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| Bill Rodgers is best known for winning both the Boston Marathon and New York City Marathon four times each from 1975 to 1980. He twice broke the American record at Boston with a time of 2:09:55 in 1975 and a 2:09:27 in 1979. In 1977 he won the Fukuoka Marathon, making him the only runner ever to hold the championship of all three major marathons at the same time. He made the 1976 U.S. Olympic team and finished 40th in the marathon at the Montreal Olympics. In 1975 he won the bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. Rodgers' most dominant year was in 1978 when he won 27 of 30 races. Major race victories during his career include the Lynchburg 10-miler (five times), Falmouth Road Race (three times), Cherry Blossom 10-miler (four times), Beverly Hills 10k (four times), Azalea Trail 10k (four times), Big Boy 20k (three times) and Bix 7-miler (twice). He also won one time each at the Bloomsday 12k, Gasparilla 15k and Jacksonville 15k. Rodgers broke the world record for 25 kilometers with a time of 1:14.11.8 in 1979. Bill was ranked first in the world in the marathon by Track and Field News in 1975, 1977 and 1979. He was nominated for the Sullivan Award in 1975 which recognizes the top U.S. amateur athlete and placed second. As a Masters runner, Bill set records at five distances and followed up with six age 45-49 records and two age 50-54 records. He graduated from Wesleyan University and earned a Masters degree from Boston College. Bill resides in Boston and owns the Bill Rodgers Running Center. He appears at and competes in 20 to 30 races per year. |
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| GCR: | Based on your four victories at both the Boston and New York City marathons and scores of other race wins, you are known as the ‘King of the Roads.’ As you look back years later, could you have imagined anything like this when you finished your collegiate running days and can you tell us about your start as a serious road racer? |
| BR | When I graduated from Wesleyan University in 1970 I actually quit running as I was overwhelmed by the possibility of going to Vietnam. I was a conscientious objector and had to find another way to satisfy my selective service obligation since there was a daft. I became an escort messenger at a hospital in Boston which was a very low paying job but in terms of my running I thought that was the end of it as I always ran as part of a team in high school and college. When I went to Boston I watched the Boston Marathon in 1971 and 1972 as I lived close to the finish. I had no idea how incredibly exciting the Boston Marathon was. Of course there was no television coverage which was a weakness then and is still a weakness now. That motivated me after a variety of events to join the YMCA. I started running again as I enjoyed watching track meets. First I ran on their indoor track and then started running outdoors. That old feeling came back. What helped drive me was I was at the bottom – I was broke, though I had a good college degree and thought about going to law school. But then I joined the Greater Boston Track Club and I got a job at a school for mentally challenged people. That gave me a focus that I needed. I became more serious about running than I had been in college. Also I had lost my job for a year as I tried to start a union at a Boston hospital. My wife at the time supported me so I had plenty of time for training. I was running over 100 miles per week at a pretty quick pace and had quit the smoking habit I picked up after college. I had a little bit of success in racing in New England. I ran a 30k race in February, 1973 in about 1:43 and came in third place behind Amby Burfoot who won. First place got four tires for a car as there were merchandise awards in this era before prize money. It was enforced poverty among runners. Amby didn’t have a car and offered me the tires, but I didn’t have a car either! I qualified for the Boston Marathon with my time from the 30k race. At Boston the race was hot. I don’t know if I didn’t drink enough, but I had tremendous cramps and was forced to drop out. |
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| GCR: | You mentioned merchandise awards. Amby Burfoot told me once that he seemed to have a cupboard full of unused vintage olive green blenders. What were some of the other awards you received back in those amateur racing days? |
| BR | The best races would have a television or a bike. I remember winning a 10-speed bike. Once I won a jar of honey; another time a rocking chair; and a table at some other race We’d look at the available merchandise before the race as the winner got his pick and we’d figure what we wanted to win. It was the same as when Clarence Demar or Johnny Kelley ran as our sport hadn’t changed in all of those years. |
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| GCR: | After decades of being injury-free and in excellent health you sustained a stress fracture in 2003 and had surgery for prostate cancer in 2008. How is your recovery on both counts and how did both change your outlook on running and life? |
