Larry Olsen RIP

I lost count of the numbers of times I brought a coffee (usually with a jelly donut) to Larry at one of his stores. I also lost count of the shoes I purchased from him and the odd sale I'd make for him when he left me in charge of the place (usually when he was off coaching his HS teams or at a race where he'd have an impact).

One could always count on being entertained when encountering him.

This is a shocking event, but I look at it a friend does: we should all be so lucky (when our time comes) to be surrounded by Friends doing what we all enjoy.

See you later Larry, you were one of a kind.

Wayne

Thanks for the info Kari, and it's been nothing short of touching to read all the posts on this thread. A lot of guys are tagged with exaggerated nicknames they never live up to, but Larry was a Legend in the truest sense of the word and that tag will surely stay with him forever.

At the moment, I'm stuck at the Las Vegas airport waiting for my flight home from the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon this past weekend. I've been emotionally overwhelmed by the amount of e-mails and phone calls I've received since last night. Larry was a special guy to a lot of people and he will be missed by many. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around all that's gone down in the last 24 hours, but it's incredible to see and hear just how many lives Larry touched.

I'm sad that my Running Times piece has turned into a memorial of sorts, but I am incredibly honored to have written it. I saw Larry on Thanksgiving at the Whitin 5 Road Race and he asked me when the magazine was coming out. He was so excited for it, not to see his own name in print, but because the girls on his high school team would get a big thrill out of seeing their pictures in a major magazine. That display of selfishness sums up Larry in a nutshell.

Godspeed, Larry. Your Legend will undoubtedly live on.

I remember watching Larry run a 10k at Randolph HS track back in early 70's. It was about noon, strong sun, ninety degree weather. He grinded out 30 flat or so. Right then and there, I knew I was watching a guy at least twice as tough as I ever was or would be.

Note, above should read selfLESSness. Spelling error on my part. Larry was anything but selfish.

Fine article, Mario.

dear kari,

so sorry for the loss of your uncle - a special man. no matter how slow you think you are as a runner, your uncle would have embraced you into the running community with his enthusiasm. he made everyone feel special. it was a pleasure to know him and an honor to run with him. john

Whenever I saw Larry lining up in a race, I and all the other old geezers knew we would be running for second. Fortunately I was a year older so for one year after turning 60 there was a chance of winning.Then back to the status quo. He was fast and seemingly never injured. I am very surprised that he should have a heart attack.

Larry Olsen won the Cape Cod marathon in 1978,

when it was 21 degrees at the start and water froze in the cups.

In 2007 Larry ran the anchor leg of the winning relay team at Cape Cod,

taking the baton from another former winner, Jimmy Fallon,

at Woods Hole. What a moment that was.

Getting him to the start of his leg was a bit stressful, as the driving was tricky and there wasn't a lot of time. Larry was in the back seat, full of race energy, wondering aloud how much time he'd need to warm up, etc.

He put all that energy to good use.

It was a gran prix race, so competition (local) for the whole marathon

was pretty tough,

but only four open runners finished ahead of 61 year old Larry.

It was great to see him fighting for every second down Main St in Falmouth.

As others have said, it's a crushing loss for his family and for New England running. But I cannot imagine that Larry would choose to go in any other way:

just running .

I admired and respected Larry on so many levels...during my brief stint of living/running/racing in New England he befriended me like a long lost relative...you know, the way he did with everyone with whom he crossed paths...lost but not forgotten.

long may you run,

MF

Rest in Peace, Larry Legend.

Larry was my High School coach at Milford High School and the one who ignited my love for running that still continues to this day, 12 years later. He was one of the most selfless, passionate, caring people I have had the pleasure to know. Larry got me hooked on running as a high school freshman and passed on an enthusiasm for the sport that fueled every day of his life.

I am thankful that Mario was able to put out a positive article about Larry and his impact on others. It is too bad he was not able to see it, but he never cared to see his name in lights. He loved racing for the pure competition and the chance to test himself. He was amused by rankings, but would always talk up his competitors. One year, I saw he was ranked high in a Running Times masters’ list. When I asked him about it he quickly pointed out that Bill Rodgers hadn’t raced much and “if Bob Hodge was still racing…”

I remember running with Larry and a big group of guys in the summer of 2002. Even though it was just an easy run, he was throwing in little surges and pushing the hills hard. While recovering on a downhill, I asked him what he was doing. He flashed his mischievous grin and told me he was just trying to psyche out one of the other guys (who was nearly 35 years younger!) before their showdown at an upcoming 10k. Classic Larry.

