The Jerry Lawson Thread

Not trying to be a dick...understand your point...great resource to have a guy like that at a local store. When I was at Washington, I loved going over to Super Jock 'N Jill and being able to talk with guys like Buck Jones, Rick Wilhelm, other local studs, etc.

Looking forward to seeing what Mr. Lawson does as a master. Interested if he's taken a complete break at any time or just toned it down for awhile? Guy went at it real hard for a lot of years, wonder if the body still feels OK. From my experience (far slower, not as good as him, but have run a fair amount for awhile) the 34 year-old body does not work the same or even close to it anymore. Thumbs up to him if he's taken care of himself to the point where he can still roll.

Grote

RyanGrote wrote:

Athletes in other sports deal with heckling, jeering, boos, and so on.

Grote

True, but for dedicated runners on the fringe of being able to qualify for the trials themselves, you guys should be able to understand what it may have taken to get there. To screw with the guy while he was racing was completely out of hand.

A drop-out pool is one thing but I actually witnessed that Jackass hold it up to Lawson at one point in the race and shout some garbage at him. If he had the stupidity to do that once, I would guess he stalked Jerry at other points in the race. At least you had the sense to know that was over the line.

Of course the other antagonist (jackass) had trouble distinguishing what was over the line and it eventually helped him set a "record".

please tell us who the jackass is. it might stop people from disrespecting our sport. if we can't treat our own well why should people outside the sport respect us?

Exactly, what the hell did Lawson ever do to anyone, including that pair of hacks to make them feel like he warranted their "heckling, jeering, boos, and so on?" Was Lawson a drug cheat who robbed the spotlight and prize money from more deserving runners? Was Lawson a loud-mouthed showboat? Was Lawson arrogant and condescending? It's a real shame that some snot-nosed east coaster can't get over himself enough to let Lawson's career be celebrated without interjecting to redirect attention to himself. What a luxury it must be to have so few problems and so little going on in your life that you'd feel that going after someone like Lawson is a good use of your time and energy. What do you do for an encore, leave flaming bags of crap on the Culpeppers' doorstep?

Jerry, If you see this. I was toying with the idea of Running the Jax Marathon Dec 21. Is it a good Marathon to do? I heard the finish was a little goofy,and the halfer's get in the way, but that it was flat and fast(depending on the heat) Your 2:14 CR there is pretty tough. I ran with you once when you stayed in Cincinnati for a bit. One of my Running highlights! Your an Animal.

Hi Jerry,

Read you were back in somewhat serious training for a possible spring marathon.

If the Stockade-athon fits your plans as a “see where you are at” race on November 9, we would be happy to send a comp entry along.

We have some master’s prize money this year also, and it will give you a chance to visit family in upstate NY.

Check out our webpage at

www.hmrrc.com

Click on Race Corner for the Stockade-athon Webpage.

It has to be 7 years since I picked you up at the Albany airport!

Congrats on the twins….awesome!

Glad all is well.

Vince J

Derek Martisus...I was running for Adirondack. ESG's were good times.

Awsome Lawson

No more needs to be said.

Stockade-a-thon 15k!

one of the best, and most UNDERRATED races in the US.

Keep up the good work Vince!

jerry could you post some of your big workouts leading up to some of your marathons. I am a huge fan.

Chris how is your training? life in general?

Sarah & I are relocating back to upstate NY from Park City, UT. We work as massage therapists....

Yes Stock-a-thon 15 was a good one, I ran 50:38 in 1988

great sand dunes national park wrote:

please tell us who the jackass is. it might stop people from disrespecting our sport. if we can't treat our own well why should people outside the sport respect us?

i am beginning to believe in karma. with some luck lets run might turn civil and positive.

I just started to relive my old running memories from the 80's and 90's. Im 45 5 yrs old now, a few years younger than Jerry Lawson. I live in Nashville TN but grew up in upstate NY and Jerry was the stud. Your so right he was blue collar living in Utica NY with a Brooks sponsorship hammering out crazy training and running to the start of races just to use it as part of his training for a tempo run and he would run 32 min 10 ks.

I never made it to his level but I did what I could. I ran 48 min for 15 k at the Schenectedy NY stockadeathon 15 k in 1992. I just finished undergrad college that year and I remember Jerry warming up. I think I finished 8th that yr but does it really matter. Jerry took off like a rocket and hit the mile marker in like 431 or close to that. I remember the earings, the orange socks the mohawk.

He was the king of running of the Mohawk valley where I grew up. We all looked up to him. Some others in the Utica, Syracuse area got somewhat close to his level and others like me were good regional level runners. He was the real deal, trying to find a way to make a living without that professional educational background but living out his passion.

