LOOK AND SEE HOW THEY RAN Frank Shorter Photo Courtesy of Florida Track Club, 1972 and ustrackcoaches.org KR Mini-Interview KR: Which sports did you play at the age of ten? Frank: At the age of ten I participated in skiing, baseball, and tennis. KR: Did you participate in any training for running? Frank: I ran to and/or home from school about three times per week as training for skiing. Sometimes I would carry my books. The distance was about 2.5 miles each way. I also convinced the gym teacher to let me run around the perimeter of the athletic fields during gym class. KR: Did you run during your playtime? Frank: I played capture the flag on the playground. KR: How many hours or miles did you spend or cover on running and other sports? Frank: More than I can count. Photo courtesy of athleticaleggera.com KR: Can you tell us anything about this photo? Frank: The picture was taken in Italy around 1971 at a cross-country race called the Cinque Mulini (it means Five Mills). It was held in a tiny town near Milan named San Vittore Olona. You actually run through working mills and barns (by the cow butts, scattering chickens) and across plowed fields. I ran the race several times and it was invariably raining (in March). It was a big race run right after the World X-C Championships. I finished first, second (twice) and third in four tries. KR: Can you tell us how you felt when you won your gold medal in Munich? FRANK: When I stepped up onto the victory stand in Munich, I felt patriotic, lucky, satisfied and thankful. Patriotic, because I had shown the World that an American could "endure" and win an event that was, at that time considered the domain of African and northern European distance runners...Americans were not considered "tough" enough. Lucky, because I was absolutely "on" that day. Sometimes, the gun goes off, you take ten steps and you say to yourself "Yeah!!!". On a very few days in ones career absolutely all the physical, mental and physiological parts of performance come together and that was one of those days. All the preparation in the world means nothing without that last little bit of luck. Satisfied, because I had controlled the race. I had trained and planned to make a big surge somewhere around the half way mark and challenge the field to go with me. I did and no one responded. And...Thankful that my friends and coach had supported and believed in me. At that time, someone of my age and background was expected by society to "get on with your life" and " do something". I had resisted the social pressure and the support of others had a great deal to do with it. FACTS Frank Shorter won the gold medal at the 1972 Olympics and the silver in 1976. He has also been the 10,000 national champion 5 times. Frank has his own company, "Frank Shorter Sports". Birthday: October 31, 1947 Frank was great friends with Steve Prefontaine and was with him the night before he died. Shorter wins Pie Race, 1964 Photo Courtesy of the Northfield Mount Hermon School Archives FROM FRANK: The prep school I attended for three years was named Northfield-Mt. Hermon. Years ago in 1892, several years before the Boston Marathon was started, in fact, a race was founded called the "Pie Race". At first, "Pie Race" was just a nick name, because everyone who finished the 4.33 miles under 33 minutes received a whole pie. This picture was taken when I was 16 and it was my first race...ever. I finished well enough to be encouraged about trying out for the x-country team the next fall. That fall I finished 5th in the New England Championship, the next year first and went on to college and the rest of my running career. But, it all started right here. KR LINKS Frank's Kid Graphic (above) is from the November KR Calendar page. Frank Shorter | More | Web site | Back to LOOK and SEE How they RAN Index Frank has authored Olympic Gold, A Runner's Life and Times. Please email goodrow@infi.net with comments on this column. Photo: Carol Goodrow, Mystic Places Marathon, Kids Races, October 2001