Frank Shorter
Frank Shorter
Frank Charles Shorteris an American former long-distance runner who won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics and the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics. His Olympic successes, along with the achievements of other American runners, are credited with igniting the running boom in the United States during the 1970s...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRunner
Date of Birth31 October 1947
CityMunich, Germany
CountryUnited States of America
Right now, after having had back surgery, I am finally back to running again.
I think it is that parents just don't kick their kids out the door as much as they used to. I think the demise of sandlot sports has had a lot to do with it.
I was actually going to law school in 1972.
For the novice runner, I'd say to give yourself at least 2 months of consistently running several times a week at a conversational pace before deciding whether you want to stick with it. Consistency is the most important aspect of training at this point.
There's obviously some validity to it. But I think it also points out that you obviously can do it on your own because people have been doing it long before they had the stuff.
I started in law school in '71 and graduated in '74. So I was training for the Olympics, running or averaging around 20 miles a day and going to law school full time.
A good athlete always mentally replays a competition over and over, even in victory, to see what might be done to improve the performance the next time.
Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually it passes and the flow returns. It's part of racing.
I think he had a wake-up call. ...It's a different kind of race, and I think maybe he didn't take it quite as seriously as he might have, but you can bet he learned a lot of lessons.
I graduated from Yale in 1969, from the University of Florida Law School in 1974, and passed the Colorado bar and was admitted in 1975.
Really, I think that going out and playing with your friends is kind of becoming a lost art, with the kids in the neighborhood.
For a moment in time on September 9, 1972 I was the luckiest person in the world. I was standing on the awards podium, inside the track and field stadium at the Olympic Games in Munich Germany, gazing through a blur of mild shock and tears, trying to focus on the American flag.
It's gotten to the point where American runners only show up to American-only prize money races. It's not really complicated. They won't show up unless you pay them, or it's an American-only prize money race.
When I am totally race fit, I don't worry about breathing or technique - they take care of themselves.