| BR | Athletes tend to go about their business and do their best and have small injuries that slow them down but breaking my leg was a shock as I’d never broken a bone in my life. I may have been low on a vitamin that didn’t allow proper absorption of calcium to keep me bones strong. I didn’t like being on crutches, especially when I went to races. But several races still brought me in for their races to appear even though I couldn’t race. I really appreciated the race directors who kept their commitments. After my broken leg I did a lot of rehab and got stronger. Then as soon as I was running okay I quit doing it all. You know how it is when we just skip stretching or weight training – I guess I’m a lazy runner! I noticed that in my mid-fifties there was a noticeable effect of age on my running which may be similar to what the general population experiences around age 35 or 40. The prostate cancer was a shock when I got the diagnosis. I was at the Barbados 10k enjoying a few gin and tonics when I got the news. I hadn’t been to a hospital since I was 10 years old and got my appendix removed. Prostate cancer is very common though it doesn’t get a lot of media coverage. I went in for surgery in early 2008 and this year my oncologist was one of the runners who ran with me at the Boston Marathon. This fall I will do radiation therapy for seven weeks. It is a treatable cancer if caught early and hopefully it was caught early enough. For men who read this, please have your doctor check your PSA as an elevated level is an indication of prostate cancer. |
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| GCR: | Most top racers ‘retire’ from competitive running sometime in their thirties and run mainly for fitness. You raced strong as a Master, held several U.S. Records and were named RRCA Masters Runner of the year twice. What distinguished you from your peers in your desire to compete as an age-group runner even though you could never approach your lifetime bests? |
| BR | In some ways I was fortunate to win our two major U.S. marathons several times and that gives me the ability to do promotional work and to keep training. It gives me a chance to focus more than some of my friends who were great runners but didn’t win these high profile races. I like to do my best as an age-grouper and to be involved with promoting health along with people like Joan Benoit-Samuelson and Frank Shorter. |
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| GCR: | What do you feel is the role of Olympians and other top athletes in our society as advocates for health and fitness? |
| BR | I feel like our Olympians are underutilized by our society. Maybe we could do some cool things for our country. For those of us who live a life based on health and fitness – runners, swimmers and cyclists – can have an impact with health organizations and places like Africa and get the message out about the health issue. Our system is backwards in that we try to fix problems after they happen rather than to encourage healthiness and prevention. Hopefully Olympic athletes will be part of leading the campaign as each State has its Olympians. |
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| GCR: | In your top competitive days running was an amateur sport with money funneled to athletes ‘under the table.’ What are your thoughts on the change to running as a professional sport and your role in this transformation? |
| BR | The changes that have occurred over the past 25 years are phenomenal. We have the highest drug testing, women are involved in running in pretty equal numbers and we need to do more to support U.S. runners at big races and at the State level. Our sport is booming – I’ve been to 16 races this year to race and do promotional work and do about 30-35 each year. |
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| GCR: | Let’s take a look back at your Boston Marathon performances leading up to and including your first victory in 1975: |
| BR | I mentioned earlier about not finishing in my first attempt in 1973 due to the heat. The next year I ran 2:19:34 for 14th place. I was in fourth place for about 20 miles so I was competitive and was trying to win if I could. I had won in high school and college and there was no change in my mind in what I wanted to do. Again I got hamstring cramps and had to stop and massage them a bit and recover. John Vitally, who was a 2:16 guy from UConn, came by and said, ‘C’mon Bill.’ We knew each other as we had raced each other in college. I didn’t think the marathon was such a good event for me but I had to learn about drinking while racing and proper pacing. I also think your body has to adjust to marathon training over a period of a couple years. There are some phenoms who seem to come out of nowhere but they usually have done several years of hard training. In 1975 I knew I was fit after my third place in the World Cross-Country Championships two months earlier but didn’t know what that would translate to. It was a beautiful day, around 45 degrees, with a nice tailwind. Early on I was running with Canada’s Jerome Drayton, a good runner who later that year set the Canadian record at Fukuoka, Japan that I believe still stands. We got into a duel and I heard someone yell, ‘Go Canada.’ I thought, ‘What’s this in my town?’ Around eight miles I pulled away and ran on my own the rest of the way. Jerome dropped out later, but he returned the favor that December in Japan. Jerome won decisively at Fukuoka with Australia’s Dave Chettle in second. I was third in 2:11:26. |
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| GCR: | You strung together three more Boston Marathon victories from 1978 to 1980. What are some of your memories of your second victory in 1978? |
