There is certainly an argument that could be made that Rodgers was the best
marathon runner of all time. The dude won 4 Boston Marathons and 4 NYC Marathons.
Weren't most of those consecutive as well? He did not do well in the Olympics.
We also never hear about Frank Shorter. What would running be like without Frank Shorter
and Jim Ryun?
not a day goes by i don't think about Bill Rodgers.
Did you know him?
Sadly no, but he is my role modle. When I first started to run. I read his autobiography, Marathon Man. I think that book is what got me really hooked on running. It is to this day a huge inspiration to me.
Rodgers is my idol wrote:
Sadly no, but he is my role modle. When I first started to run. I read his autobiography, Marathon Man. I think that book is what got me really hooked on running. It is to this day a huge inspiration to me.
I wonder how he would have done if he had not been a chain smoker before his famous NYC and Boston wins.
Kickapoo wrote:
Rodgers is my idol wrote:
Sadly no, but he is my role modle. When I first started to run. I read his autobiography, Marathon Man. I think that book is what got me really hooked on running. It is to this day a huge inspiration to me.
I wonder how he would have done if he had not been a chain smoker before his famous NYC and Boston wins.
I think that careless hippy spirit is why he was so good at running. He just ran. He wasn't OCD over every variable. He just got out the door twice a day most days and ran.
Same here - still have the book. Like thousands of others, I met and talked to him multiple times. Always an inspiration. What a mindset.
Bills the man in Boston
Always always will be
The city needs to make a Boston Billy trail like pre’s trail we need a soft surface dedicated running trail
Be good for the city
Honor a winner!
Rodgers is my idol wrote:
Kickapoo wrote:
I wonder how he would have done if he had not been a chain smoker before his famous NYC and Boston wins.
I think that careless hippy spirit is why he was so good at running. He just ran. He wasn't OCD over every variable. He just got out the door twice a day most days and ran.
But he was a dang assassin on the course. Don't let the affable persona fool you, that dude was competitive. You hear a lot about Shorter because of the Olympic performances, but BR was dominate in the road racing scene, not just the marathon either.
No drugs.
no doping.
and he wasn't a jerk. Rodgers always came off as your local runner, it's just that he was winning NYC, Boston, and major road races not the town Turkey Trot.
Those were the glory days of running. Guys plowed through brutal training, left every ounce on the courses and burned out early. I love those old first-wave runners and glorify them. Today's running scene of doped Africans, mediocre yuppy Euros and Americans, the whole scene is off-putting compared to those early heady days.
Good old days! But now we must look ahead and create Good future days!,with new ideas and requirements that our time sets and will set on the runner in future.
As a HS Runner, I worshipped Bill Rodgers. To me he is still the all time best American marathoner. As Al Sal was coming on as the heir apparent , I could tell he was a jerk even back then and actively rooted against him.
Scubacane wrote:
As a HS Runner, I worshipped Bill Rodgers. To me he is still the all time best American marathoner. As Al Sal was coming on as the heir apparent , I could tell he was a jerk even back then and actively rooted against him.
How’d that work out for you?
For the second time, met him at the Shelter Island 10k. Great guy, very personable. He was also my running idol back in the late 70s.
He had a great line of very functional running clothing. Had a bunch of his split shorts. Loved them.
EZ10Miler wrote:
Rodgers is my idol wrote:
I think that careless hippy spirit is why he was so good at running. He just ran. He wasn't OCD over every variable. He just got out the door twice a day most days and ran.
But he was a dang assassin on the course. Don't let the affable persona fool you, that dude was competitive. You hear a lot about Shorter because of the Olympic performances, but BR was dominate in the road racing scene, not just the marathon either.
No drugs.
no doping.
and he wasn't a jerk. Rodgers always came off as your local runner, it's just that he was winning NYC, Boston, and major road races not the town Turkey Trot.
Shorter was far from being a jerk; I've never heard anything negative about him and he comes across as a nice guy. When he wasn't running marathons he was very successful on the track and held the 10K AR for awhile. In 1976, Shorter beat Rodgers in the trials 10K and in marathon at both the trials and the Olympics.
I don't if Shorter was a hippy or how much pot he smoked.
Shorter shorts were better, they were more NZ 'split'-like. BR shorts were dang near dad shorts.
But Rodgers was, without question, the most bad ass US distance racer there ever was. When's the last time someone took a shot at the US hour record some weekday evening? Rodgers RACED, he didn't train for 10 months then drop out of Boston. (Actually he did drop out of Boston one year, but he won it another four times.)
And two races he won don't get enough attention:
NYC 1976. On what was nearly an XC or Crossfit course, he nearly went under 2:10 when the WR was 2:08.33. Who knows how long or short THAT course was? And it had stairs, too.
Beppu, Japan, I think 75 or 76. Running against a relay team, Rodgers bested the WR or was close, on a course that was found to be somehow 200 meters short or something. The guy likely held the WR for a time there, if you really think about it.
Dunks and running wrote:
Bills the man in Boston
Always always will be
The city needs to make a Boston Billy trail like pre’s trail we need a soft surface dedicated running trail
Be good for the city
Honor a winner!
This
brickrunnin wrote:
Dunks and running wrote:
Bills the man in Boston
Always always will be
The city needs to make a Boston Billy trail like pre’s trail we need a soft surface dedicated running trail
Be good for the city
Honor a winner!
This
It's called Jamaica Pond.
I think of Billy every time I see a slice of cold pizza sitting next to the mayonnaise jar in the fridge.
Jamaica Pond wrote:
It's called Jamaica Pond.
Wish Jamaica Pond was a short walk out the door from downtown Boston.