I get odd looks when I show people this medal for the Bonne Bell road race series that was an all women's race. The exception was the very first one they did in 1976 when the rage was 7.6 mile races and the race was co-ed. Here is my story.
I thought my running career would end with my college days. Three months off till shortly after starting podiatric medical school is all the hiatus lasted. I wanted to totally immerse myself in my new courses but found something was missing. There was this plaque in the old fieldhouse at Bates College that said something like the student is like a tripod of academics, athletics, and emotional health. When one leg of the tripod is shortened the structure becomes unstable. I found a group of medical and dental students that would run one mile around a track next to the dormitory I was living a couple times per week. They planned upon running the Bonne Bell race the following month. Frank Shorter, the Olympic gold medalist was scheduled to run in the race so these wise guys decided to have shirts made up that said Frank who? on the back. Their goal was to sprint at the start to get right in front of Shorter for a few seconds to pull off their prank. Their runs never progressed beyond the mile so I left the group and went out on the roads and built up to 3-4 miles per day before the race.
Fast forward to the race day. The gun went off and I shot off the line like it was the first race I ever ran. It did not take me long before I realized I was co-leading the race with Frank Shorter. I chuckled to myself, maybe the med/dental group should have given me one of their shirts. We passed through the mile at 4:45 and I did not feel bad at all. About a mile and a half into the race I still felt good but my common sense finally came to me. I still have over 6 miles to race and I have never raced that far before. Bob, maybe you shouldn't be locking onto an Olympian's pace especially with minimal training. I let Frank go and settled into a more reasonable pace. I finished the 7.6 mile race and not many people passed me (maybe about 15). I did well enough to medal in my age group and thought that maybe I should stick with this running thing. My tripod has stayed balanced ever since.
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