| BR | That year I had a lead but Jeff Wells almost caught me at the end. Jeff and I had competed for the United States at the World Cross Country Championships in Glasgow, Scotland and he beat me there. I hadn’t done a lot of anaerobic work but had plenty of endurance and knew the course better than Jeff. I mad a move on the long down hill after Wellesley around 15 to 16 miles. I wasn’t as concerned about Jeff as I was about Frank Shorter who was running his first Boston Marathon. I was very competitive knowing Frank was there as we had been neck and neck for a while in the race. There was a group of us and I usually like to make a move around 16 miles to thin out the pack. Esa Tikkanen from Finland, Jack Fultz and Randy Thomas were also running well that day. But Jeff made a tremendous move in the last couple miles and if there were another 50 yards in the race he would have got me. I had a gap and it was very nerve wracking the last half mile. Running toward the finish I kept turning around and Jeff was gaining like a train – good thing it wasn’t 26.3 miles! |
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| GCR: | You returned to Boston in 1979 to defend your title and met with a slew of top racers who were determined to get their own Boston Marathon title. Describe how the race developed up front. |
| BR | Japan’s Toshiheko Seko came to Boston and was one of the favorites to win. He had beaten me in December, 1978 at the Fukuoka Marathon which is Japan’s greatest marathon with 60 years of history. But I was coming off a bout of the flu in Fukuoka and wasn’t at my best. Coming into Boston I was in good shape and had set a World Record for 25k on the track in February out in California. Garry Bjorkland and Tom Fleming were ahead of me through the early part of the Boston Marathon as we ran through Framingham, Natick and Wellesley and I kind of forgot about Seko. I was watching them and trying to run strong and Seko came up next to me at one point as we went up the first hill. We passed Bjorkland, who said, ‘Bill, go for 2:08.’ I got away from Seko again because he didn’t know the course. Going up Heartbreak Hill I pulled away – he wasn’t prepared for the course to be so hilly from what I understand. I broke the course record and American record in 2:09:27. |
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| GCR: | In 1980 you came back to Boston a bit unexpectedly as you had planned to race the Olympic Trials Marathon. What are your memories of your ‘three-peat?’ |
| BR | I was in pretty good shape, though not quite as good as in 1979. Kirk Pfeffer stayed with me through Wellesley just before halfway. Then I was on my own just like in my first Boston victory. I had trained in Florida and done warm weather training. This worked out well as the temperatures got up around 75 or 80 degrees. I was getting ready for the Olympic Trials marathon, but due to the U.S. Olympic boycott at the last minute entered Boston, so that worked out pretty well with a fourth win. That was the year that Jacqueline Gareau wasn’t recognized as women’s winner until a week later due to an imposter who cheated. |
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| GCR: | All winning streaks have to end sometime. How was it facing the duo of Toshiheko Seko and Craig Virgin in 1981? |
| BR | Seko made a move around 15 miles. Craig, who had just won the Gold medal at the World Cross-Country Championships, turned to me and said, ‘Can he keep this up?’ I said, ‘I don’t know,’ so Craig went after him and they both put a gap on me. Craig caught him and they dueled through the hills until Toshiheko got away. Seko did hill training to be prepared this time and he ran 2:09:26 to beat my course record by one second. I ran well through the last few miles to almost catch Craig but wasn’t in the hunt for the win. It was a fun race though we were about a minute behind Seko. I’ve seen my old Boston Marathon foe, Toshiheko Seko, in Japan where he is a coach but he only runs about once a week. He does promotional work and is sometimes the honorary race starter and fires the gun, but he is tired of running. |
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| GCR: | What do you think about the classic 1982 duel between Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley on a hot day which saw you finish in fourth place? |
| BR | I believe it was one of the best Boston Marathons ever run because they both ran 2:08 in that heat. Alberto had just done a 27:30 10,000 meters on the track against Henry Rono. I thought before the race that Alberto would win ‘hands down.’ I knew I wasn’t in that kind of shape. But I had beaten Dick Beardsley in Houston and Stockholm in 1981. He had run a 2:09 at Grandma’s Marathon, but no one… no one would have picked Dick Beardsley to challenge mighty Alberto. But Dick was no pushover. He is a tough minded guy. The book,’ Duel in the Sun,’ which recaps that race and much about their lives, really tells a great story. |
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| GCR: | The following year saw you race fast in 2:11:58, but finish well back in 10th place behind Greg Meyer and a slew of Americans. What are your thoughts about that day? |
| BR |
I don’t remember too much about that race except that I felt Greg was going to win. A few weeks earlier we went down to the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler in Washington, D.C. and Greg won convincingly in a World Record time of 46:13. I was over a minute behind him in Washington though I was fit and just thought, ‘Wow!’ Benji Durden did pressure Greg through the Newton hills, but if anyone had been with Greg the final few miles he probably would have ran 2:07. Today one of the changes in marathon racing worldwide is there are more people to duke it out with later in the race so the times are quicker. If Greg had been racing Robert Cheryiot of recent years or the Alberto Salazar of 1982 it would have been interesting. In 1983 around eight of the top ten at Boston were Americans as marathon running was at its peak in our country. A highlight of 1983 was that Joan Benoit won and set the World Record for women at 2:22.
