I'm currently reading a book I got as a Xmas gift, it is called "Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine." It charts Steve Prefontaine's rise and ultimate fall (he died in a car crash at the age of 24) in middle distance running races; he was almost untouchable in distances from 2km to 10km, losing only to some greats in big finals (Olympics and World Champs).Pre, his nickname, was a brash and cocky kid but his talent to run hard was amazing, he simply tried to run as hard as he could and hope no one could keep up with him (which most of the the time they couldn't!). Tom Jordan's writing is excellent, charting his battle with the old amateur American system, through to his unselfish work in his community, culminating in many, many great races.
One of his most famous quotes is: "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift." The gift in this case being running. For Steve, the gift was not something just handed out, it was something you had to work really hard for. He acknowledged others were probably more talented than him, but what he achieved was through hard work and always giving his best. Wise words.
A great read, I'd throughly recommend it to my fellow bloggers. Train smart all!
2 comments:
I can just about remember watching some athletics event when I was much younger that Prefontaine raced in, although I can't remember the outcome. I wasn't aware that he died so young and he certainly packed a lot into such a short life. Being able to recognise that you have a gift is the first step I guess.
He talks about the Gift as the ability to run, not the fact that you are good at it, just that you are able to run and effect so many people with running. He also set up a running club in the local prison (which he kept low key, some of his friends and family didn't even know he did it) and to this day the club is still going and using some of the plans he wrote for them. Quite a guy!
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