Click on the house to return to my home page
On Dec 4, 1998, I had a wonderful opportunity to meet
Greg Meyer, who showed up at the Track Shack store in
Orlando for an autograph session. Meyer won the Boston
Marathon in 1983, with a time of 2:09:00.
He lives in Boston now and works for Reebok, and makes it to Florida once or twice a year. He came down for the USAT&F National Association Cross Country Championships at Disney's Wide World of Sports, and will return to Disney in January for the Disney Marathon Expo.
I asked him about winning Boston, and if he ever envisioned that there would be such a long period of time with no winner from the US. He said no, he thought sure another American would win, and even thought that he would win again. He said that after winning a race like that, you always think you can do it again. He marvelled at how much runners were able to accomplish back then without the benefit of modern shoe technology, Gu, and the stuff we use today.
I asked about his current running program, and it has been curtailed because of a back injury, so he mostly runs for fun and fitness these days, and plans to run the Disney half-marathon with his son. He commented that he always knew the day would come when his kids would be able to outrun him, but he never dreamed it would happen so soon.
He asked me about my running, and said that the people who win big races are genetic freaks of nature, and the rest of us are the true heroes. He sure knows how to make a back-of-the-packer feel good! If you have any questions for Greg, you'll get another chance to meet him at the Disney Marathon Expo in January.
Reported by Donna Williamson, the wandering FTC webslave