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| GCR: | Your last stellar race at Boston was in 1986, though Australia’s Rob deCastella really ran strong up front. Did you hope to contend for another victory or were you pleased to finish in the top five? |
| BR | That year the Boston Marathon awarded prize money or the first time; so many more top marathon runners from around the world came, including Rob deCastella. Everyone knew about the ‘Man from Down Under.’ In 1981 he had run 2:08:18 at Fukuoka and had won the Commonwealth Games Marathon by beating Juma Ikaanga. He was definitely an iconic figure in the sport like Alberto Salazar who was challenging to be the best in the world. He proved he was the best that year at Boston by decimating the field in a new course record. I was very happy with fourth as I was about 37 or 38 years old. After so many years of top racing your mind begins to have trouble with training and racing hard. Deke ran a brilliant race – I thought he, Seko or Salazar would win 1984 Gold at the Olympics, but they ran into Carlos Lopes who had run 27:13 for 10,000 meters on the track. Lopes was like Czech great Emil Zatopek in the 1950s - a track runner who could run a couple of fast marathons but that was all. |
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| GCR: | Switching gears, let’s move on to the New York City Marathon where you won four in a row from 1976 through 1979. What transpired during the race in 1976 when you faced off with Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist Frank Shorter? |
| BR | There was cool weather with low humidity – the kind of day that every marathon runner wants. It was stunning because it was the first New York City marathon that ran through the five boroughs. For me, it was my ‘Olympic race’ because I had such a disastrous race in Montreal. It gave me a chance to show I could run a quality marathon. Fred Lebow, the NYC Marathon race Director, had come down to the Falmouth Road Race during the summer to recruit Frank and me, the top two American runners, to race the first five-borough race. It was pure fun as we got to run over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the Queensboro Bridge. It was a blast. I pulled away from Frank around 13-14 miles before the Verrazano Bridge. I like making my move just past the halfway point of marathons. The only runner I raced who liked to wait was Toshiheko Seko – he would nail everyone with a kick. But most of us like to exert pressure earlier and get away. I didn’t know the course and a race vehicle came to a stop in the park and I almost stopped completely also. I was trying to break my 2:09:55 PR and just missed by 14 seconds in 2:10:09. If I knew the course a little more I could have gone harder. But to me the importance is to win versus nowadays when there is such a preoccupation with time. For me, winning big races or going after Gold medals is the goal. |
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| GCR: | Was there any doubt you would attempt to defend your New York Marathon title in 1977? What are highlights of that race and the following year? |
| BR | As defending champion I wanted to go back. The appeal of going to New York was racing through the five boroughs, the invitation by Fred Lebow and being treated great. I enjoyed the course – rolling hills that I love. Also, being the defending champ means a lot to me. There weren’t other races offering more money. Also, there were fewer top races. In 1977 I won NYC and Fukuoka though they were too close together. Today it’s more scientific how races are chosen. But the race was pretty standard as far as my strategy. Garry Bjorkland and I came off of the Queensboro Bridge and the two of us had blown the race open – it was just us. I was trying to defend and Garry was going for the win. We forced the pace going down First Avenue. I pulled away and Garry faded and my Canadian foe, Jerome Drayton, ended up second though he was a couple minutes behind as I ran in alone. 1978 was another time where I got away after the Queensboro Bridge. Ian Thompson and Trevor Wright from Great Britain finished a couple minutes behind me in a result very much like the year before. A funny story is in one of those early years I took all of the back roads when I drove down from Boston to save money and avoid paying tolls. In the era before prize money we had to watch our expenses. I guess I parked in the wrong place as after I won the race my car was gone and had been towed. I didn’t have any money and Fred Lebow had to ‘pass the hat’ to get my car out of the towing company’s lot! |
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| GCR: | You actually used a different strategy in 1979 which still led to the same result. Describe how you handled coming from behind to win your fourth straight New York City Marathon. |
| BR | The gun seemed to go off early and I got behind a lot of people. Kirk Pfeffer was a 2:10 guy and took off fast and I had a bad start in traffic. I was passing people constantly It took me a while to catch the runners in front of me and I finally caught Kirk who was leading in Central Park around 23 miles . I could see him up ahead of me for quite a while… it was nerve wracking because he was a fast marathon runner. But I love the hills of Central Park because I can just hammer. I like to use the hills as the more down hills toward the end of a race, the faster I can go. Even though I didn’t use my usual strategy of making a move coming off the Queensboro Bridge, it was good in 1979 because the early pace was fast, I ended up having conserved energy and was strong at the end in Central Park. |
