Tales of the ancient marathoner
RUNNING
BY DAVE FOLEY
If you’re a baby boomer, you’ve noticed that our stuff – the toys we played with, the records we listened to, the sports equipment we used as kids – is appearing on the walls and shelves of restaurants, bars and antique stores. You’re trying to enjoy a meal, but your eyes are riveted on your Schwinn Cruiser bike with the chrome fenders and the white sidewall tires standing on a ledge shelf, and the replica of your wooden steel-framed American Flyer sled hanging from the rafters. Whereas cleaning out the attic used to mean a trip to the Salvation Army or Goodwill, now we sell the stuff on eBay for several times what we paid for it.
While cleaning out a closet, you might want to pause over those old t-shirts, shoes, magazines and race blanks. Are those items trash or treasure? And when we start reminiscing about our days as young runners, we’re not supplying information, we’re giving history lessons. In the 1970s, being a runner included these kinds of experiences:
- Aid stations offered Gookinaid and ERG. As you approached these stations, the volunteers would be yelling “erg, erg, erg” which sounded something like a cross between a tribal chant and a weight room full of lifters. “Gu” was not an energy product; it was what you had on your fingers after applying Vaseline petroleum jelly to your crotch and nipples.
- White waffle-weave long underwear was the only tight-fitting leg coverings worn by runners. Only ballet dancers wore tights.
- Sweats were cotton and baggy, instead of nylon or Gore-Tex. No one wore them as a fashion statement.
- Most running shorts were short and had no liners. Invariably, the elastic waistband died in the clothes dryer, so you went from a 32 to a 42 in one washing. We wore cotton underwear briefs inside our shorts.
- Running stores were few and far between. If you didn’t live in a city, you bought your shoes through mail order stores such as Blue Ribbon Sports.
- You were timed in races with hand-held stopwatches, and times were marked off on tic sheets. You received a numbered Popsicle place stick as you crossed the finish line.
- Digital watches were big and clunky and new on the market. Most of us timed ourselves by turning the hands of our clock-faced watches to noon at the start of the race.
- All road-race age groups were 10-year brackets and the oldest one was “50 and over.”
- You patched your shoes by applying “Shoe Goo” to the wear spots on the sole.
- Runner’s World offered a lifetime subscription for $250.
- The highest race fee was $5 and most cost $2 or $3 dollars.
- 5k races were called fun runs and results usually weren’t tabulated.
- People kept asking you how many miles were in a 10k.
- Footstop, Great Lakes Track Club, and Club Midwest were Michigan teams for elite runners.
- Almost all race courses were measured with a car odometer.
- The winners of the Boston and New York Marathons were awarded a medal or trophy instead of money. Boston Marathon winners were given a leafy crown of laurel.
- The Detroit Free Press Marathon was known as the Motor City Marathon and was run entirely on Belle Isle until 1978.
- Most race t-shirts had a one-color design and late registrants were invariably given an extra-large.
- Tiger, Adidas, Puma, Nike, New Balance and Brooks were the most popular running shoes.
- The Pictured Rocks Road Race’s length was 17.76k to commemorate the United States bicentennial.
- This writer wore way-too-short shorts and an orange cotton t-shirt that read “I’d Rather Be Fishing” for more than 80 races from 1975-1981.
Whether you’re an aging baby boomer or new to the sport, the act of running never changes and the same good feelings are there to be experienced no matter how long you’ve been at it.