That marathon was Palos Verdes Marathon, which was known as one of hilliest courses around. I ran it that year as well.
That marathon was Palos Verdes Marathon, which was known as one of hilliest courses around. I ran it that year as well.
Hey Greg! (It’s Ian)
Did Mary look like she was on anabolic steroids running down PV Drive West circa 1973. ;-)
What a ridiculous question.
Not cool wrote:
rojo wrote:
[quote]SnohoCoach wrote:
Mary Slaney graduated from Orange High School (Orange, California) in 1976, I know because I sat right next to her during graduation. She did not compete for the high school but would sometimes come out and watch us and talk to us boys about our workouts and compare our race results with hers. Mary had her own workouts to manage with Denoon (blue angels) and then Ted Devian for a while.
I know your post is from 12 years ago, but if there is any chance you are on here, I'd love to talk to you. Was there any signs of PED use in HS? Please email me at
rober@letsrun.com?
Do you think she's capable of that type of stuff from a moral standpoint?
Rojo, really? No one knew about PEDs back in the 70s, especially high school girls. Your question is waaay out of bounds.
Considering that it's well-known she did juice, it's not out of bounds in the least. I suspect this is on Rojo's mind because Al is back in the news here on LRC. You had folks in the NOP who felt they 'had to' do it. Some come close to suggesting Al 'made them' do it. I went back and read the article with Ritz in it that somebody linked on that thread. He doesn't say 'I decided to......', does he?
Thing is, if you do it, you DID actually make the decision to do it. The East Germans decades ago may have been closer to being 'forced' but Mary Decker certainly wasn't. Not a dumb question at all from Rojo. It may be from the viewpoint that we are certain she was morally capable of PED use.
OK, another topic. There was a thread recently involving an alleged high school kid. Started by Sham, who I believe to be a troll similar to David or Greg. Doesn't seem to be in high school in the rest of his threads. Anyway, imaginary though the scenario may be, it starts with complaining along the lines of 'My coach......!'
I weigh in and suggest the dude run, but not for the official school-sanctioned team and coach. Now, the OP may not have anything to do with any school or team, but some kid reading it does, so I'll throw that advice out there once in a while.
Well, outrage predictably ensues. Way out of line to recommend that, any and all readers are told. One poster thought it was great advice (a total of 1) and then a poster came and said that had to be me bumping myself. While I don't recommend anyone spend the effort, a check from site administration would confirm it really was someone else.
Thing is, it was shocking that even one guy thought it was a great idea to avoid the whole school district program given that it is such an unpopular opinion these days. To say it is discouraged by 99% of all MB participants would be an understatement. To say that they are vigourously or even violently opposed to the idea of a teenage distance runner training and racing without approval nor input from his/her school would not even be mildly hyperbolic.
This notion came up on one thread where I had to jump in and congratulate whomever posted said advice. That's happened maybe twice. Maybe just once. Such a concept - non-school-affiliated teenage running - is so rare here that if you've seen several posts mentioning it is an option or even exists, a couple of those were mine. Maybe all if you've just seen a few. Just for anyone who's wondering, this approach resolves all complaints about your coach. ALL of them. Forever.
Well, look here at little Mary. A guy who literally knew her and actually went to the same school at the time says she didn't run for the school's team and wasn't coached by the school's coach. Other posts in this thread seem to confirm such. An outrageous idea? I've been told as much whenever I've weighed in on a high school coach complaint thread.
But it used to be common, and it worked. I know of one distance runner who ran for my school's track team. There's another who I think may have but that's just a suspicion. If I count her, that's one guy and one girl. This was an urban school with a student body of 3000 in a big running town, during the so-called Running Boom. The rest of us trained and raced and the school was none the wiser. Not that they would have objected; we never got any pressure to join.
Now we can confirm that the great ones (regardless of her faults and downfalls, she WAS a good runner) do the same. Or DID, anyway. Societal (peer, parental, and school/coach, I'm guessing) pressures seem to prevent non-school-sanctioned running these days to a great extent. Why that is, I may not be the one to explain.
However, Athing Mu didn't seem to run for her high school, did she? Mary Cain ran for NOP. Stinson has a high school 10000PR - his school wasn't likely involved with that nor the training for it. And he wasn't close to the US HS record. But I digress: that apparently unbreakable record dates back to the time period I refer to. Back when nobodies like me and stars as well ran in high school, but not necessarily FOR their high schools.
Think about Decker next time you want to start a 'My coach....blah, blah, yada, yada.......!!' rant here on the Board. Leave the coach and team behind and run. He's only 'your coach' if you decide he is.
Long winded post about an era you know nothing about.
Back in the early 70s most schools didn't hand girls track teams, so it would be normal for them to get involved in the sport via local track clubs, which were numerous.
actually, no wrote:
Long winded post about an era you know nothing about.
Back in the early 70s most schools didn't hand girls track teams, so it would be normal for them to get involved in the sport via local track clubs, which were numerous.
Yeah, when I was in HS in the '70s, there were no girls HS XC teams and some meets would have one race for all ages that random HS girls could compete in. At the invitationals and section meet, there wasn't a female runner in sight. Kind of odd that, at the time, I didn't give it a second thought.