An anonymous response to the previous post on streaking yielded this little token of yesteryear. It brings back many memories for a few of us. This must be the finishers jacket from the
1979 Maryland Marathon showing the greatest silhouette emblem of
Bill Rodgers, Ron Hill and possibly
Tom Fleming (?) at the 1977 race. I never got the jacket, so I assume its from the '79 race. I ran the '77 and '78 races, I believe, and dragged 3 or 4 other PSU athletes along in '78. I think
Ralph Hoffmann (PSU '79 Forestry major) ran a 2:31 or so on the most difficult Marathon course I have ever run. It was an out-and-back course from Memorial Stadium to Loch Raven Reservoir north of the city. A large hill named
Satyr loomed at about the 20 mile mark and took many a victim, including me both years.
The jacket looks nice, but I especially remember the greatest backpack bag that we got in '77 or '78. A single drawstring bag made of plain canvas with plain lettering lasted nearly 30 years of hard use by me, my wife and two kids. I'll have to go look for it again. The t-shirts with the same emblem were great too. Here's
Don Ziter sporting his while breaking
Coach Groves' rule against competing in outside races in 1980!
The short, shorts always bring a smile to my lips. Do you remember those great
New Zealand Splits?
Addendum: Our Benevolent IT Czar
Jeff Sanden dug into his attic to come up with another gem, the actual bag from the 1977 Maryland Marathon, the single best gift I have ever received.
The First Cheaters
ReplyDeleteBack in The Day, the day being the late 70's, the first weekend in December marked the beginning of our serious training/mileage buildup for the 3rd Monday in April. And what better way to kick off serious training than to run a marathon(albeit 60-90 secs slower than goal pace). And so it was that a group of like-minded souls would pile into a car or two, head south on the Jersey Turnpike, arriving at Memorial Stadium to try our hand, err, soles, at Satyr Hill and the Maryland Marathon.
I cannot remember which year, 77,78,79; race organizers advertised a way-cool nylon jacket; with that classic Bill Rodgers, Ron Hill, Somebody Else sillohuette logo on the back; to be awarded to all race finishers.
I am saddened to report that in the last few miles, my friends & I spotted dozens of Rosie Ruiz-to-be's jumping in the race in order to claim their finishers trophy.
At the time, this surprised me a great deal. It was my first, but alas, not my last, exposure to cheating in running.
As Coach said about our 2009 Golf Tourney, "You must do something about the cheating!"
ReplyDeleteDave - we have to figure out a way to get the results (plus share some of the recollections) of the '79 Nittany Valley Marathon posted...that hellish 2-plus hour period will likely haunt me forever!! LTM
ReplyDeleteI have plenty of stories about that one. I sacrificed myself to "teach" 3 milers how to marathon correctly. My advice to "start slow" worked like a charm for all 3 of you, as all three beat me handily when I crashed at mile 20. (I really did have an excuse!) My advice to "start slow" has since morphed into "start slow, then taper off", which my wife uses to great effect at the Disney 1/2 Marathon/Marathon combo every January.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the results, please post them. I can't remember what the times were like. One thing I recall is that we had to pass the finish line and do some 300 yard loop to actually finish - which I later found (perhaps mistakenly) made the course about 300 yards long!! Any truth to that? LTM
ReplyDeleteAs is usual, I only have stories not supported by actual physical evidence. I ran 2:41 3 weeks after pneumonia, having to sprint to beat both coach Groves and Liz (Berry) Larsen. The extra loop did suck though, that I remember well. Maybe the track office will have results of that one. I will inquire, (or in line with the tone of the blog, "enquire"!)
ReplyDelete