NAME - ALL THE FAMOUS, ELITE, TOP TIER RUNNERS YOU HAVE RACED AGAINST, RUN WITH, OR MET...

Too many to remember.

Only ever Sighted the D.N.F's.

At the '79 NCAA track champs at Illinois:

Virgin (ran against in a 10k road race and met afterwards)

Salazar

Chapa (right after his 5000m against Maree; great race)

Rono (he was finishing a 10 miler the day after winning the SC)

Ovett (who was in town scouting Don Paige as a potential threat in the '80 Olympics)

Pat Tyson, 23rd at nationals his senior year. Helped Oregon to team placing, roommate to handsdown the most famous American runner.

Billy Mills, he talked at the Governos Cup marathon in MT. 1964 10k Gold. Amazing guy. he respects his fans.

Chuck Aragon, part of the American 4Xmile relay record holder, father of Alexa and Dani Aragon in Montana, two of the premier distance female athletes. I was on the same team as them. and 4th in the 1500 of the 1984 trials, that after Sydnee Maree decided he couldnt run, aragon was not picked to replace him, as he purposely waited too long to tell the coach he couldnt race.

Kathy Aragon, 6 time Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10k and marathon.

Ted Corbitt

Gary Muhrcke

Pat Peterson

I met Caroline Bierbaum at the Whole Foods Market in Chelsea (NYC), she was wearing a USA Track and Field jacket and I asked her about it and she was kind of weird about it. I never asked her her name and I'm clear it was Caroline Bierbaum, in fact I read an article about her that morning. Plus I know Delilah DiCresecenzo, I ran at Fordham University while she running at Columbia.

Jason Pyrah, raced against

Steve Holman, ran long tempo runs with him

Monique Henderson, a real wankette. i said hi, and even had a copy of T&FN when I did so, and she just turned a little pug bitc* face at me.

Also met and shook hands w/Sid Sink BGSU head coach 1n 1980

I met Robert Howard before he triple jumped into hell

First time posting, but this really looked like fun, so I couldn't help but post. I am at a bit of an advantage because my mom had a road racing business in the late 70s to early 80s, but I went on to compete in college, be around, and continue to work in the running industry. So, here is a list of those that I can remember meeting, working with, or running at the same meet/competing alongside. No way was I ever in these athletes' league, but I am proud to say I was there. It grows by a few each year.

DISTANCE

Jim Ryun-Very Nice-Foot Locker XC, Billy Mills-USATF XC NATs-Again, very nice man, Tom Von Ruden-68 Olympic Finals 1500m, Johnny Halberstadt-72 NCAA 10k champ, Bill Rodgers-Various Marathon Expos, Frank Shorter-RNR San Diego-very nice, Jeff Galloway-Various Marathons, Alberto Salazar-When competing and also on the Nike Campus when coaching the Oregon Project, Joan Benoit-Very Nice, Rudy Chapa-Worked with, very generous guy. Thom Hunt-steeplechase, very pleasant guy, Bill McCoullough-steeplechaser ranked #3-5 78-81ish SUPER NICE!Kirk Pfieffer- Elite Marathoner mid 70s, Ed Mendoza- Elite Marathoner/10k 70s, Gerry Lindgren-As a Coach for U of Hawaii, Bill Gookin-68 Oly Trials Marathon, Eamon Coughlin-SUPER nice guy, Steve Scott-GREAT. was my college coach at CSUSM, great guy. Ruth Wysocki, Kenny Moore-Various U of O meets, Miritus Yifter-Pre Classic, Dick Beardsley-Nice and funny guy, various shoe stores/book signings, Arturo Barrios, Bill Dellinger- U of O meets, Ron Wayne-Ranked Marathoner for US in 70's, great guy, now works for Mizuno Running, Ron Tabb, Jackie Hansen, Mark Nenow-One of the funnest guys in running today, Joaquim Cruz-World Class person and awesome runner, Grete Waitz, Gabrielle Anderson-Swiss Womens Marathoner 84 Olys, Dathan Ritz-Nike Events,Jon Rankin-UCLA miler,Paula Radcliff-Nike Events,Shalane Flanagan-NTN Nationals,Bob Kennedy-Pre Classic, El G-Pre, all smiles!Abdi-Funny guy, Meb-Super humble guy, Bernard Lagat, Andy&Matt Downin-Easy going and nice, Galen Rupp-Professional athlete/U of O runner, Dena Kastor-Very nice and humble, like Meb, Alan Webb, Marla Runyan-Extremely nice, Alan&Shayne Culpepper, Adam & Kara Goucher, Jorge&Ed Torres, "The Gabe" Jennings-Numerous meets and drum circles

Dan Browne, Nicole Teter

SPRINTS

Don Quarrie, Josh Culbreath-400m Hurdles bronze 56 Olys, Wes Williams-400m Hurdles ranked in top 10 US 69-79 was also my sprint coach at CSUSM.Felix Sanchez-400m Hurdle Gold and former runner at Mesa JC in San Diego, very cool.

