest! Especially on a Saturday morning at parkrun, Alice Holt is where I pay my running dues and worship my running gods! Marshalling at the crossroads there last weekend, at the point where the runners, joggers and walkers pass three times, I marvelled once more at the hundreds of people starting their weekends in the best possible way, and fulfilling the words from novelist Jack London, which are printed on the back of my biography of Pre.

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stilled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

FUTURE – suggestion – Using one’s time is a subtle art. We have all known occasions when we want to run and, at the same time, we don’t. We have all known days when we have got in from work, school, whatever, and we need to go out again in 45 minutes, and we kind of want to run, but we don’t really have time for a run, and we want a cup of tea, and we should answer that email, and……..

But we know deep down that we should run. And we know that if we hesitate for a moment, the chance will be gone.