1983

1983? I was runnin' all over the playground during recess, pretending that I was the General Lee, or Bo / Luke Duke from the most philosophically sound show ever (and the one I model my life after), The Dukes of Hazard. After Daisy, I could never look at girls the same.

From the musings of this thread, though, I sometimes wonder if I missed my running era.

G - G - G - Ga. This is Rosco Bico Train, and I am hot on their trail, Boss Hawg!!!

Brian Carlton what a stud @ Dogwood in 85"...sorry not the thread here but he sure kicked butt in the 5km.I remember him moving through the field in those half red/white shorts,Mi/Oh.. dropping runners like flies.Running for Univ of Ga was...Sean Nicholl trying to qualify for NCAAs.Sean ran 13:56 and missed qualifying....BUT Carlton put on a show.I don't think he ever realised his full potential.Ran 13:30's that day I think....

I'm one of the old guys here and ran PRs at a number of distances in 1983. I was one of the umpteen Americans who broke 2:20 in the marathon (2:19:47), but one of the few with the dubious distinction of not qualifying for the Olympic Trials (2:19:04).

I think a number of things were going on that year that contributed to the success in the marathon. There was a deep field of runners coming out of college in the late 70s who new they weren't going be competitive at the shorter distances. You had the excitement of the first Olympics for the US in 8 years and in our home country. That led to a huge pool of runners trying to qualify for the trials in the marathon.

Then at Boston they get great weather, including a tail wind, and many PRs are run that day (close to 100 people under 2:20 I believe). Also, good weather for NY and another horde of people go under 2:20. (An aside - My favorite all-time picture: Rod Dixon standing in the chute with his arms in the air and Geoff Smith sprawled on the ground. Looked like the end of a boxing match not a marathon.)

You also had people willing to run 100 miles a week while working full time -- though 40 hours, not 60 or 70 (like Mr. Sehon). Foreigners weren't a big influence in road races yet, because a.) there were so many good Americans and b.) there was not as much money as there is now. Still, I remember finishing 50th or so at Falmouth and half the people ahead of me were not Americans. I disagree that there were fewer foreigners in the NCAA. There were plenty of Kenyans, Irishmen, Englishmen, etc. running here.

It's also only in recent years (with the exception of Bob Kennedy) that we've made a comeback at shorter distances. It seems the marathon is just catching up, but part of that is people like Culpepper, Browne, Meb, Shay, etc. moving up to the distance.

That's this old guy's take.

Knightman wrote:

I disagree that there were fewer foreigners in the NCAA. There were plenty of Kenyans, Irishmen, Englishmen, etc. running here.

You're right. Even the laziest of researchers would come to the conclusion that there were MORE foreigners back then AND they were older.

Yeah BC went 13:35 at Dogwood. Jeff Drenth used to call Brian "the specimen" and it was ironic that Drenth owned him in cc, but couldn't touch him in track. We ran against each other in high school and he was rolling up 70-80 miles per week back then. Word out of Oxford had it that nobody could keep up in training and that was a crew that included Roosevelt Jackson and Mike Hallabrin both of whom ran 3:41ish.

I wasn't even born in 1983

I had a training partner (Jase Travis out of Eastern Illinois University)that ran 2:19:24 in 1983 and also failed to qualify. Couldn't they just make the standard 2:20:00??

Another training partner (Carey Pinkowski, now a famous race director) ran 2:20:48 at Chicago in 1983 and failed to qualify for the 1984 Marathon Trials.

Still in the womb in '83. :-\

Thanks for the memories. I had been running for three years by 1983 and remember running Nick's 10k once and photographing it from a lead vehicle once. Somewhere around here I still have some great shots of a lead pack that included Pinkowski, Warnecke, Skarda and others whose names I can't recall off the top of my head.

Nick's 10k was one of the best races around back then.

Dear imarunr:

I would love to see copies of those pictures from the Nick's 10K. If it was 1983, the lead pack included Pinkowski, Sheeran, Warneke, Fitzpatrick, Domantay, McQueen (from Michigan), and Coppess, among others.

1983 was a good year. Marathon PR: 2:23, that's as good as it ever got for me.

Wow DIII, bring back some old names. The MAC has definitely produced some quality athletes over the years. The next year at Dogwood 10,000m Jed Hopfensperger and Jeff Drenth went first and second. Dogwood's heyday of good distance races seems to be gone, but they did have a lot of good ones back then. Didn't Brian Pownow (spelling) also train with the Oxford group?

Dogwood Relays...Heck yeah.!!That was the place to roll in the distances.You just had to get in the pack and roll..Pace was always 'hot' ...I tell you Brian Carlton was all that and I didn't even know him.He just glided when he ran...damn...13:35 and he was just starting his legacy...!!

Oh bring back dem good ole days...

I was 25. Most of the previous six or seven years had been inconsistent and pretty frustrating. It all came together in 1983. I ran my first two marathons (and only serious efforts at the distance) in 1983. Debut with 2:31 and followed up with a 2:29 five months later. Although I was somewhat happy with those races, most considered the efforts very very mediocre. I also set all time 10k PR in 1983, and broke 32 on two occassions.

I was a sophomore in high school as well. I never ran during the summers (when I started out) and I was just really getting into running. I ran around 35 miles a week during cross country and 25-35 miles a week during indoors-outdoors. I won the county sophomore mile that year. My best for that year was 4:30 for the mile; 10:20 for 3200. I got most of my cardio base I guess from playing basketball previously. This is when I started to get a little more serious about running. I used to here alot about Steven Scott, Spivey, Coe, Coglin, Maree, Mark Decker, Kim Gall, Alberto, Rodgers, Fix and others.

Back then runners didn't seem to have the desire or time to complain or make statements about other runners (unless they had proof)like the current young crop of runners do.

Runners back in the day were ALL ABOUT training, racing, and nationalism (when it came to supporting your fellow runners from your country). The runners today (as this message board shows) only look to put other runners/coaches down whenever they can like the postings on Alan Webb, Coach Warhurst, REGINA JACOBS, RITZ (SINCE he has been hurt), Paula (before her break-thru year), Goucher, Sullivan, Kennedy, etc.

I don't know what has happened but it is sad. But back in the day remember Sub-4, Santa Monica, A. West.

I was a freshman in high school with PR's of: 4:36 1600,

2:02 800, 10:30 3200, 16:28 5k X-C. It was the first year that we ran 3.1 for X-C. Coe & S Scott were my heroes. I also ran my first 10k, which was a painful 40:23 after a opening sub 5:00 mile. This was prior to the X-C season, and I had never lost a race in my life. I lost my mental toughness right then!

Tell me about it. I just cancelled a 21 year subscription to RW. I remember one article from the early 80's called, "How to break 3 hours in the Marathon". You'd NEVER find an article in RW like that these days. Now it's more like, "How to finish a marathon on 3 days of running per week and still have time to watch Reality TV". Ouch!!!

Brian Pownall did run for Miami-I believe he was a senior when Carlton was a freshman. If memory serves correctly, he (BP) won the Huntsville Rocket Marathon a couple times. In that same MAC meet that Earl Jones tore up the 1500, (Jones was second to O'Mara at the NCAA meet that year) Carlton won the 10,000 in a freakin monsoon at Bowling Green in 29:19, then comes back two days later and throws down a 14:01 which was the meet record until Boaz C. broke it last year.

If I can remeber correctly the qualifying mark for marathon trails was based on the 100th fastest American time from '81. That was the standard. Why has the qualifying time gotten slower?