Lee Evans-Coaching Clinic in San Jose, John Carlos-Same Clinic, Tommie Smith-" ", Valerie Brisco-Hooks-84 Olympic Games, Pat Connolley, Eddie Hart-Coaching Clinic in San Jose, Wyomia Tyus-" ", Irena Szewinska-76 Gold medal 400m

HJ

Dick Fosbury

TJ

Willie Banks

LJ

Arnie Robinson-76 Gold, 72 Bronze, was my inspiration for getting my Masters degree from the example he set as my coach at Mesa JC in San Diego. Thanks Arnie! Joe Greene-96 Bronze, Mike Powell-Various LA meets

PV

Jan Johnson-72 Munich, Tim Bright-84, 88, & 92 Olys

Hammer

Hal Connolly, Lance Deal

Shot

Neil Steinhauer, John Godina, Dean Crouser

Javelin

Tom Petranoff, Duncan Atwood-Very kind

Discus

Mac Wilkins-One of the nicest people you want to meet, Jay Silvester, Susy Powell, Wolfgang Schimdt

Decathlon

Robert Zmelik-92 Olympic Gold and training partner in 1996.

Racewalk

Philip Dunn, Jon Nunn, Tim Seaman, Dave McGovern, Curt Clausen, Al Heppner, Bob Bowman.

It was fun to write out a list and actually think about all of the wonderful track people I have had the good fortune of meeting and knowing. 95 % of most track people are very humble, funny, and very kind. It has been fun to share these names, and I look forward to meeting more in the future! To those I have already met, thank you for your time, memories, friendship, and inspiration.

Great idea for a post!

Just the REALLY good men here (off the top of my head)

Kip Keino

Herb Elliot

John Landy

Ron Clarke

Cierpinski

Salazar

deCastella

Ondieki

Carlos Lopes

Aoutia

Bordin

Moneghetti

Kimani

Brahim Boutaib

Kiptanui

Mottram

etc etc etc

As a 2nd year HS coach, I took one of my athletes to Eugene to run in the developmental portion of the Prefontaine Inv. Little did I know that your major rent-a-car places wouldn't rent to an under 21 year old driver.

Fortunately, I had struck up a conversation with Adrian Royle during a layover in SF airport. Once we arrived in Eugene and I found out about the rent-a-car policy, I was able to secure a ride with him and his buddy Craig Masback. After the meet, Adrian also got me into the Nike party at Valley River Inn.

I like your list...

Those are most of the people I have come across on the track or in a road race or two

and I would add a few more like

Ron Hill

Murray Halberg

Laszlo Tabori

And as for johnnyb1610...

I don't think Colette minds if people know about her competitive past...

Ron Clarke is the mayor of my city. I also trained with melissa rollison - silver in Commonwealth games steeple. Also Deek. And my old mans aussie rules team had herb elliot rev them up before a game once.

met samson rahmadhani at the toronto watefront marathon in 2006. super nice guy, ridiculously thin. shaking his hand was like holding a small bird. also met the winner simon bor after the race, and got his bib number from him, signed.

hellohello wrote:

All very nice people with different personalities apart from Webb!!

The first time I met Alan Webb was in my kitchen. He's actually a nice guy, but sometimes perhaps a little standoffish/focused at races.

There are way too many others I've met to mention, but the general consensus is that runners are some of the nicest, friendliest people.

In January 1975 I was in California and entered an open track meet where I won the mile with a kick. Rick Wohlhuter was attending the meet, promoting the Indoor Sunkist Games later that month. After my race, he complimented me on my race, which I thought was neat that a WR holder actually watched and commented on my race. Since I grew up in Ilinois 30 miles from his hometown of St. Charles, Illinois, we talked briefly about that.

Fast forward to 1997. My eighth grader son was running a meet in St. Charles, IL in a Jr. High meet called the "Rick Wohlhuter Invitational". I was sitting next to another dad, and asked to borrow his program, as I wanted to see the heat sheets for the mile that my son was running. It turns out that his son was in the same heat......and YES, it was Rick Wohlhuter himself! I told him about our brief encounter in California, which he of course did not remember. For the record, my son beat his son.

For one semester, my sister lived in the same dorm with Craig Virgin at the U of Illinois. When she first met him, he asked her if her brother was a miler, obviously refering to me since we're the same age.

A couple stories about runners I have met...

I met Roger Kingdom (double gold medalist in the 110 hurdles) when he was in his 40s. He still looks like he could be a top athlete and was really cool to talk to.

I met John Woodruff just 1 year before he died. He won the 800m gold in 1936 (the first african american to win a gold at the 'Hitler Olympics' in Berlin). I was so lucky to meet him and hear his story in person. He almost dropped out of high school but couldn't get a job because of his race. He was fast so he got a scholarship, went to college, and went from virtual unknown to Olympic champ when he was just a sophomore. He endured racism even after he came back from Germany a champion and was denied entry to college track meets at white only institutions. He could have won gold in 1940 and 1944 if the olympics weren't cancelled but he didn't let it stop him from joining the army and serving his country. He eventually had both of his legs amputated due to complications from diabetes. The man had a ton of courage. And he overcame a lot in his life and lived to be 92.

I have met a lot of faster guys but he was easily the best person I have ever met because of running.

Noah Ngeny - stinky to run behind

B - lagat -> generally nice guy but had the guts to tell me to move out of his way in the race - he finished 4th (ncaa outdoors)

gert van leifers -

most of the north american olympian milers.