A question for runners from the 60's-70's era

HRE wrote:

I think it was "Ohbori" and it was named after a Japanese park. Both Nike and Tiger made it. I don't know what Tiger called it after they had to change all of their shoe's names. I've seen photos of Rodgers in both the Nike and Tiger versions.

I think you're right about both Nike and Tiger calling it "Ohbori". Also, thinking back, I believe that Jon Anderson also won Boston in '73 wearing the Nike Ohbori. I think at some point Nike renamed it the "Boston" (sort of a no brainer since it was worn by the winners of Boston in '73 and '75, and I'm assuming that Tiger had the rights to the name "Ohbori").

old school steve wrote:

HRE wrote:

I think it was "Ohbori" and it was named after a Japanese park. Both Nike and Tiger made it. I don't know what Tiger called it after they had to change all of their shoe's names. I've seen photos of Rodgers in both the Nike and Tiger versions.

I think you're right about both Nike and Tiger calling it "Ohbori". Also, thinking back, I believe that Jon Anderson also won Boston in '73 wearing the Nike Ohbori. I think at some point Nike renamed it the "Boston" (sort of a no brainer since it was worn by the winners of Boston in '73 and '75, and I'm assuming that Tiger had the rights to the name "Ohbori").

yes, tiger had claim to the the name.

Gotta say, one of my all-time favorites was the little Tiger Explorer around '79. The Nike Elite was also excellent. The thing is, they did slip-lasting back then -few shoe companies do this anymore - the Asics Bandito has it along w/ one or two other flats. You know, way back when, Etonic introduced that plate technology that Mizuno uses - it wasn't a wave, but it was a graphite plate in their Alpha 1 - a great shoe. The Saucony Fastwitch resembles some of the old trainers in fit & feel - flexible, good road feel. So do the adizero pros and mana.

I still have a pair of Explorers. I think I've had them for something like 20 years or more. I don't use them all that much but I do use them.

I always recall the time I bought the first X-caliber GT (I worked in a running store in south Jersey) thinking "...this new technology is really going to help me..." and w/in several weeks I was literally crippled w/ ITBS, although it took me a while to figure out what it was. When I started wearing those old Explorers the ITBS wasn't nearly as bad. Simple shoe. Low to the ground, no bells-and-whistles. $40 maybe?...

Tiger TG-4 racing flat. I kept getting hand me down-season old models which were fossilized. Never got hurt though.

NIKE or ASICS could run them off in the tens of thousands, charge $40 a pair and make a good profit.

New Balance Ripple shoes and Lydiard racing flats, Adidas Country (all leather), then Nike Waffles Racers and Waffle Trainers. The first racing shoes I wore were something called SpotBuilt or Sportbuilt leather with 10 inch spikes...:-)

allegheny nike wrote:

Nike LDV's

http://www.trainerstation.com/nike-vintage-yellowblue-mesh-trainer-p-8539.html

LD-1000s

Warming down wrote:

For the old timers, do you think you would've had faster PRs had you trained in today's shoes back when you were young? Would you have been injured less? Would you have had different kinds of injury? I ask because I find the times and mileages done during the late 60s incredible. Surely Clayton could've run faster than 2:08 wearing decent shoes. Or is there more to this than meets the eye? Thanks.

I wore Roms and Tigers on the roads, regarding injuries we had far fewer then, I only knew of one stress fracture that was my room-mate who at the time was running about 120miles/week. I can't run in modern trainers they're much too bulky I usually use lower profile shoes like Wave Idaten/Pacer. On the track I trained in spikes most of the time, I still do, the biggest difference is the synthetic tracks and spike design (and weight).

HRE wrote:

What I remember is how cushioned the adidas Gazelle felt compared to shoes like the Tiger Pinto/Marathon or the adidas Rom. And then the Cortez felt incredibly cushy.

By the way, to the OP, the Nike Cortez is still around but it seems heavier now than I remember.

I agree. The Cortez looks the same but doesn't feel the same. Definitely heavier.

obori pic

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sneakerset.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nike_sting_vintage.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.sneakerset.com/2008/10/22/vintage-sneaks-for-vintage-peeps-nike-sting/&usg=__OvXHvlQPaWtCIFS7ov690N9hfqE=&h=640&w=519&sz=58&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=tlPpadgOYh_kKM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtiger%2Bobori%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dvss%26sa%3DG

Love the Obori photos. Great shoe - for that era.

