06/02/2024
RUNNING WITH STEVE PREFONTAINE—A Unique Dose Of Running Excitement
From the first time I ran with the runner who we called “Pre”, I learned 3 things about him:
1) He was in charge;
2) He could talk faster than he could run
3) I always came away with a greater understanding of why he was much more than a world-class runner.
I was checking in for my 10K race in the ’71 national track championships at Hayward field in Eugene OR when I sensed someone coming up behind me. Before I had a chance to turn around, he hit me in the upper arm, hard enough to hurt for about 10 minutes and said “Galloway—lets go for a run”. As we started at a pace that was a jog for me then—7 min/mile—he asked me how far.
I needed an easy 5 miler and he said “I know just the course”. The tour of the University of Oregon campus began with a few boring academic buildings. Then Pre made a few turns and we were passing the women’s dorms. Steve waved or greeted about every female we passed and several of them called his name. As we went by the sorority houses Pre picked up the pace and I had to tell him that this was an easy day for me. He slowed down for about a minute and then saw a female student he knew and the race was on again. Mutual running friends had told him that I was older, back from Vietnam during the previous year, and didn’t have a “kick” or sprint, at the end of a race.
Since he knew he could beat me in a race, I assumed the “older brother” role in our relationship and he felt comfortable telling me about upcoming race strategy, complaints about various things--especially how he hated the AAU (the organization that set the rules for track, cross country and road racing). Then he interrogated me about my two Florida Track Club teammates, Frank Shorter and Jack Bacheler who had beaten him in the national meet a year before—and were running in his 3 mile championship in a few days.
Steve Prefontaine brought entertainment and excitement into distance running because he transformed the strategy of racing on a track for 12-25 laps from a “boring group run” into a dynamic series of pace changes and strategy shifts. Since his junior year in high school, he won almost all of his races. He seemed to be a cocky kid, bragging about how good he was going to be in the upcoming races. But he attracted fans—lots of them--and they were passionate supporters. There were a few who would regularly show up for his workouts—to watch some amazing performances that prepared him for world class competition. Most fans came to the meets because Pre made good on his race predictions--winning race after race.
I’ve never seen crowds respond to a distance runner as they did for Pre. He loved to feel the crowd support, and the folks in the stands loved to send it to him. I ran several of these warm-up runs with him, and it seemed I was running with a rock star around the stage before a concert. As we entered the track, the crowd would come alive, and Pre would tell me something, then wave, and the crowd would cheer louder and louder with each wave. Pre learned how to activate the fans and the excitement would steadily built to an emotional peak at a volume that would not allow conversation. He told me that this helped motivate him to 1) get psyched up to compete against top athletes 2) to hang on during the tough parts of the race, and 3) to dig down in the final stages, and somehow come up with even a higher level of performance when he was exhausted.
Some fans came to see an obsessive competitor who would push himself to the limits—and often beyond. As his friend, I can verify his competitive drive in almost everything he did. For example, Pre and I were walking through the Olympic Village to the train into downtown Munich when we had to weave our way through a group of pin traders. Pre grumbled that this was a waste of time, but I wanted to trade a few pins. He followed me around and quickly figured out his most desired pins. Suddenly, he was wheeling and dealing as well as anyone. I finished my trading and told him that I was ready to get on the train. He told me to go ahead—there were some pins he really wanted—and he was driven to get the best collection on that day!
Hayward fans studied the times of those in the distance races and kept tabs on who was injured, who was moving up, and whose performances were declining. They knew that Pre was on a mission not only to win but to run faster than anyone—and they wanted to help him. It was like Pre had an electrode in the motivation circuit in his brain, and the cheers transmitted energy when he needed it.
He learned various ways to make his races dramatic—which resulted in great video highlights. Facial expressions and arm and hand motions were not only personal drama—they were signals to his fans—often inspiring another wave of cheers. Viewing Pre’s races on TV was always engaging because you knew that he would make something happen. Inside the stadium was a high-energy, emotional experience. His victories and his interviews before and after races sparked a boost in media coverage of distance races and made distance running “cool”. Pre gladly assumed the role of spokesperson and news maker for the longer events.
Pre won most of his races in the US but not so in Europe. The organization that regulated track and cross country was the AAU—and their restrictions kept Pre away from some key races against the competitors he would face in the next Olympics—in Montreal. So Pre decided to confront the AAU by inviting a group of Finnish athletes to Oregon to show them the beauty of his home state and compete in a series of races. He mainly wanted to race against Lasse Viren, the winner of Olympic gold medals in Munich—5K and 10K.
A current world class athlete had never produced a race series before, the AAU did not want this to happen, and their leadership apparently didn’t think that Pre had the ability to pull this together. With the help of my best friend Geoff Hollister, Nike, and influential fans (some high-ranking politicians), Pre kept applying for permits until he got the papers at the last minute. My final article in this series will chronicle the fateful weekend of his final race, more about his legacy, and projects that he and I were working on.
Thanks to my sources:
PRE a book by Tom Jordan—a biography of Steve Prefontaine
OUT OF NOWHERE by Geoff Hollister, who was Pre’s mentor and leader at Nike
BOWERMAN And The Men Of Oregon, by another friend, Kenny Moore
MY MARATHON By Frank Shorter, teammate on the Florida Track Club and Munich Olympic Team
Tell others about the rich history of running and enjoy this photo of me running alongside Pre with Jack Bachelor.
