Am I getting the name right? Didn't he used to be an elite New York runner not terribly long ago?
Am I getting the name right? Didn't he used to be an elite New York runner not terribly long ago?
In the late '80s, he was one of the best U.S. marathoners, and was actually the U.S. marathon record holder (excluding point-to-point courses and Salazar's Fukuoka performance on a questionable course) for a number of years, running 2:10:04 in London back in 1989. He had a very odd running style, rocking from side to side in a very rigid manner.
Here's something recent that I found on him:
Great article - humbling. This is how many real people spend their days - not bickering on message boards about iPods and Dean K or Lance.
"Pat, now 46, finished fourth in the 1984 New York City Marathon and third the following year, still owns the 13th fastest marathon ever run by an American and might still be competing at longer distances except for an episode of racing heartbeat that landed him in the hospital in 1991.
He has atrial fibrillations - racing heartbeat - which he describes as "an electrical problem, a short circuit; not particularly dangerous" and managed with medication."
Yes, that caught my eye as well. I'm starting to wonder how many veteran elite distance runners have experienced significant cardiac episodes when they're racing. Perhaps more than we realize.
Back in 1988, I was talking to Kjell-Erik Stahl after the Twin Cities Marathon. He said that he had begun to experience heart problems during races, and his heart had actually stopped beating in the middle of a number of his recent races. (He was in his early 40s at the time, I believe.) He said that, when it happened, he would stop, and wait for his heart to start beating again, after which he would resume running. It sounded crazy. But he said that Carlos Lopes (who was close to the same age as Kjell-Erik) had started to experience the same thing, and that was why Lopes had stopped racing.
Pat's wife Bea ran a 3:19:33 running for Pat's, and my, old team, Warren Street. One thing about Pat was that if you looked at him below the waist, his form was great notwithstanding the wild back-and-forth rocking of his upper body. It was too bad that he had a bad day for the 1988 OT in Jersey City, when he was the favorite.
I asked about Mike Mykytok elsehwere- US 10,000 champ in 1997, had a heart attack in the 1998 NYC marathon.
What was his eventual diagnosis? I believe that was the end of his professional running career.
http://robots.cnnsi.com/athletics/1998/nymarathon/news/1998/11/05/mykytok_heartattack/
Malmo, If you are in contact with Pat, tell him to ask his cardio about a relatively new procedure - cardiac ablation, which did not exist in 1991. I have a-fib as well (younger athletes with slow heart rates are prone) and just had the ablation, looking forward to getting off the meds. Anti-arrythmia drugs make running extremely difficult, so if you can safely get off them with the ablation, it gives you great quality of life improvements. Looking forward to feeling the wind on my face again in a few weeks!
Wish him well for me, we met several times back in the day before he popped his big race.
John Idstrom
Passed away today.
Former American marathon record holder Pat Petersen lost his battle with pancreatic cancer today at the age of 55. He leaves behind a wife and four wonderful children. Not only was Pat a superior runner in all disciplines(x-country, track and road races), he was a great friend and a lot of fun to be around. He will be sorely missed by all of his friends.
One of his former running buddies