Cross country RACE. 1.5 mile warmup, 3 mile race, 1 mile cooldown (5.5 miles total). Cool, damp, windy 50F. We ran a triangular meet with Reedsburg and Mauston at the Mauston Country Club, a fairly flat and smooth course with only rolling hills. I ran 16:27 for first place! I remain undefeated in the conference, and so does the team. I beat Klecker (17:00) and Boehm (16:40). McGann, Crary, and Nelson ran well, but Ben didn't. I think it's just in his head, he can run better, he is in shape. My left calf is a little sore, and my throat was hurting today. That was a fast course, too bad it wasn't just a little warmer.
A photo from the Mauston Star, published about a week later. If you click on the photo, you should be able to read the caption, in which local boy Boehm is listed, along with two unidentified runners. Funny. In this photo, at the half-way mark of the race, I'm leading with Klecker right on my shoulder and Boehm sitting third. You can see the marked difference in our styles. I tended to run upright, with a high back-kick and I loved to be in the lead; Klecker was lighter and smoother with his stride, and ran with better tactics than me, rarely taking the lead unless it was late in the race; Boehm is all muscle and power and dogged determination:
30 years later:
After going through a short down period mid-season, I came back to run my fastest time and win another race against conference opponents. Frankly, it felt good.
The team was also coming together at the right time. Everyone was running faster than they had all year. Ben didn't have his best race, but he still ran close to his personal best for 3 miles cross country. We were getting into a groove, exactly what we needed to go after the conference crown.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, I was still more worried about Klecker than I was about Boehm. Looking back these three decades later, the latter deserves a lot of credit for his running in 1979. He was not even mentioned as a pre-season favorite in the conference, but clearly had pushed himself in training and gotten himself really fit. Keep in mind that he did not have the kind of teammates that I did; there really was no one on his team who could push him in training. When our team ran short intervals, guys like Nellie and Ben and Chris would consistently run faster than me, even though I was giving it all I had. Those guys ran the 880 yard (half-mile) during track season, and I was a two-mile man. They had more natural leg speed, which they had been honing over the past couple of years. What this meant to me was that I was challenged and pushed nearly every day in practice, while a runner like Boehm was basically training alone. Clearly, this gave me an advantage. Whether I could capitalize on that advantage fully would be determined at the conference championship meet later in October.
Article from the Baraboo News Republic:
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