In the mid-'60s I used to buy Tigers, mail-order, from some guy named Jeff Johnson in Seal Beach CA. "Some guy" as in Phil Knight's first hire and the guy who named NIKE. A simpler era. He's Jeff, I'm Geoff. Prompted by having the "same" first name, we exchanged running notes with my orders.

To me the Tigers were far better than the Adidas of the era, and the New Balance I recall had the ripple soles that collected pebbles. Not good. I did like the canvas topped, rubber-soled XC shoes of the era. Ran my first marathon, in the early '60s, in them. No socks.

My most vivid memory of the Tiger Marathons of the late '60s is that the sole was so thin, that, with my pronation, I literally wore a hole in the outside of the upper of a brand new pair, near the sole, in the course of a marathon.

geoff pietsch, florida track club, yes? mr. johnson is doing well, still helping runners of all abilities, doing a bit of running himself.

That's me (or, as a retired school teacher should say: that's I). But, unfortunately, never Florida Track Club. I'm in Gainesville now, but was in Miami in teaching - and mail-order - days.

Good to hear Mr. Johnson (you?) is doing well amd coaching - and still able to run. I'm at GeoffPietsch@hotmail. Any reading suggestions these days?

not jeff but bought shoes from him like you and so many others. he is a neighbor, coaches at a local high school and has a library that well, a library would be envious of! i'll remember him to you and shoot you an email when my time is plentiful. run with the wind at your back.

What do you guys think of shoes like the nike free 5.0?

Horrible. They are supposed to be minimalist. I cant see it. I've owned 2 pairs. I kept tripping and falling forward in both pairs. The soles are thick and the heel is wide so I dont know how this ever came off as minimalist. I like the Asics Piranha or the Nike Zoom Streak XC although I dont think I can run a marathon in either of them yet. My current choice for a marathon would be the Brooks Racer ST but I'm trying to wean myself off that shoe; its too bulky for me. The ideal thing for me would be to run a marathon in either the Piranha or the Nike Zoom Streak XC.

new shoe buyer wrote:

What do you guys think of shoes like the nike free 5.0?

Need Help? I can take a look at the German, just quickly though.

Greg Hill wrote:

Echoplex,

Great link to the Lydiard shoes! Do you know how one in the United States, with no German ability, can buy such shoes via this link? I loved those shoes back in the mid-70's. I'd love to see these on my feet again.

Thanks.

Here's my two cents: Back in '68 when Payton Jordan was Coach at Stanford, the shoe companies were all over him to try their wares so that he would put them on the feet of his Olympic team. Greg Brock (then a sophomore All-American at 10K and of course as letsrun.com readers will know, now the coach of Maggie Vessey) became the team shoe tester. Greg chose the Onitsuka Tigers, the Cortez model, white with blue and red stripes and a raised heel to ease the pounding. A former Oregon runner and Stanford MBA, some guy named Phil Knight, Class of ’62, was working with the Onitsuka Company of Japan on some early editions of what would evolve into the Nike running shoe.

It amazes me when I read about Nike's multi-million dollar shoe contract with Stanford now, because back in my day we were told we could expect no more than a single pair of these Cortez training flats, which were expected to last me the year. (And this was only for the top seven guys!) I loved those shoes, much better than the Adidas and Pumas I had been wearing, at least for me. I had Achilles problems, so I really appreciated the high heel, which I would supplement with another half-inch of foam.

I liked the reminiscence from the guy who paid "two weeks' salary" to buy a pair of gold Adidas Aztec spikes. In the spring of '69 I paid 25 bucks for a pair -- a fortune. Those shoes were my pride and joy! But in the first meet of the year, somebody stepped on my foot at the start, and when I finished running that mile I looked down and saw that I had been spiked and my shoe slashed stem to stern -- completely trashed... So I had to go back to these tattered blue Adidas that looked like they were at least a half-decade old. That's what Stanford gave you back in my day.

Times have changed for the better!