What was it like being a 1990s runner?

Tuesdays were great because we'd get the lists of NCAA and conference times, updated with the past weekend results.

So did I. I was one, behind my coach's back. You missed my point.

art vandelay the fake one wrote:

American elites were slower. American hobby joggers were faster.

hobbyjoggers of 1980s = sub-elite of today, almost.

I hit my peak as a runner in the early 1990s. I could consistently run the 37:XX for 10K, and that was competitive among women in small local races but often didn't win. Now, a woman who can run 37:XX for 10K is a local star and could often win the MEN'S division in small local races.

Yeah, my wife won a bunch in the early 90s running times like that.

Now, though, we're 25 years older, and she's 25 years slower. Runs a minute or so per mile slower.

AND STILL WINS.

luv2run wrote:

I have no idea what OT standards were.

There were fewer races total and the ones that we around did not have bands every mile or on the course (maybe a few exceptions). You did not get medals for finishing (although this might have started late in the 90s).

At the end of the decade marathons became a "thing" but in the early 90s people were more "serious" about the marathon. You had far fewer participants in road races.

Shorts were shorter.

2:22 and about 2:46 to qualify, A standards were more like 2:18 and 2:42

Yes the depth of road racing declined as the decade wore on. Boomers aged and there just weren't as many younger runners out there. The high school resurgence started in the late 90s.

Mr. Island,

Maybe it's time to visit your primary care physician and have a conversation about being on the appropriate medication.

Perhaps it will allow you to have a new focus.

It was great, even fat guys could run sub 13 minutes for 5k.

EPO was cheap, abundant, undetectable, and awesome.

It made us fans think we were watching a golden era. It was fun while it lasted. Sure, Americans sucked, but that was supposedly because all those east Africans simply worked harder.

But frankly, I'd much rather watch druggies like El G, Ngeny, Komen, Geb, Tergat, etc, etc throw blows at each other in real races than I would watch one more men's race go out in 70.

And how was it to be a runner? It was great. Can you imagine being a high school two-miler the day Komen ran 7:58? Good luck matching that today.

Island wrote:

Please Explain in every detail what it was like running back in the 90s. Simpler? Harder? Smarter? What was average qualifying times in the olympics and how about high school events? Tell me everything you remember from the past 😀.

Well, first of all we knew how to ask, "What were the average qualifying times?"

It was the same as now except women had pubes

Races were smaller, cheaper, and top men and women all were faster.

MAGA

1) You had to wait for your coach to get the results of your race on a sheet of paper. You passed the paper around to your teammates to look at the results, and this was often the only time you saw the results. You could not look them up on the internet.

2) Road races cost $10-$15 dollars, including the shirt. You often didn't know who was in the race beforehand, as it was not posted on the internet. Heck, you often didn't who you were racing during the race, or even after the race. Runners were much more anonymous, as you couldn't google people.

3) Low-mileage was stressed, big-time. Like others, I had to sneak runs in on

my own, without telling the coach, just to get some higher mileage in.

4) Middle-packers and late-packers at road races were much more fit. Go watch a marathon or half-marathon today. It's like a war zone at the water stops. Hundreds of people looking like they are going pass-out and have heart attacks on their attempts to get a mileage sticker and finisher's medal. Still happened in the 90s, but nowhere close to what it is today.

5) Believe it was 2:22 to qualify for olympic marathon trials

We ate steak before every race. Track meets were run on cinder tracks. Racing singlets were made out of cotton material. You got handed a popsicle stick with your place on it when you finished a XC race.

Max carb load. Fear fat. Non-Africans couldn't compete until B. Kennedy later when he broke 13 for 5000 and gave everyone hope.

You could sign up to run Boston a week before the race

Needed the Sony yellow "sport" discman to listen to your CDs. Long runs you'd have to listen to the same one on repeat. But that thing was still a POS and skipped constantly.

Low mileage, high intensity. Lots and lots of intervals. Everyone thought you should stick to soft surfaces as much as possible, wear the most cushioned shoes (Nike Air Max or Pegasus), and do static stretching. We wore simple Timex watches, or the Nike watches that came out in the mid/late 90s. I remember running in a lot of cotton- socks, hardware gloves, cotton sweatshirts/t-shirts/tank tops. Track and Field News was the source for elite results. There were wayyyy road races with prize money, which dwindled after 9/11 and the influx of international elites. In the late 90s things like the Prefontaine bonanza (movies, book), Running with the Buffaloes, Dyestat, and HS elites (Ritzenhein/Hall/Tegenkamp/Webb) started the resurgence.

1800 94 track the summer of 93 and they had a 900 number I never called the next summer. I was 20 the summer of 93.