Eric-

Did you go to U Buffalo, maybe work at the Utica Y for a bit and do you have knowledge of "An ode to a long run." If so I may have logged some miles with you. I feel this may be you because the guys I ran with were huge Lawson fans, and as an upstate transplant, they regaled me with lots of Lawson stories. One I remember was he ran both the 5/10k at some event and set course records for both, collecting a little extra cash for himself.

B Rock Master- was that the year Jerry had the pink hair?

I was just talking to some runners around here about old running stories. I remembered when I met Jerry Lawson and just Googled to see what he was up to and stumbled upon this thread. So I will share the story again here. I am 38 years old now and this happened when I was about 13 or 14, so around 1989. I was running a small trail race in my hometown of Florence SC. Jerry showed up with another runner (Gordon Snaden) whose parents lived in the area. Jerry raced and won by a very large margin over some talented local runners. The race director could not believe it and actually held the awards until every course volunteer and aid station worker verified they saw him (which was easy with the wild hair and the earrings). With someone that looks like Jerry and ran as fast as Jerry it was easy to verify he was seen on the entire course even though I think the race director was certain he cut the course short. Seeing somebody that fast with the style he had at 13 years old made an impression since I was used to seeing older very conservative style runners. I have heard it said he was the Dennis Rodman of running before there was a Dennis Rodman of basketball. Anyway my parents were friends with the Snaden's so I got an introduction and got to hang out and talk to Jerry for a while. He ended up giving me a pair of Brooks racing flats and training shoes both of which I completely used up especially the racing flats. Super nice guy and glad to see the success he went onto.

Just responding a full year later (LOL) I must be really bored or suffering through life purpose cause Im finding myself reading old blod postings and watching old footage of Todd Williams racing in the early 90;s. HOwever this is in response to a posting from B Rock Master.

Yes I went to SUNY Buffalo and did work at the YMCA in utica before I went back to school. .I think all of us will live off a bit of the accolades of Jerry although many top New York state runners have made it to high heights. (heck if I recall my senior year in high school I barely made it to the 3200 meter state meet and 3 freaking kids ran under 9 min. My best was 945. I went on to have some ok times , 14:47 5k, 30:55 10k but for someone who gre up around 2nd hand smoke and develped mild obstructive airway disorder that was never treated it will certainly make your middle distance or anaerobic events quite a bit slower ( Im an exercise physiologist and used to have to conduct lung function and stress tests on myself to calibrate equipment) So if any of you out there breathed in lots of contaimants over the years and have some pulmonary issues as a result dont beat yourself up wondering why you never got faster..

I remember Jerry at the Utica wednesday night development runs running from his apartment over to the start of the 10 k super hilly course and busting out a 32 time on that and just continuing running from there.

I definitely did not have his Irish genes (I had a college teammate who was Irish and he was a stud). Jerry was always in the lead pack of the Boilermaker. I definitely was living out of his shadow or some kind of wantabe when I begin to train 100-130 miles a week during my base phase as a graduate student at springfield college in massachusetts in the early-mid 90s. Yes I think those of us in the great Uitca area which has such a rich heritage of distance runners can look back at Jerry Lawson and thank him. Im only small talked with him but I love it when I hear that pride and arrogance didnt take up residence in his daily interaction with people.

I'm so late to this thread, but I got the opportunity to run with Jerry last summer while putting in base phase for the upcoming NCAA XC season. We would go on long runs with a big group of the best runners in Jacksonville, (Jerry still right up there with everyone even at age 50!). I remember him pushing the pace on us, and dropping some sub 6 minute miles halfway through the run, and realizing just how tough this guy is.

Just talking to him you can tell that his mentality is really what made him so successful. Dude is a mental giant, and can get his body to do things that others can't. He's a super nice guy, and since I worked at the same store he did, I got to pick his brain about training quite a bit. He's always open to talk and share experience, and advice with other runners. Definitely has a unique personality, but he's a super cool guy.

I’m only about 10+ yrs late on this, so yeah, I’m that guy this one time. I was there when Jerry started running in freshman cross country at Chittenango High school. We were all skinny and weak and developing. Kid in our class was a year older than us, Jeff Phelps, smoked all of us and was the best runner in the school early on. It was a long time ago, but as I look back into the fuzz of distant memory I believe Jerry used this period to build toughness, skill, and strategy, and started to really challenge JP, and occasionally beat him. A couple years later JP quits athletics altogether and Jerry got really fast, tough, and strong. I’m godfather to JPs kids, so I still remember a little bit of all this. Me, I did 25 yrs in the Army, Airborne Ranger, 5 wars, and I had to run for work, but I hated it. Turns out I’ve had a touch of asthma all these years. Go figure. Anyway, Lawson’s great, proud of him, and a good representative of how we grew up tough in Upstate NY in those days.

Chris Chandler

Major, US Army (Ret)

MPAS, PA-C

Boise, Idaho