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| GCR: | You missed out on getting a fifth title the next year as you tripped mid-race and there was also a stacked field. How was it facing Alberto Salazar in his debut marathon? |
| BR | Alberto was fit and ready for a marathon, but there were a bunch of other fast guys such as Jeff Wells, Dick Beardsley and Rodolfo Gomez. I got tripped up in a big pack of 20 runners around 15 miles. Beardsley and I both fell down. I was distracted and may have lost my focus a bit for NYC as I had raced in Toronto three weeks earlier and ran 2:14 on a windy day. If I hadn’t raced in Toronto I would have been faster than fifth in New York, but it was Alberto’s day. He was a young athlete in his debut marathon wanting to make his mark and he did just that. I felt that we were going a little faster than I was comfortable with. |
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| GCR: | Based on your unparalleled racing success at Boston and New York, what advice would you give as far as training and race strategy for those who wish to race their best on both of these courses? |
| BR | They are both hilly courses so a runner needs to practice running smooth up hills and strong on the down hills. They are both great courses with their spectators and history – over 100 years at Boston and 40 years now in New York. Also, runners should be careful not to over train – it is better to under train than to overdo it. Some of my training logs are online at Bob Hodge’s website at http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/ . For me all marathon races hinge on how you are feeling and taking advantage of when you are feeling good and pushing the pace. |
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| GCR: | You represented the United States at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal but had a 40th place finish due to the same leg injury that bothered you at the Olympic Trials? How disappointing was it to not be able to perform your best? |
| BR | Of course it’s devastating to get crushed in the Olympic Games. But it did lead to my focus that fall on the New York City Marathon and racing well there. |
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| GCR: | Politics and sport were unfortunately intertwined in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter Boycotted the Olympics because of Russian involvement in Afghanistan. How unfair and disappointing was the 1980 boycott to you and other top American athletes? |
| BR | In 1980 we as a country didn’t want Russia involved in Afghanistan due to there sphere of influence and it’s about money and power and oil and today religion. I have no negative feelings except that I don’t think boycotts usually work. And I believe that Olympic athletes are our countries ambassadors, and very valuable ones. They shouldn’t be used the way we were, but respected. This may not be as true today for the ‘professional athletes’ who make millions of dollars and still compete in the Olympics, but is for most of the athletes in less popular sports. |
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| GCR: | In 1978 you won 27 of the 30 races you entered; including the Pepsi 10,000 meter nationals (with a new world road 10K best time of 28:36.3), the Falmouth Road Race, and the Boston and New York City marathons. Were you doing anything different that year or was it just the culmination of several years of consistent training and racing? Did you try to peak for any specific races or just to be in as top form as possible all year around? |
| BR | It was just that I had years of consistent running and strength. I was ‘riding the wave’ like a surfer and each race was just like getting on the next wave. Frank Shorter and I did the same thing and it worked for a while for both of us. When you get up on the wave you just keep doing the things that got you there and try to stay on top of it. And then sooner or later along comes someone else that has that hunger. But while you are ‘riding the wave’ you have a lot of psychological strength because other competitors ‘think’ you are going to win. The psychological part of racing is huge. |
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| GCR: | In 1975 you won the bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, equaling Tracy Smith's 1966 bronze in the International Cross Country Championships as the highest an American had ever finished in international cross country competition. Describe the toughness of that race and is it true you accidentally forgot your running shoes and had to borrow a pair? |
| BR | I forgot my running shoes and borrowed a pair from Gary Tuttle who happened to wear the same size as me. They were some Asics spikes. It was a flat course in Rabat, Morocco held at a horse track and we had to jump steeplechase barriers. I was in contention with England’s Ian Stewart and Spaniard Mariano Haro. But they started kicking with a half mile to go and Stewart came out on top. Remember that Stewart was the guy that outkicked Steve Prefontaine in Munich in the 5,000 meters and Haro got second for the third straight year. That race and my first Boston win were the most exciting races of my career. |
