What's your Prefontaine number?

Racing is a lame way to count degrees of separation to Pre. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, get a Pre #2 from the Falmouth Road Race alone through Frank Shorter. Perhaps a million more get #2 this way through other races Shorter has run over the last 50 years.

I get a #1 Pre number that way.

I get a #2 five ways through runners I've beaten: Frank Shorter, Marty Liquori, Dick Buerkle, Rod Dixon and Roscoe Divine.

If Dick Quax or Bronislaw Malinowski have beaten Pre I get two more #2s.

I ran the 10k an the Prefontaine Classic in the old days when it was the night before the big meet. It was not a national or world class race that year. I finished mid-pack in 30:10ish. After the race and the candlelight vigil, I got really drunk as a Pre tribute. I ended stealing a cowboy's hat at a bar and got in a scuffle, cutting my eye in the process. I got back to my hotel about 2:00 a.m., but got up at 6:00 a.m. and ran 15 miles on the Pre Trail at about 6 minute pace---also as a Pre tribute. I was drunk for the first 8 miles---and this run was thus about as hard as the previous night's race. After the run, I had a beer and went to the meet to watch the made for tv part of the meet. Combined, I think this gives me a Pre number of 3.

Stayed up late last night trying to figure out who I could have beat that would give me a path.

10

Four D2 guys you never heard of

Jim Carney (teammate)

Alan Culpepper

Kennedy

Baumann

Walker

Prefontaine

Mine is 45. No, wait - that was the speed limit. Never mind........

malmo wrote:

Racing is a lame way to count degrees of separation to Pre. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, get a Pre #2 from the Falmouth Road Race alone through Frank Shorter. Perhaps a million more get #2 this way through other races Shorter has run over the last 50 years.

I get a #1 Pre number that way.

I get a #2 five ways through runners I've beaten: Frank Shorter, Marty Liquori, Dick Buerkle, Rod Dixon and Roscoe Divine.

If Dick Quax or Bronislaw Malinowski have beaten Pre I get two more #2s.

I think the OP has made it clear, that only track races count.

As far as I know, both Quax and Malinowski has raced just once against Prefontaine, both lost to him.

md guy wrote:

3

Pre

Centro Sr

Centro Jr

Can someone verify if this really is true? Father and son Centrowitz have raced against each other in a track race?

I'm gonna kinda cheat:

I ran a track race One Hour Run with/against Eric Lathrop. local small potatoes stuff, and Eric was past competitive fitness, but there was a gun and a clock.

I think Eric Lathrop raced against Len Hilton, both UH Cougars.

Len Hilton raced Pre

I'm originally from coos bay. I'm going with 2

Prefontaine

Jay farr (his high school team mate)

Me

I beat Justine Fedronic in college. She must have beaten some top runners but I am not sure how to make the link to Lynn Jennings. She may have run against Alexa Efraimson at some point so maybe there is that link.

TrackBot! Compare Justine Fedronic vs Alexa Efraimson

6: I've raced Cheserek, who's raced Lagat, then it's Bekele to Baumann to Walker to prefontain.

Still higher than my Erdös number (4)

Monday, May 16, 2016

Portland -OR- (United States), 15.5.2016 -Portland Twilight-

Women

800m h1

1 Kate Grace 2.00.05;

2 Alexa Efraimson 2.00.99;

3 Shelby Houlihan 2.01.56;

4 Justine Fedronic (fra) 2.01.79;

5 Lauren Wallace 2.02.83;

6 Rachel Francois (can) 2.03.50;

7 Helen Crofts (can) 2.03.67;

8 Treniere Moser 2.04.27,

9 Hannah Fields 2.04.68;

Has to be on the track or via XC.

I got lapped in a steeple by Jim Johnson (8:30 guy for CNW) who raced Pre. so #=2. (BTW spectators liked my form over the water jump/barriers better than his. In between, not so much.)

Also, all-comer's meets with Kardong and Tyson, so 2 that way as well.

My brother beat Scott Daggett in High School, who trained with and raced Pre, so # =3 that way.

Pre won NCAAs in the first track meet I ever attended.

2

I beat Liam Reale

Who beat Alistar Cragg

Who beat Kenneisa Bekele

Who beat Haile Gebreselaisse

Who beat Bob Kennedy

Who beat Said Aouita

Who beat Steve Ovett

Who beat John Walker

Who beat Pre

It could be shorther...but I do not know.

rennuraton wrote:

never raced........mother in law was in same class in high school, I have Elfriede's sugar cookie recipe.

You win.

Jimmy21 wrote:

I'm originally from coos bay. I'm going with 2

Prefontaine

Jay farr (his high school team mate)

Me

Cool.

Wow, the amount of true geezers on this thread is insane and explains so much of the right wing nutbar commentary on this board.

That said, for any runner who ran for Oregon within 5 years either side of Steve's time, this is a gimme of an exercise. Especially if you include the one hour run on the track race at Hayward.

I think the entire thread should be redone with just people who beat someone who beat Pre, lol.

In that case I was once drinking with Marty Liquori and Henry Rono, and well Centro Sr., and...and...and...

My Nourredine Morceli number is 2, I beat one of his training partners, an 8:45 steeple guy (although he was 40+ and I was 17) in an open track meet.

Pretty cool, and Morceli's teammate Baghdad Rachem was a really nice guy.

I beat Shorter back when he was still pretty fast, and I was a bit faster.

I think that gives me a 2.