Post your favorite Bob Kennedy memories here

I met BK only once and it was in a hotel elevator at the 96' trials. I offered congrats for his victory and introduced myself as being from "near his hometown". He asks "Where?" and I reply "Worthington". He quickly responds "Westerville is not my hometown". We ride up a few more floors (in silence) and he gets off without another word. He really seemed pissed and I was a nervous college soph without a responsce. To this day, I'm still upset that I messed up my one and only chance to converse with bk.

You mean FINISH a marathon.

I had ran at the Cardnial Inv at Stanford the previous night and had the pleasure to see Bob run his smoking 10k in 27:36? (fast whatever it was). The next day our team did a run in Golden Gate Park and afterwards went down town. A couple guys and I go to Nike Town to get some gear when I spot Bob and his wife shopping. I couldn't beleive it. I was a Sophmore in college and looking at my icon, the Pre of my time! I told the guys I was with and we were all kind freaking out. I have the Oly 96 on tape and had watched 100's of times. We decided that it would not be appropirate to bug him while he was with his wife. Later, I wished I would have congratulated him on his amazing race. Hell, he may not have been recognized by anyone else that day.

I got to see Bob run a couple US XC Champs in Vancover in College along with races at Pre and Stanford.

He had an amazing career with great times, championships, and consistency. I kinda hope that after a year or more of easy running he finds that fire again a pops up for some marathoning in 2008! Go BK

Okay, 1994 the US XC Champs were in Portland, Oregon. At the time it was in December and they just had one race that was the combined US trials for World XC / and the USATF Champs.

I was a senior in college and I along with a freshman from our team who ran in the junior race) had saved up some money to travel to Portland. We fly to Denver for our connection flight and a whole bunch of runners get on the plane (obviously connecting from different flights too). and Kennedy was one of them. We get to Portland and catch the same shuttle to the host hotel (Holiday Inn I believe) and we think man this is great. Can't believe we're here.

So we're standing in line to check in and Bob's trying to check in and they don't have his room or even his name listed in the reservations. So I'm like hey he can just have our room and we'll just wait. I mean this guy is the best runner in America and we're just a couple of guys who are happy to be here. He was like no way and ended up waiting for a long time. He was still waiting down there later when we went out to run. I figured oh well I guess everyone battles the same issues with travel, even Bob Kennedy.

Bob's biggest asset was his mental approach to the sport. I had the opportunity to race agaist Bob, travel through Europe and actually occasionally beat him once in a while. Bob had the unique ability to look at his training and racing as a business and, in my opinion, keep his emotions out. He knew that to race with the best, you had to train with the best. He understood and knew how to deal with the pain you feel in your gut from lap 5 on, which is something very few athletes can do. As far as using EPO, I would be willing to bet every $ I have in the bank that Bob never experimented or used. Looking at his overall career, he made few mistakes and followed through with his business plan. I'm sure other athletes have come and gone with more talent, but none know how to use it like Bob. For these reasons he was and is the best 5000m runner in the USA. Oh, by the way my favorite Kennedy moment was beating him in the 1992 Olympic trials. Good luck with everything Bob.

john, did you retire because of degenerative joint disease in your big toe??

yes, 2 surgeries, still can push off with my left foot

Do you think that it's an indirect disrespect towards BK's accomplishments, to predict sub-13:00 for every promising youngster, as if many can do what he did?? I think it is, and it happens a lot. Many don't understand that 12:58 is one of our best records.

John, you had the misfortune of getting your career cut short but you had the goods to be the best ever we've had at 5000.

I remember being in the stands at Penn when you blew that 3000 HS record away. We obviously wanted you bad at Wisconsin (Martin thought you ran and looked like Eamonn Coghlan).

Then I remember that crazy NCAA 5000 at Duke. Reina runs a 28 with 600 to go, Nuttal takes it and hits a 27 and your'e just waiting to crush them with a 25 to win. 1:53 (1:53 for the last 800! Did that even hurt?)

You beat Kennedy in the 5000 at TAC nationals (Doug Padilla's last hurrah) and beat him again at the 92 Trials which you won.