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| GCR: | In 2009 you ran your first marathon in 10 years at Boston with your 4:06:49 making up for a DNF in your last attempt in Boston. How was it running along at basically a training pace amidst the cheering crowds and running for ‘Athletes for a Cure’ representing the prostate cancer organization? |
| BR | Running at an easy pace was strange as I still got leg cramps – maybe I’m not a marathoner any more! But it was pure fun and was so exciting. In the 10 years since I’d run in Boston I forgot how huge the crowds were. I ran with two friends and just ran to finish. I wanted to see my daughter at the finish line. Running for the ‘Athletes for a Cure’ was special to me as two million American families are affected by prostate cancer. When I was diagnosed with cancer it gave me a feeling of futility so this helped me to do something positive to strike a blow against this disease. The crowds and other runners were great. Some runners who passed me yelled, ‘Hi,’ while others were making fun of me in a nice way saying things like, ‘Hey, I’m passing Bill Rodgers’ or ‘I always wanted to beat you’ or ’I’m leaving you in the dust!’ It was a totally wonderful experience. |
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| GCR: | Do you foresee a similar New York City Marathon run in the next few years since your last race there was a DNF in 1988? |
| BR | Ryszard Marczak from Poland and I got into a duel in 1988 and finally he pulled away to win the Masters title in around 2:15. At about 23 miles I was dead tired and walked off of the course. I would like to run New York again. But when you’ve run so many hard races like I have – around 60 total marathons including 28 sub-2:15 efforts - you have to have a reason to run one. I don’t want to race marathons anymore – I like half marathons. I have talked a bit about running NYC again but don’t really have a drive for the training needed when it’s hot in the summer and I also have the radiation treatment this fall. If I could do something significant like Lance Armstrong did to raise money and awareness with backing like he had from Nike, I would do it… maybe down the road next year. |
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| GCR: | While a student at Wesleyan University, Amby Burfoot was your teammate when he won the 1968 Boston Marathon. How did Amby influence you as a runner and as a person? |
| BR | I got to know Amby for two years and we roomed when he was a senior and I was a sophomore so I saw how hard he trained. He ran every morning before going in to his job working in the kitchen. And then in the afternoon I would train with him. I had never heard of doing ‘doubles and running twice a day. I learned from Amby about the consistency of effort that gets you stronger. He wasn’t a guy like Steve Prefontaine who was more verbally aggressive, but he had that same psychological strength that allowed him to come from a small school and place sixth twice in the NCAA Cross-Country Championships. He had a lot of drive to excel that was passed on to him from his high school coach, Johnny Kelley, the 1957 Boston Marathon winner. There was a connection and Amby passed the mental thought process down to me. Also New England road racing was strong and that was passed on. |
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| GCR: | During your peak years from 1974 and for the next decade what was your typical weekly base mileage, distance on long runs and favorite track stamina and speed sessions? |
| BR | Occasionally, I ran as much as 160 miles per week, but my peak average was about 130 weekly miles for three years from 1975 through 1977. I had five years that averaged a total of 120 miles each week. I was primarily a high mileage runner and didn’t do much speed work. I raced a lot which helped me to get ready for marathons. I would recommend beginning marathoners to run one or two races a month. My longest runs tended to be 20 miles, though sometimes I’d meet up with someone for 21 or 22 miles. I remember doing 25 miles with Amby Burfoot and other times with Tom Fleming. I only did one ‘ultra run’ form Worcester to Jamaica Plain. I had heard about 1972 Olympic marathoner Kenny Moore doing 30 mile runs. My car was being repaired in Worcester so I decided to run the 34 miles home to Jamaica Plain. It was in March one year about a month or so before the Boston Marathon. I got so sick of running after more than three hours that I walked and hitchhiked the last three or four miles. I did have some days where I’d run 30 miles total – say a 22-miler in the morning and eight miles in the evening. It’s quite an accomplishment to be able to do that and then years later to look back and say, ‘I ran thirty miles in a day.’ Today the training for a marathon is different as the top runners have to train for the last 10k. The fast 10k runners have moved up and speed is necessary especially with the focus on time where we concentrated on winning major races and medals. In our era there was no money and we were on our own. Now it is different with the increases in appearance money and prize money. I would go to the track with Greg Meyer and Randy Thomas and often we would do ladders like 400m, 800m, 1200m, mile. We would run at 4:30 mile pace. One time I did five repeat miles in Athens, Greece with Alberto Salazar when we were there for a documentary they were filming. We did 4:36, 4:32, 4:30 and 4:27, and after a 2:11 half mile I walked off the track while Alberto kept going and did 4:22! While I was changing into warm down clothes and drinking some water, Alberto went on and did some 200s - that was a helluva workout! Speed today is everything. Back in the 1970s the emphasis was on endurance and we all did lots of mileage. Ireland’s John Treacy did some track work with me in Phoenix and was telling me he ran a bit lower mileage than I did – about 100 miles a week – but he had his blood measured and did lactate threshhold runs. He also did 10 25-mile long runs before he took his Olympic Silver Medal. |
