The Gerry Lindgren Story ... Who's read it?

Run wrote:

Once A Runner is not suitable for HS runnenrs. It condones alcohol and pre-marital sex in detail.

Gerry has said he is working on a second book that continues his story.

I actually would like to read MORE of his teenage stories. His teenage years is what captures the imagination and inspires. Who cares about later on?

Right! What is so great about Gerry's book is that i can give hope to today's kids. Hope of becoming an elite at something, even if they show little inital talent. Gerry was one of the slower jr high kids at his school... He explains what happened and what he did to become quite fast in 2 years time. Most kids give up too quickly.

Why not interview Coach Walters? He's still in the same area... He could document anything from this book.

Some notes on Gerry Lindgren ...by John Molvar

"Starting in his freshman year '61-'62 he began running megamileage. By his junior year he was running 150 miles a week consistently. He even had a 250 mile week which is considered the highest ever by a serious runner. When Dave McGilverly did his run from Florida to Fenway park (1983?) he came close to 250 one week. The highest 2 week total ever is 420 by Gary Bjorkland in March of '76. Gary, in the Olympic Trials 10,000 lost his shoe with 3 laps to go but still outkicked Bill Rodgers for the 3rd and final spot on the team. Frank Shorter won. When Lindgren was a junior in HS ('64) he ran 8.40 and 4.01. A month later he ran the still standing 13.44 5000 to make the Olympics behind current Oregon Coach Bill Dellinger. He finished in the top 10 at the games (in the 10,000). Billy Mills won the 10k in 64 but that's another story)

Gerry is still considered the greatest HS XC runner ever, not just with respect to his competitors but on an absolute basis. Meaning no HS runner from any era could have beaten him in an xc race. I estimate he could have run about 14.20 on the Footlocker course compared to Mohamed's 15.20 and Reina's record of 14.36.

Lindgren went on to WSU and was a 6 time NCAA champion ( Wash. St. three-mile run 1966-67, 5,000-meter run 1968, six-mile run 1966-67, 10,000-meter run 1968) and ranked in the top 10 in the World in the 5000 almost every year from '64-'69. His PR was about 13.30. (It's tough to improve when you ran as much as he did in HS).

The highlight of his career was the summer after he graduated from HS when he took on Olympic Champion Billy Mills in the US Championship 6 mile in June of 1965. Just before he died in 1985 the editor and founder or T&F News, Bert Nelson, called this race the greatest race of all time. Mills and the prodigy tore up the track, lap after lap at sub WR pace. The lead changed 15 times in the first 23 of 24 laps and 4 times in the final lap, ending in a photo finish with Mills winning in a WR time which was superior to his 10K WR he set winning the Olympics the year before. Mills retired soon afterwards.

In the fall of 1969, 5th year senior Lindgren ran into true freshman Prefontaine in the Pac 8 XC meet. The current editor of T&F News, Gary Hill says this was the greatest race he ever saw with Pre winning by one step. Lindgren came back to get him in the NCAAs.

This should be a movie! The problem of course is that he had no charisma like Pre".

Given Lindgren's tendency to exaggerate his accomplishments ("I was on 2-hour marathon pace for 26 miles before I passed out"), I am now inclined to doubt many of his grander stories, including the claim that he ran 250 miles per week in high school. Maybe he really did run that much, but I don't know how anyone can faithfully believe anything that Lindgren says.

For the record, Mills did not set the 10K WR at the 1964 Olympics. The world record at that time was 28:15 by Ron Clarke (who ran 27:39 the following year). Mills ran 28:24 in Tokyo.

That's not the only problem.

I think that Lindgren has some life experiences that would make for an interesting movie, but I have a feeling Gerry's fans (and Gerry himself) wouldn't be too happy with the result.

I have read "Gerry Lindgren's Book on Running by the Shadow of Gerry Lindgren. I enjoyed the read and therefore purchased another copy which I sent to a friend.

Yesterday, I reread the 1971 Runner's World Booklet of the Month entitled "The Gerry Lindgren Story" It too is an interesting read. The charts showing Gerry's National Championships, his top times through the years and his records are extremely interesting.

What is needed is a book combining the information in those two books but also provinding more details of the races Gerry ran. F;or instance, after Gerry ran his 13:44 at age 18 in June of 1964 in Commpton for 4th place Track and Flield News says that he was responsible both for the fast time and most of the excitment" Why are we not told that 3 Americans broke Jim Beatty's US National 5K record of 13:45 in that race or that Bob Schul won the race with a 56 second last quarter mile? More accurate and vivid descriptions of Gerry's greatest races would result in a great book.

By the way I saw the Mills/Lindgren 6 mile duel in 1965. It awas a hu;mdinger of a race!

I read the book. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. I totally skipped all of his rules of running at the end. I also thought that he exaggerated a lot. Someone said earlier that he emphasized "feel good emotions", or something, too much, I agree.

Orville Atkins wrote:

I have read "Gerry Lindgren's Book on Running by the Shadow of Gerry Lindgren. I enjoyed the read.

Yesterday, I reread the 1971 Runner's World Booklet of the Month entitled "The Gerry Lindgren Story" It too is an interesting read.

True for both. I was disappointed that his book ended at his HS end. Just like the '71 booklet, you have to read between the lines and grab the truth from the imaginative mind of GL. Do I believe he ran 250/wk, Nah. Do I believe he ran 88 mile runs, No. But did he run mega hard mileage to compensate for his frail and fragile ego, sure thing. You just gotta remember that Gerry was the master of the 'put-on' as he did it all the time and soon it became a normal lifestyle. The book is definately worth reading.