Remember that TAC developmantal trip in Europe? Trautmann was dead-ass broke and had to wait all week for his dad to wire him money. Plus he's hitting us up for money because he had to eat like every two hours! He's winning races and then we find out that Kennedy, Holman, and the 1500 guys are keeping their prize money (or we think) and meanwhile our boy Fish is starving!

During that trip I would go to the track and run 1000's and John would jog a little, stretch for about a half hour, blast a 24 200 and jog a mile and call it a day.

Still my favorite memory was seeing him get to run a victory lap after his Hoyas set the WR in the DMR. Trout, you ran a 2:54 and I think you guys were in like 4th place after your leg. You made Miles Irish go 1:46.0 to get you guys back in the race! Yeah, I know, you were a freshman.

Great career cut short and great guy.

I always look at it this way. LAGAT couldn't even run 12:58. He barely ran 12:59.

Fish get ready for Friday!!

jump hump stump BUMP

Matt, your a horses ass! You were given these documents early December 2005. How you make the connection that (hic) Kennedy is behind it, is bizzare. Your got screwed by your "source" at Kennedy's camp. hahahahah

Now I find out that Heimbecker sent you emails and faxes the same day as the article ASKING you to retract the story and tell the REAL story and YOU JUST SAT BACK AND DID NOTHING! you low life piece of crap! Some Conservative you are! The TRUTH matters Matt! but you want to play politics.

I'm not knocking Kennedy's time but Lagat won that race with like a 54 second last lap.

I will say Kennedy's greatest legacy is he hung in and never was intimidated by the Kenyans. You have to understand the era. I was around there at that time, just a middle of the road runner but one year 28:30 in a road race is a winning effort (1991). The next year you might be lucky to get the 100 dollar 10th place. It was a revolution and it really seemed to happen all of a sudden. It was pretty shocking how out of the blue all of these African runners just took over.

I think finally today that intimidation factor is less harmful for our runners. The kids today, they expect it. Its all they know and they just go about their business. But it was really a shock factor 15 years ago.

When Kennedy was coming up after college the WR was 12:58. He gets down to 13:08. Then the WR gets broke by another African at 12:55. Kennedy gets down to 13:04. Then Boom! Geb runs a 12:44. This was all new. These times sounded unworldly! But he never gave up, stuck with the plan, adjusted his training and training environment, and I have no doubt being the competitor he was he never gave up on his goal of being a medalist in the Olympics.

Runners these days know what they're up against and accept it and we are seeing a nice resurgence in distance running in this country. But in the early 90's it was like a bomb being dropped. A lot of people were dazed and gave up.

Kennedy never did.

In 1988?....we ran NCAA districts in Indiana somewhere...and it was super muddy. My teammate (Bill Taylor) actually won the race and I think Bob finished 2nd. There was a point in the race where the course turned 180 degrees and ran the leaders ran back towards the rest of us (I think I finished about 40th)......I think Bob was only a freshman @ the time but I remember thinking how good he looked. Not surprisingly, he went on the win the NCAA C.C. meet a week later. Truly amazing.....

I was assistant coaching at the Chicago Lakefront Invite a few years ago, and BK was signing autographs. I walked up and asked him for one. He said, "Boilermakers huh? You guys are going to stomp us in football this fall."

To which I replied, "Your XC team is going to return the favor, thanks in large part to the impact you made in your time there. Thanks."

We exchanged pleasantries, made Big 10 jokes, and it was a great chance for me to actually connect with him. I'd seen him run at Pre a couple of times, USATF track and XC, and his racing was always phenomenal. To chat with him, and see that he is just another guy was my favorite memory for sure.

It is really a tie for me. Watching him drop out of the oly trials on the track and the NYC marathon. Pre never would have pulled that crap. Why you guys would compare BK to Pre is beyond me. BK race with the Kenyans and always get his ass handed to him. Pre would actually race the best in the world and could beat them. Bob gave up.

Trautmann,Not sure if you are still reading this board, but if so, I'm curious to know how you trained in high school and how your college training (G-town) differed.Sorry if you have covered this before, but there is very little about your training freely available on the web. Someone probably needs to post those old, paper based, articles.Thanks,Jon