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| GCR: | You own the Bill Rodgers Running Center which is managed by your brother, Charlie. Why do you think it makes such a difference to shop at a specialty store? |
| BR | The best thing for the athlete is that there is a better chance of getting shoes that are right for you and work with you rather than hurting you. We named our store a ‘Running Center’ because it’s a place to gather together, get information and start out on training runs. For over 20 years we did runs from the store. Running stores like ours play a role in keeping people healthier. Charlie and I started running together when we were kids of 15 and 16 and we are both life long runners. It has been great working with him all of these years. |
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| GCR: | You were quite often a front runner who pushed the pace. A couple of quotes attributed to you are: 1) ‘My whole feeling in terms of racing is that you have to be very bold. You sometimes have to be aggressive and gamble’ and 2) ‘If you want to win a race you have to go a little berserk.’ Please comment on being aggressive and proactive in racing versus passive and reactive. |
| BR | Wow – did I say those things? (laughing) I was more bold and aggressive and sometimes it cost me, but it also led me to some really nice wins. Most top racers are aggressive and good strategists. Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit-Samuelson and I were similar in that we would make a move to blow open a race. We made it a challenge and some runners were afraid to move with us. |
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| GCR: | You earned a B.A. in sociology from Wesleyan University, and an MS in special education from Boston College. However, your career has been mostly as a professional runner and then as an ambassador for the sport. Even though you haven’t specifically used your degrees after your first few years of work, how did the general collegiate discipline, your coursework and few work years aid you in your life? |
| BR | I was interested in politics, history, economics and law as I had a grandfather who was a judge. I feel everything intersects for international athletes as we have to figure how things intertwine in the big picture. Wesleyan and my studies helped me to think that way. Teaching special education was a personal thing as I had a relative with cerebral palsy as a young kid and I remember him. I taught a few years in Everett, Massachusetts at a middle school starting in the fall of 1975. I was finishing my graduate degree when I won my first Boston Marathon. It was a learning experience. Even before that when I worked in an institution I dealt with people who had nothing. I thought I had nothing as I didn’t have much money, but they really had nothing. When working in the hospital I saw people who had put them selves in a bad position. In my pre-running days when I was smoking there was a man who had emphysema and just had a procedure who was telling me to quit smoking, though he lit up a cigarette despite the likelihood he was probably going to die soon. Meeting a lot of sick people was not very encouraging at all. But I thought if I had a bad race it wasn’t anything in the overall scope of things. |
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| GCR: | You currently run a two or three dozen races each year and are guest speaker at a like amount. For how long do you think you will continue this? Do you have any other life goals that you hope to accomplish? |
| BR | Sometimes I think that I’m getting tired a bit but I just love going to the races. Sometimes the race effort hurts as it does for everyone, but its exciting to be a part of the growth of the sport. It’s a cliché to be able to ‘do what you love,’ but am lucky to be able to make a living doing what I love. I kind of take it year by year with my running. At my speaking engagements there is such a bond with all of the runners as running is that kind of sport. I hope to be able to encourage people to be active and healthy. I hope to be lucky enough to be a member of the ‘100 Year Old Running Club.’ There isn’t one yet, but in Massachusetts there is a 65 year old runners club. But I’d love to be part of a ‘100 Year Old Running Club’ with thousands of members – all of us ‘old timers’ like Jeff Wells, Greg Meyer, Ron Tabb, you and me – that would be great fun! And we’d still be out there ‘riding the wave!’ |
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| | Inside Stuff |
| Hobbies/Interests | Reading, fishing, getting married (laughing) which I’ve done twice |
| Nicknames | As a kid I was called ‘Goat’ for a while which wasn’t a good name. But I was more of a nickname creator for my friends |
