It was hot as hell.
On a sun-scorched afternoon in Boston 1982,Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley ran neck and neck for the final nine miles of the Boston Marathon. The temperature was in the eighties as Beardsley, a famed long-distance runner, pushed Salazar, the winner of the 1980 New York City Marathon, through the race.
It culminated in a furious sprint to the finish. Salazar pulled ahead in the end, winning by just two seconds. Both men broke the (then) American record: Salazar won in 2:08:51, with Beardsley on his heels at 2:08:53.
Although I was running way behind, I knew Salazar had won before I crossed the finish line. When it was over, word spread like a game of whisper down the lane from one breathless runner to the next: “Salazar won, Salazar won.”
The Boston Marathon is held on Patriots’ Day, always a state holiday in Massachusetts on the third Monday in April. Back then, the race started at high noon.
Beginning in the suburb of Hopkinton, the course meandered through a series of charming New England hamlets lined with scores of spectators. By the time I reached the Newton Fire Houseat mile 17.3, the heat was taking its toll on runners around me. I doused my head with water whenever I could grab a cup from a volunteer and put ice in my singlet to keep cool. I felt surprisingly good as I worked the series of Newton Hills and then Heartbreak Hill just before mile 21, although the downhills pulverized my quads.
At that time the race did not provide mile splits for runners—just checkpoints at various odd distances. I had to rely on my watch to focus on moving forward—and closer to having a bowl of Legal Sea Foods clam chowder I was fantasizing about.
I listened to the incredible roar of the crowd as I ran through the buildings near the end on Hereford Street to the finish in front of the Prudential Tower. I managed to cross the finish line in 3:15:05, avoiding the medical tent, which looked like a battlefield triage center of runners laid out on cots—some receiving IVs for heat exhaustion. As for that chowder the city is famed for; finishers were rewarded with a bowl of beef stew.
Along with my husband, who ran a personal best in 2:41:50, our hometown running community performed well. Budd Coates, RW’s training director, burst into national-class prominence that day with a 21st overall finish in 2:19:48. Coach Budd would later compete in four U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Bart Yasso, our Chief Running Officer, broke the three hour barrier in his first Boston—prior to his invention of the Yasso 800s, the marathon speed prediction method for which he has become so well known.
As the popularity of running soared across America and increasing numbers of people took up the sport, I felt lucky to have had the opportunity to take part in one of the most famous races in modern running history.
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Lori is training in preparation for the 2016 Big Sur International Marathon with Runner’s World VIP. To learn how you can be part of the RW VIP program, visit runnersworld.com/vip.