Larry Olsen would give you the shirt of his back (my first singlet was one of his) and the shoes off his feet (my first road flats were a pair of his Mizunos). I have had a smile all day reading the memories everyone is sharing. It has been almost a dozen years since Larry first took me under his wing and now I am lucky to still be running and coaching a HS team of my own… or as we used to say back on those summer runs - “living the dream”.

You will be missed, Coach!

crushing news. He will be missed. I understand he died running but of what? Did he have any sort of medical condition? Its troubling to hear of so many fit athletes dropping dead. Im seriously considering retiring from racing and becoming a 4-5 day a week runner. Scary stuff...

admired his strength wrote:

crushing news. He will be missed. I understand he died running but of what? Did he have any sort of medical condition? Its troubling to hear of so many fit athletes dropping dead. Im seriously considering retiring from racing and becoming a 4-5 day a week runner. Scary stuff...

that was my point, but I don't anyone really addressed that. Alberto nearly died, Ryan Shay did die, Travis Landreth died, Lou Ristiano nearly died, and John McGloin ( the name I could not think of before, more of a recreationally runner, who died running in Saugus MA breakheart reservation) died, and now Larry..... and there's been MANY more (those are just fairly recent names off the top of my head). All of these people, good runners/athletes who dropped dead running. Jim Fixx ? And of course 3 recent runners dying while running in Detroit 1/2 marathon.

Look, I KNOW running is great for you and for one's heart, but is there a connection between some of these deaths? I know that Travis was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. What about the others? Is there a common ailment among them?

And again, ALL of these people and many more died WHILE running. Clearly if you have certain defects/heart issues, a hard run will only put additional stress on the heart. What are the major heart defects one should be aware of and get tested for in order to make sure one is not putting himself in harm's way by running hard all the time??

I am writing this with all possible respect.

It's the QUALITY of life that matters, not the quantity.

I owe a lot of my running education to the many wise and extremely fast NE masters runners. Larry never actually coached me, but he definitely taught me a few things about racing on the roads.

God speed Larry.

And many runners die doing many other things than running.

Don't look for a trend where there isn't one.

language maven wrote:

And many runners die doing many other things than running.

Don't look for a trend where there isn't one.

You're a moron.

Larry was never one to let money or the greed to achieve finacial gain get in the way of who he was as a human being. In saying that Larry was a finacially poor person. He didn't have the means for optiumum health care or for even a dentist to take care of his teeth. Just because he ran all his life one assumes he would never come down with heart or health issues. That assumption is so far from the truth. All of of us addicted high mileage aging runners should never forget we all are susceptible to heart problems as we age. I suspect Larry had major heart related problems that went undetected due to his lack of money and proper healthcare maintennace. Considering all he did for the people he came in contact with thru his running that is a very sad ending to very sad story.

yellow fever wrote:

I am writing this with all possible respect.

It's the QUALITY of life that matters, not the quantity.

language maven wrote:

And many runners die doing many other things than running.

Don't look for a trend where there isn't one.

Guys, we don't necessarily disagree. I am NOT trying to say "running is a dangerous activity that is some big risk/cause for dropping dead." No, I understand how healthy it is. And I also understand the joy it brings many of us (so even if there was a small risk, it would be worth it).

What I AM saying/asking is: are there certain heart defects that have been the main cause of some of these deaths I bring up (and many more that have occurred ?). And if so, shouldn't we all be very aware of these, get tested, and do what we can to be safe if we have one of them? Of course. Also, I find it interesting that nearly all of the runners I know that have died of heart attacks of some nature, they nearly all did so WHILE RUNNING. Clearly, if you have certain heart problems, running a very intense workout/race could be a final straw. Again, we need to all be aware of what potential defects could be lurking in us. Maybe if Larry had gotten every test possible on his heart, he might have found out about a potential problem and could have used some sort of treatment that would have kept him alive.

I just don't think any of us want to suffer the same fate as Larry (or Ryan, or Travis, or the almost fates of Alberto and Lou Ristiano, etc, OR...... this kid:

"(Peter) Curtin is one of at least seven runners to die while running either a marathon or a half-marathon in the United States this fall, making it one of the deadliest racing seasons ever. )

I never knew Larry personally but have seen his name in many race results over the years and more often than not it was a "holy cr%^&" that guy is a machine. I ran by the Travis Landreth memorial rock (another young runner gone to early) in Maudslay State Park on my lunch time run today. Thought about Mr Olson. Then I burned a 1/2 mile sprint to finish up my run. That is the legacy that we all want to leave. Inspiring others and by the posts listed here and the article in RT Larry Olson certainly did that all his life. Rest in Peace fellow harrier.