Running Travel Adventure Number 1066

Guest post by Bob Hodge, in transit from Clinton MA to Eugene Oregon for the 2016 Olympic Trials

The majority of my adventures have been as an athlete, travelling the world to compete and occasionally conquer, but for many years now I have travelled to events as an uberfan — a seeker of uplifting stories and joyful moments. In athletics, unfortunately, these are mainly elusive.

I am travelling nonstop on Alaska Airlines to Portland and I am studying the entrants in the first final running event, the Men’s 10,000m. This is one of my old events that I competed in at the 1984 and 1988 trials.

I am particularly interested in entrant Ben True, a Maine native with a very interesting back story. I have never met Ben but I have followed his running since his Dartmouth College days as a cross country skier and runner.

The fact that he goes at it mostly alone and mostly in Hanover NH is intriguing. Hanover NH is very nice country for a runner even with the harsh winters, although I am sure a runner of True’s calibre has access to the occasional escape to warmer and higher environs.

There look to be 18 qualified runners competing in the men’s 10,000m and I am sure that they all have an interesting story and perhaps we spectators will see an unlikely Cinderella-boy story, an unheralded hard-working runner grabbing a spot on the Olympic Team. Even in these days of tightly controlled professionalism, we can still dream.

I’ve been fascinated by the University of Oregon’s Track & Field program since my freshman year in high school — my first as a runner. The next summer, Sports Illustrated put Pre on the cover with a beautiful picture of him running in the hills. It was the month of June in the City of Lowell MA where I grew up. I went into the convenience store on the corner for a Popsicle to cool down after a baseball game and there was the SI cover in the small magazine rack. I didn’t have the money to buy it and I thought for a moment about pinching it, but instead I grabbed it, the last only copy and I gave it to Tartzy the store owner to hold for me while I ran home hurdling the picket fence to the yard, and grabbed my piggy bank.

Nothing in there but a few pennies and IOU’s from my older brother… geezus. I would have to ask Dad. He acquiesced at my pitiful begging and I ran back and got IT!

I get excited just thinking about that day.

The cover went up on my bedroom wall beside Bikila and Ryun. Running royalty.

In college at the University of Lowell MA in 1975 I ran at the NCAA Division III Championships in the 3 mile, which was Pre’s event. We had to run a trial and a final and I barely squeaked into the final. Pre died in a crash the day before we ran our final and there was a moment of silence before our race. I was a bit shaken by the whole drama.

I visited Hayward Field for the first time in December of 1977 while on a 10 month long trip with a Lowell friend travelling around the country in a van visiting places of interest mainly National Parks.

I went on to compete there a number of times including the Prefontaine Classic in 1981 when I ran the 5,000 Meters. I also ran the 1980 OTC Marathon which finished on the Hayward Track.

So, I have a bit of personal history with the place.

I am also looking forward to hanging out with my fellow track nuts and old friends. We have our reunions in the neighboring pubs after each day’s action and discuss and disseminate

We also have the now classic “Hooties” 5K on the classic out-to-the-tree-and-back course measured by Malmo and Brad and me in 2008.

Stay tuned for further reports, and hopefully an uplifting and joyous story or two, from the trenches.

–Bob Hodge