Dick Beardsley and 80's Marathon Runners

Well, the first guy that jumps to mind is Dickie Mahoney of the GBTC. Guy worked a full-time job walking a route as a postal carrier, then would hop in w/ Rodgers, Meyer etc. for their workouts. Squires called him and a bunch like him "lunch pail" runners. Dederian could relate more details, but I'm afraid guys like that just aren't around much these days.

Uh, I think more than 12 guys broke 2:30 in the marathon in the year 2000. I'm assuming thats a typo and you meant 2:18 or so?

I think that the "average joe" can become a sub 2:22 guy with the right training....you hear lots of stories of decent DIII guys who ran 15:30 5ks in college doing that. It might not be that "average," but it is more of a reflection of hard work (and not getting hurt) than it is of very much talent.

It comes down to a variety of reasons...

During the 70's and early 80's there was a lot of runners coming together and training together a lot. There still was not a whole lot of money in the sport and guys wanted to continue training at a high level after college to really explore their potential. Plus, they loved to run and compete.

During the late-80's corporations, specifically the shoe companies, started to sponsor individual runners and the top runners would either be isolated or isolate themselves and these training groups that were all over the place started to split apart. Then with the sport becoming more money driven, guys coming out of school thought that they needed money to continue to compete.

I think a lot of it is that in today's world guys coming out of college feel the need that they need a group to run with or a sponsor. There needs to be an incentive out there to continue running at a competitive level. I think with the various groups popping up all over the U.S. the depth this country has had in the past will be surpassed greatly.

There are some great groups out there right now that get little recognition and little financial support, but are doing a great job. One comes to mind in Team Good River. The Boulder Distance Project is also a good one. I think more and more of these types of clubs will come about over the next three to five years and that will create some very impressive depth.

time to play find the big names.

Semi-talented Joe, ie ran in college can do it. Has nothing to do with "lack of talent" it also has much to do with the right training, and just plain ol' hard work. A great coach who's name pops up on this board quite a bit once recently confided in me that to be good at running doesn't take a whole lot of talent, but it does take a LOT of hard work. There is also a lot to be said for "Semi-talented Joe" working out with "elite" fast guys - for whatever reason, you just don't see this kinda thing anymore. Often what separated "the men from the boys" was volume and ability to recovery. Elite Joe and Semi-talented Joe mostly did the same workouts, but Semi-talented Joe didn't have the time to do the same volume, or didn't have the luxury of being able to recover fully because of his 7-3:30 at the mill. Imagine the confidence that you would have in your own abilities if you were able to hang with "sub-2:15 guy" in a workout. This really changes your perspective - MOST college guys can run the same paces as these kinda guys run trying to go 2:15 , mostly the difference is daily volume and workout volume, or maybe said "sub-2:15 guy" is able to keep everyone honest by being able to push the recovery interval.

Just a note, back in the day - moms and especially dads didn't have to do all of this crazy soccer / after school BS that seems to run the lives of so many parents these days.

Why are there no replies to the above poster?