MEETING THE ALL-STARS

• By loramarie03
• 17 April, 2012
• 6 Comments

My race recap will be up tomorrow… I am too exhausted to even start thinking about the race for now!

I think I mentioned on Friday that we were going to a special event on Saturday with Alberto Salazar and Dick Beardsley. Alberto just released his memoir, “14 Minutes,” and discussed that as well as the infamous Duel in the Sun at the Boston Marathon in 1982. Alberto suffered a heart attack five years ago and was “dead” for 14 minutes. They shocked him a total of 10 times. He said that usually they only shock people about two, maybe three times, before they usually throw in the towel.

david willey, rw editor-in-chief; alberto salazar; john brant

He also said that doctors found that he had some scar tissue in his arteries, and while they don’t know what it was from, it could be from how hard he pushed himself during the Duel in the Sun in ’82. Hearing this the day before running a marathon that is going to be in mid to upper 80s for the entire race really makes you rethink your strategy…

It was also interesting because Alberto said that he usually runs four miles a day, around an eight minute mile pace. And he loves it! He said that he finds that running is fun again, and he’s not stressing about what his pace is and how fast he’s going. It was refreshing to hear a competitor of that caliber saying that he likes to focus on making sure his runs are fun. I feel like we often forget that as we get wrapped up in training and racing, even if we aren’t going for the win.

Dick Beardsley later came on stage, and if you’ve never seen him in real life, you must. He is just so happy-go-lucky and lights up the room, despite all that he went through with his drug addiction. Hearing them recount this amazing race, while showing that they are great friends at heart (at least on stage, ha!), was amazing.

alberto and dick.

It was a really cool event. If you haven’t read “Duel in the Sun,” you must. It is an amazing read. John Brant was the writer for that book, along with “14 Minutes.” I, of course, bought a copy of Alberto’s new book and couldn’t resist getting Dick Beardsley’s memoir, “Staying the Course.” Will keep you posted on how both of them are!

Oh, and even cooler, my better half (Kelly) and I got our books signed and photos with both of them.