ALBERTO!
Continued from Page 2B
Every year since 1981, he has been voted road
racing athlete of the year by Track and Field News.
Part of that vote acknowledges his American road
records at 8,000 and 10,000 meters; much of it
acknowledges his ability to chew up opponents on
marathon courses.
A reporter from Track and Field News once
asked Salazar if he’d ever fully extended himself in
a marathon. The reply: “The day I really take
chances, I don’t think anyone’ll be in it at the
halfway point.”
And so it was that experts once claimed
Salazar untouchable in the marathon. More
specifically, they called him unbeatable.
• • •
“I had no doubt that it was just a matter of time,
before I found something or I just snapped out of
it. It was frustrating, but I knew it was a matter of
time.”-- Alberto Salazar
In 1983, the untouchable and unbeatable one
was touched and beaten. At the Rotterdam
Marathon on April 9 of that year, he finished fifth,
far behind Australia’s Rob de Castella. Later, he
was fifth in the prestigious Fukuoka Marathon in
Japan.
It is now conceded that Salazar is not a shoo
in for marathon gold Aug. 12 in Los Angeles. De
Castella, who has a best of 2:08:18, has not lost
since 1980. Japan’s Toshihiko Seko, with a best of
2:08:38, is equally dangerous.
It is also conceded that 1983 was a year to
forget for Salazar. At the 10,000 World Champion
ships at Helsinki, Finland, in August, he finished
17th — dead last. He fought bronchitis at about
that time. Soon thereafter, he was diagnosed as
having an iron deficiency problem.
Suddenly, documenting Salazar’s mortality
became very fashionable. In 1982, when he’d edged
Dick Beardsley and won the Boston Marathon in
2:08.51, he had nearly collapsed afterward. His
body temperature fell to 88 degrees, he was treated
for hypothermia, and it took injections of saline
solution to bring him back.
That was nothing compared to 1978. Then,
he’d come perilously close to death after the
Falmouth (Mass.) Road Race. His body temperature
surged to 107 degrees. He was packed in ice. The
priest was there to read the last rites. Somehow,
Salazar survived.
What everyone forgets is that Salazar had his
moments in ’83. He won the U.S. Cross Country
Championship. He won the TAC 10,000. He set a
10,000 road-race record.
This year, iron supplements are helping
Salazar rekindle his strength, and he’s proved some
points on the track. In a special 10,000 at Hayward
Field April 7, he ran a 27:56.47. He lowered that to
27:45.5 at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., three
weeks later.
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After donning the red and white of Athletics
West, Alberto Salazar went on to set American
records in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and a
world record in the marathon.
“Down at Mt. Sac, I was 20 seconds off my
best,” says Salazar, “and before, when I ran my
best times, it was off of two weeks of light mileage
— 70 miles and then rest. When I ran at Mt. Sac, I
had over 100 miles that week, and the week before
130. I was still tired and training through it, so
that’s really encouraging.”
• • •
“Even though he has the world record in the
marathon, the amazing thing to me is the 13:11 he
ran for 5,000. When Al did that, Billy (Rodgers) call
ed me up and said, A 13:11, can you believe
that?' ” — Bob Sevene
Sevene is not the only one in awe of Salazar’s
versatility. It can safely be said that no other runner
in the world can match his collective times from
1,500 meters to 26.2 miles.
How many marathoners can run the mile in
4:01.9 and the 1,500 in 3:45.5? Salazar has. How
many marathoners have run the 5,000 in 13:11.93,
the 10,000 in 27:25.61? Salazar has.
No other runner comes close to matching him
for combined road-track greatness. For com
parison’s sake, take Greg Meyer, a victor at Boston
in 1983 and a marathoner with a reputation for slick
10,000s. His PR in that event is 28:23.
“That is his unique quality,” says Tabb. “A
2:08 marathon doesn’t scare me, but a 13:11 5,000
and a 27:25 10,000 are not in my range. His track
times are so superior to mine, it’s amazing.”
Says Dellinger: “I have had other runners who I
think could have moved up — I think Jimmy Hill
could run a pretty good marathon — but Alberto is
the only runner who went out and did it.”
In 1982, Salazar really did it. If 1983 was his
year for being mortal and admitting he could fail,
1982 was his time to rejoice over his invincibility.
Incredibly, he won New York (for the third
straight time), surged to a win in his first try at
Boston, and finished first in a whole slew of road
races, including Falmouth. In the summer of that
year, he set his pair of American bests. At
Stockholm, Sweden, there was the 13:11.93; at
Oslo, Norway, the 27:25.61.
The 10,000 ranked him second in the world and
remains the fifth fastest ever. The 5,000 is less
spectacular — seven men have bettered him at that
distance. 1982 was certainly a year of bliss, coming
on the heels of his marriage to Molly and his
dramatic world-record delivery in New York.
• • •
“I sometimes wonder how the heck we can do
it — maybe it's in our genes." — Ron Tabb
In all likelihood, only those who have emerged
healthy from a marathon can understand the splits
Salazar runs. When you break his 2:08 into 26
pieces, you find that he has averaged a 4:54 mile
for the entire distance.
For the average person, that is insane,
unachievable and unthinkable rolled into one.
“I liken it to taking a college test,” says
Salazar. “It’s two hours long, but you’re
concentrating so hard the entire time that it passes
by quickly. The training runs are boring and they
seem like they take forever, but the race itself
passes quickly.”
Yet there are those 4:54s to consider. Or, as
Molly Salazar interprets it, “The majority of us can’t
do one of those.”
Salazar does 26 of them in a style that defies
grace. When he races, his eyes are nearly closed,
his body appears to sag, his every breath seems
his last.
Not that anyone can look graceful running a
marathon. Salazar once called it, “an invading kind
of pain, gradually taking over your entire body.”
What is important, instead, is what Salazar has
done for road racing. He has helped transform the
marathon from some freak show into a respected
race.
• • •
“When he came to Eugene, he was very caught
up in the Oregon mystique — Prefontaine and the
ride in the car and all that. I think Pre was Alberto's
idol then, and I think he’d be an idol and a friend if
he were alive today." — Bob Sevene
When he graduated from Wayland High
School, Salazar was ready to decide between
Oregon, the Naval Academy (where brother Richard
Continued on Page 4B
Suds in the Sun
Outdoor
Beer
Garden
8
Friday, May 18th
4-7 p.m. at the
Alder St. Tennis Courts
If it rains, we’re in the Ballroom.
I.I). required
Barbecued Bratwurst and Sauerkraut
ONLY avoid long lines, get advanced
tickets at the KM U Main Desk. Tickets also available
at the door.
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