I drank many 'o beers with Matt Centrowitz
I drank many 'o beers with Matt Centrowitz
I got my butt kicked repeatedly in college by Mark Conover, who went on to win the OT marathon. The one time I thought I could beat him was when he slummed in the 1500 a week after I had set a big PR in winning an 800. He set a fast pace for the first 2.75 laps, with me shadowing him and waiting. At the bell he just exploded and got 5 meters before I even knew what had happened. I rigged as he continued to accelerate.
Happier ending: Now that I'm a purely recreational old and slow guy, it was a big thrill to chase down and beat Dick Beardsley and Al Sal at the Twin Cities 10-mile last year. I thanked them afterwards for not turning it on whipping me at the end.
Conover coaches now by email. I just signed up with him, so I can get my butt in shape for the Club National CC meet in December. Got my first week's workouts from him today, he's got my doing striders every day! I imagine this brush with greatness should be pretty productive for me.
MN Chris wrote:
I got my butt kicked repeatedly in college by Mark Conover, who went on to win the OT marathon. The one time I thought I could beat him was when he slummed in the 1500 a week after I had set a big PR in winning an 800. He set a fast pace for the first 2.75 laps, with me shadowing him and waiting. At the bell he just exploded and got 5 meters before I even knew what had happened. I rigged as he continued to accelerate.
Happier ending: Now that I'm a purely recreational old and slow guy, it was a big thrill to chase down and beat Dick Beardsley and Al Sal at the Twin Cities 10-mile last year. I thanked them afterwards for not turning it on whipping me at the end.
After Freihofers, many years back, Plummer pet our Siberian husky, and even let the pooch lick her face. I volunteered to be next, but my wife put a quick stop to that.
Interesting story, and Patti Sue is definitely not unattractive, but I wouldn't exactly want her licking my face either.
Or me licking her face I guess is what I should have said.
my dad was good friends with a group of good runners, one of which ran 3:55 for the mile and one who won multiple NCAA championships...i got to hang out with them at millrose this year and talk about running and stuff
Hey where did that post go about the Peachtree Road race party. That was very funny, true or not. Censorship is un-american. Too bad, I told my friend to read it and now it is sadly gone...
Well, the only claim to fame I have is that I had to meet with Erwin Rommels son (the Desert Fox) whose name is Manfred and who at the time was mayor of Stuttgart and I had to apologize to him and assure him that I would pay to have all of the "shit eating bugs" replaced on the bio wheels which help clean sewer water at a sewage treatment plant and which were all killed at the sewage treatment plant in nearby Ludwigsburg after a bunch of my soldiers dumped (accidentally) 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel down a storm drain (valve broke)
He was a very nice man, we had lunch and he even laughed about it as he was informed that all of the diesel fuel had been recovered...... We talked quite awhile about his dad and the village of Herrelingen which he grew up in and where his father was forced to take poison by the Gestapo.
Sorry for this interruption...I was on many Army running teams...no brush's with fame.
PEACHTREE ROAD PARTY post--is that the one in the biggest question in men's distance running thread? just trying to be of some help.
It was hilarious. I doubt it's authenticity, however. Do you think the Brit's rod was bigger than the Kenyan's?
Hey, here is my claim to fame w/out the two elites even knowing it.
At this years Maine Distance Festival I was running in one of the boys high school events, and they day before I went to the track to do some strides and check my new spikes on the bowdion track. Well when I got there I was awe struck to see almost 50 or so elite runners, all who I only knew from TV and running mags. Well on my little warm up I really had to take a #2...No biggie right? Well the bathrooms by the track were all locked w/signs saying they would only be open the day of the meet. So running bow-legged I sprinted into the trails of the nearby woods and tried to hide myself as best as possible. When I was done I franticly pulled up my pants and flew out of the bushes, but I almost ran into Olympian Jason Pyrah. He gave me that look like "what were u doing in those bushes?" kinda look and just smerked, and right behind him were Nathan Brannen and Otukile Lekote. They both saw me too. I ran away ashamed but it was funny as hell and makes for a good around the campfire type story.
It's the 1984 Chicago Marathon and my girlfriend and I are taking L's and cabs all over the course to get the best view. We're standing next to the CBS camera truck at 20M when the lead pack was approaching, and I see a monitor inside that said "1:37", which seemed to indicate world record pace. I tell the local CBS reporter, Phil Waters, "They're on world record pace!" and he asks me "Are you sure?" and seconds later he's on the air live shouting that Jones, Lopes, and Deek were on world record pace.
At the 20M mark, Lopes, Deek, and Jones come flying by, and suddenly Jones shoots into the lead and leaves Lopes (recent Oly champ) and Deek (world champ) in his dust, on his way to a low-29 final 10K. It was quite stunning to see Lopes and Deek not be able to keep up.
We hopped in a cab near Wrigley Field and headed to the 25M mark on Marine Drive. There weren't many fans there, and soon Jones came flying toward us, his singlet drooped over his shoulder, the effort showing on his face. I was yelling at him, "YOU'RE ON WORLD RECORD PACE!" over and over as he went by. Jones did break the WR that day, and he mentioned afterward that he was getting tired around 25M, but that someone urged him to run strong to the finish because a record was possible.
You owe me, Jonesy!
Patti Sue Plummer patted our pet husky, who returned the favor by licking the lovely lady in the face. I was about to volunteer for a pat & a lick, but my wife pre-empted that idea with a swift kick to the pants.
malmo-if you get out this way, how about that beer and maybe take in some sights?
Karma King, what way is "out this way"?
i was the only person to ever take a spike off during the middle of the race and try to stab someone with it.
Damn Heywood, that's some spooky shit. Must have been a bad night's sleep that night. Kinda creeped me out. Glad you made it.
Great thread... Awesome/Funny stories, but I agree on that Gacy post. I didn't think it possible that any comment on the boards could affect me anymore, but that one post made me run a little quicker on this dark section of my run a couple of evening ago. Freaky is right.
The Gacy story hits too close to home. I was friends with a girl named Linda, who was an employee of the pharmacy on Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines where Gacy (doing some construction work) abducted and killed his last victim, Robert Piest. Offered the kid a ride home, actually.
My girlfriend at the time lived around the corner from where Robert Piest lived. Gacy's lawyer, Sam Amirante, was a midget bulldog punk who frequented the same bar I did. People would sometimes heckle him from across the bar for being sleazy and desperate enough to represent such a monster. Myself included.
I was in traffic court a couple of years ago, and was very surprised to see the name of my judge as The Hon. Samuel Amirante. Had to get a new judge!
i always give my friend rick rountree s$%t for this one........ in the 1999 Pre-Nats XC meet at bloomington, rick was running in the 'b' race. stanford had a couple of guys entered in the 'b' race as well. michael stember was one of them. about mid-way through the race stember was in about 20th place and fading badly. looked like he had a cramp or something. so rick pulls up next to stember around 3 miles and passes him. Stember drops out the minute rick goes by. i believe that was the last time stember set foot on an XC course.
so of course i always tell rick that stember knew it was time to throw in the towel (for a lifetime of XC) if he was gonna get beat by rick rountree.