Some friends in a chatroom recently had a conversation about their earliest races, pictures, and online results. Meanwhile, I was also thinking about my earlier days to today and progression/regression. I have talked some about the past here so some might be a rehash but maybe some new stuff.
Part 1: The Early-Early Days ages 7 to 17
For the most part I was active and involved in some sort of sport at least part of the year. My first race was at age 7 at a summer camp in Boulder. I guess I was one of the faster kids and they put us in a 4X 50 yard shuttle relay at the university track. I remember a lot of teams and heats and we got a 3rd place ribbon, which I kept for decades, and it still might be in a box or folder somewhere. That was 1965.
In the 4th grade I remember running the 50 yard dash in gym class. We just ran it, not thinking about time. “You guys are slow,” the coach admonished. “9 and 10 seconds for the group of you.” But that was it. No do-over.
In 5th and 6th grade, I had a competitive group of friends who followed track and field, following the epic 1968 Olympics, and our gym teacher emphasized the annual city wide track meet. I ran the 50 yard and 4X 50 relay, and did the long jump. As a 5th grader I ran 7.2 for the 50 in gym class, and about 7.5 in the city meet. And in 6th 6.9 (once) but did not break 7 at the city meet, and did not advance from the prelim. In the long jump, I could do about 11 feet as fifth grader, 12 in 6th. Not good enough to place at the meet (a kid from my class 6.0 for the 50 and jumped 14 feet to win both events). I think we got a 5th in the relays one year and 4th the next year with our super-fast anchor man.
Over the summers we would go to the university track and do some high jumping and sprinting. My friends were pretty good at the high jump, going over 5 feet, I wasn’t. Then we built a pole vault run my back yard. Using a broken metal bar from the track as our pole, and broom sticks as the stands, with yarn as the bar. We learned some technique and were jumping in the 5-6 foot range.
I only did one year of junior high track for our small school (there was no team/season for 8th grade). There, I ran the 100 yard dash (about 13 seconds high), 440 yard relay, long jump (13 feet), and pole vault 7 feet. I might have scored a point or two, but not even sure of that (we got last or second to last at our conference meet and I know I didn’t score there).
Our school closed at the end of 8th grade and I was disappointed not to have a track season. However, we did some makeshift vaulting. Starting with trimmed tree saplings as poles and the curb on our cul de sac as the box. Not sure what we had for a stand. That worked for a while, but got a little dangerous for with the curb and concrete, so we moved to my front yard. I took an old mattress and dog pillows (my made several large ones) as a landing pit. We somehow obtained an old pole from our school–not sure how we got a hold of that! I got up to 7 or 8 feet. But other than that didn’t run a step, and for the better part of a year did nothing else athletic. Got heavy, 5′ or 5’1″ (in shoes) and 100-110 lb.
In the spring of 9th grade I made some life choice changes (I quit playing the bass guitar which I was really bad at and started studying more) and got back to being an active kid again. I started vaulting in our yard that spring. My neighbor joined me and he ended up getting quite a lot better (13′ something in high school). We ordered a flexible pole set for our weight, built some stands with peg holes at 2″ increments from 8′ to 10′ and bought a couple bundles of foam rubber, which we stuffed into large burlap bags and then put the bags into a large net. So we had a 10′ X 10′ landing mat! I don’t think I did get over 9 feet, but close. I did run a little bit to “get into shape” but it wasn’t much a couple miles here and there over a month or so. In gym I ran low 6s for the 50 yard dash and about 1:45 or 1:50 for the grueling 600 yard run, as part of the Presidential Physical Fitness test.
As a sophomore I was a lot more active, playing touch football on the weekends with friends, and pick-up basketball several times a week. I decided to go out for track and do the pole vault and long jump. Most of the running I did was a half mile for warm up every day, and then maybe jog out to the field event pits. I avoided workouts, like 100s or 200s, that they wanted us to do and would make myself scarce when called to run. I got up to 10′ in practice and 9’6″ in a meet or two, and 16’3″ in the long jump. Scored a couple sophomore points and stuck with it, even though I had some head issues (anxiety) and skipped a couple late-season meets rather than deal with that.
Junior year I kept the active lifestyle and played even more basketball, maybe five-times a week, including playing on a rec league team once or twice a week. Did some running in the gym and at home, but just a few miles here and there. However, I didn’t go out for track. I did one all-comer’s meet after the regular season had ended and officially got my 10′ vault and improved another foot in the long jump to 17’3″.
For about a month I picked up running.
Inspired by Bill Rodgers winning the Boston Marathon in April, and setting the American record and then having Pre die barely a month later I ran about every other day while we were on vacation in Boston and upstate NY. I kept it up for about a week after returning, but the hot-humid Midwest summer proved to be awful enough to thwart a sustained effort, and I didn’t even consider going out for cross country.
I did do club soccer–first ever year for our school–started by a couple of friends over the fall, and of course pick-up basketball and rec league during winter. I was just 5’8″ and 125-30 lbs at the time, and not terribly good with dribbling. But I could bob and weave okay, and could score some. And if I timed a run and leap just right I could sometimes outrebound guys 4″-6″ taller, and they hated that.
I did a little bit of running over the winter, 15-20 minutes in the field house doing steps or indoor track, and thought about going out for track which would start just after my 18th birthday.
I have no pictures or clippings from athletic pursuits during this time in my life. Those elementary school ribbons sat in my desk drawer for decades, but not sure what happened to them after my parents were gone.
rrunnin234 