Frank Shorter Joins us LIVE Tuesday 6:30 eastern to Celebrate 50 Year Anniversary of 1972 Olympic Gold - Submit Your Qs

Lots of guys asking 'What could you have run in super-shoes?' and that's a perfectly legit question, and I'd love to hear what he says.

But I'd frame it as a two-parter:

1) Frank, your marathon best was 2:10:30, but you ran to win, and ran to win championships, and never really ran a 'time-trial' type race (AFAIK, anyway).

If you'd had a chance to run a course like Berlin, in your prime, on a favorable day, with people to run with for the first two thirds, let's say --where you were paced to a 1:04 first half, or something like that-- what do you think you could have run at your best time-trial effort?

2) Take that same race, and put yourself in a pair of super-shoes. How much faster would you guess it might've been?

Thanks.

Really glad that you are doing this podcast/event. I jumped the fence at the Munich track in 1984 so that I could run that lap inspired by your race.

I am also interested in how you prepped and how you knew how to prep. What was the thesis behind the training. Did you have certain markers/times you were hitting on your hard days.

Thanks so much

1. Any idea where Ken Misner is these days?

2. How is Jeff Galloway doing and what do you think of his marathon program>

3. Why Falmouth and why now?

Thanks for doing this.

I would love to know his thoughts on Don Kardong. What communication they’ve had, or if he’s just otherwise thought about him and what might have happened if things were slightly different. (Only after talking about what could have been for himself in ‘76.)

Hey Frank , I remember when you ran a Duathlon in Portland, Oregon, I was there and finished a little behind you! Thanks.......

Hi Frank,

It’s clearly evident that Cheatpinski was a drug cheat. How can it be possible that he is allowed to keep your Gold Medal? Why is he not being stripped of the Gold Medal- which clearly belongs to you! Who’s protecting that drug cheat?

I would like to ask Frank on his thoughts on how much he believes super shoes benefits world class 5000m and 10000m runners and what he believes his friend and training partner Steve Prefontaine would have run for 5000m in super shoes if they were available back in the 70s. Thankyou

Dear Frank,

You self-coached since your college days and used the same system throughout your career. Do you think this system took you to your physical potential or would you change anything if you could redo it? Could you also provide for us a sample of how a normal week of training looked like in your prime?

Thanks and thank you for the inspiration!

Hi Frank,

I would like to ask if you have any good unknown Kenny Moore stories to share. I've read some of his writings recently (The Thin Blue Line) and it seems you two had a really interesting friendship. Are you still concentrating on the chrysanthemums?

I'd like to hear about his HS and Yale days.

1) We have the idea that someone is a 'champion' but I remember being told a story that the Harvard Yale meet was coming down to the final 2 events - 5k and 4 x 400. (I may not have the details exactly correcut but) If Frank got 2nd in the 5k, Yale would win based on what was going to happen in the 4 x 400. Three guys including Frank hit the bell together and everyone was super pumped as things were looking good for Yale. Frank just stepped off the track and was a DNF. I imagine this was 1968 as Harvard won that meet 79 to 75 (how does scoring tradtionally work in a duel?)

I remember talking to a star of that Yale team and he told me something along the lines of, "I know Frank ended up being Olymipc champ but it's been hard for me to reconcile those two contrasting things in my head."

I like that story and would like to hear Frank talk about it. It plays perfectly into how I think about Weldon. When Weldon was at Yale, he never finished higher tahn 5th in the Ivy League but ended up twice 4th at USAs (of course Weldon doesn't want to come across as self-absorbed interviewer).

2) Weldon won't ask this as I saw he's already deleted someone who suggested it. But back when we were in college, all the guys on Weldon's Yale team had heard Frank had a pre-race ritual that he did to naturally spike his testosterone. Is that true?

3) What does he think of all of the races save for Boston and NY being rabbitted nowadays? Does he prefer watching a rabbitted or unrabbitted marathon?

Surprised this is still up.

Big fan of Frank Shorter. Thank you for all that you've done!

To Frank:

It seems like at the peak of his career, American distance runners were more front and center in the media...SI covers. Are you (FS) disappointed that current American front runners aren't as much of a household name? Why do you think this is?

BONUS

My college coach's wife babysat for him in Middletown, NY area back in the day. Can he name her and/or the high profile university distance program associated with that coach?

There is no 1 thing.

27 years later and you’re still annoying. :)

We've got a guest article by Randy Maniloff on Frank up on the homepage.

letsrun.com

On 50th Anniversary of Marathon Gold, Frank Shorter Reflects On Impact of Munich Massacre

Randy Maniloff

Shorter was asleep on the balcony of his Olympic Village apartment when he heard the first gunshots. Why was sleeping out there? Ask Dave Wottle.

Open link

Please ask him why the 50th place finishers at local road races were faster in the 70s and 80s compared to today. Would he attribute it to no contemporary runner being a household name like Shorter and Rodgers were or a lack of Jim Fixx and Arthur Lydiard types proselytizing the benefits of running volume?

And yet Cierpinski was the only distance runner from the DDR to do anything in '76. Where were the East Germans in the 5 and 10 thousand? There is much more to Cierpinski's success than doping.

Does he think Without Limits and Pre negatively affected his image?

He goes to Falmouth every year.