| Favorite movies | ‘Perfect Storm,’ anything by Alfred Hitchcock, most from the Science Fiction realm, ‘Solarus,’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Departed’ |
| Favorite TV shows | Nature and wildlife shows such as the old ‘Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom’ with Marlon Perkins, ‘Mr. Rogers,’ ‘National Geographic,’ ‘Nova,’ shows on the History Channel, TruTv shows like ‘Forensic Files’ and similar shows that have real life stories that are psychologically intriguing |
| Favorite music | Jackie Wilson is one of my heroes. Michael Jackson, James Brown, the Rolling Stones and jazz. I like almost all music – I think one of the most powerful things in our sport is how music is a part of it. In the early 1980s a few races would have music along the way, but now so many do and it makes the racing more fun and easier. |
| Favorite books | I love to read novels. As a youngster I read, ‘Les Miserables,’ by Victor Hugo, which I still think is one of the greatest novels of all time. It is a fantastic story of good and evil, crime and punishment. A biography of Mao Tse-Tung. ‘The World According to Garp’ by John Irving. ‘Once a Runner’ by John L.Parker, Jr. was very good and one of my favorite running books. I read it when it first came out and John really captured the feeling of what it was to be a collegiate and post-collegiate runner and that quest that’s in us. I like Bert Yasso’s book, Kathryn Switzer’s ‘Marathon Woman,’ and ‘Duel in the Sun.’ |
| First car | My first vehicle was a used Triumph 650 Motorcycle and first car was a Dodge van |
| Current car | Honda Civic Coupe (I’m not exactly a ‘Hummer’ person) |
| Family, Children and Siblings | My parents, Charles and Kathryn, in their 80s have been married for over 60 years. My mom became a runner at age 57 but now is a walker. My dad mows the lawn with one of those manual lawn mowers without a motor where you have to sharpen the blades. He is a smart guy and was an engineer. Siblings – Charlie 62, Martha 60 and Linda 56, a nurse. Both sisters live in Connecticut. I think Martha would have been a good runner but there was no running for women back then. Children – Alise at age 24 is an aspiring set designer for the theater and Erica, age 19, is in Japan studying Japanese and is also interested in the movie industry |
| Pets | My dog – ‘the queen, her majesty’ - is a Cairin named Kiwi because when she was born she was so small like the size of a Kiwi fruit |
| Favorite meal | Cheeseburgers |
| Favorite breakfast | Bacon, eggs and toast |
| Favorite beverages | Orange juice as it’s high in potassium; for soda, diet Ginger Ale; dark beers like Guiness; kahlua; gin and tonics (we’ll have to have one the next time I’m in Florida!) |
| First running memory | When we were around 13 or 14 years old the local Parks and Recreation Department had summer camps and we would race around the park. We were quite active and rode our bikes everywhere. When I was about 15 I was the fastest guy in the school in a mile we ran and then I went out for the cross country team. Like all kids then I played all sports, even a little hockey! |
| Running heroes | Abebe Bikila – I saw him take his Gold Medal at the Tokyo Olympics and I had started running at the time. It was something to see him run so comfortable and so far to win the marathon. Others were Jim Ryun, Billy Mills in the 10000m and Bob Schul in the 5000m. Also, Ron Clarke, who was a great champion, Ron Hill and Kip Keino. You may notice that many of my heroes were international runners and we need more American heroes. So it’s great what Meb Keflishigi, Deena Kastor, Ryan Hall and others are doing now to increase interest. |
| Greatest running moment | The two were my first Boston Marathon victory in 1975 and winning the bronze medal at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships earlier that same year |
| Worst running moment | The Olympic disappointment of 1976 |
| Proudest achievement | I’ve been to five continents and I think that Frank Shorter and I are the only Americans with marathon victories on five continents |
| Childhood dreams | To be a naturalist. I wanted to go to Africa and South America and look for wildlife and bring them back for zoos… kind of like that ‘Crocodile Hunter guy’ though I’m not as brave as him! |
| Funny memories | In Japan I was preparing for the Fukuoka Marathon with Tom Fleming and we were told to run on the grounds of the Imperial Palace. On the run there from our hotel there was a guy sleeping in his car and we got laughing hysterically, maybe a bit from the jet lag. Each day we ran, no matter what time of day, this same guy was sleeping there in his car and we just thought it was totally funny. We figured it was just some workaholic guy who was so tired he slept in his car and then went back into his office but we never knew |
| Embarrassing moment | Forgetting my shoes at the World Cross-Country Championships was definitely embarrassing. After my prostate cancer surgery I had to wear a catheter because the doctors severed my urethra. Then I started back running and my body wasn’t back to normal and when I was running the Gasparilla 15k a short while later, I noticed I was taking a leak on myself. You know how runners are – we run through everything! |
| Favorite places to travel | Japan; Beijing, China; Moscow (though it was when Glasnost was in its early stages so I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked) |
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