jeff noel’s shirt look familiar? 2010…

Nike has immortalized only one athlete in a bronze statue. Guess?

It’s the same athlete that said, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”.

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Read carefully under Pre’s name, “America’s Most Famous Distance Runner”

Setting the bar too low and reaching it is worse than setting it too high and failing.

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Tip: Find fun ways to use iconic images, stories, legends, customs, traditions. Think of these as logs to add to your fire.

Jack the Bear has travelled the world with jeff noel. More USA National Championships and Olympic trials have been held at Hayward Field than anywhere else. Plus Steve Prefontaine ran here. Pre, a rebel, who just happened to be a runner.

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Teddy Bears Don't Worry About Cardiovascular Health

Steve Prefontaine placed fourth at the 1972 Munich Olympics at 5,000 meters.

At one time, Pre held every American Running record from 2,000 meters to 10,000 meters.

Pre was unstoppable.

He was training for a gold-medal performance at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Until a tragic, May 30, 1975, late night car crash took his life, at 24.

Prefontaine never got his second chance.

Your life is before you, and so is your health. You have a second chance.

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Health Blog

Ok, so Lane 8 is a health blog that just so happens to also be a running blog – that’s what works for me. You’ve got your own thing.

Motivation. How many times does that show up?

Passion. Fire. Burning desire. Steve Prefontaine.

He said, “There may be someone who can beat me, but they’ll have to bleed to do it.”

I’d classify myself as a sprinter, not a distance runner. I (hate) prefer not to run 5k’s, and 10k’s. They make my heart and lungs want to explode.

But I do them anyway, to burn, to bleed, to push the limits of the human heart and to have fun.

Sunday’s goal was to run 20:30. Mile splits of 6:40 + 6:40 + 6:35 + :35 landed this:

Does This Make Me An Expert?

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Hayward Field, University of Oregon

Steve Prefontaine, was America’s distance running prodigy in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, until his tragic and untimely death in 1974.

Pre held every American running record from 2,000 meters to 10,000 meters.

Pre ignited the “jogging craze” of the 1970′s.

Pre challenged authority.

He challenged his coach, Bill Bowerman (who was starting a little shoe company later called Nike).

Steve Prefontaine wasn’t a runner, he was a rebel.

A rebel who just so happened to also be a runner.

Do you have guts, courage?

Where does your strength come from? Here’s a decent source of mine.

Pre's Passion Is Legendary

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A Decade To Make The USA Team

If you’re like most people, you’re set in your ways. You talk about change, and you can easily see what others need to change, and in fact, you openly talk about those people behind their back, not because you’re mean, but simply because you are weak.

Courageous people anger others. Courageous people don’t intend that anymore than you do. We are all human, and therefore, we succumb to temptation long before we are willing to fight the good fight.

If you don’t fight for your health, who will?

If you don’t start fighting for your health today, then when?

So, as you watched yesterday’s You Tube video, rather than see some old guy showing off, remember that I couldn’t even get my legs to parallel for one second. Not even one second. Are you paying attention?

There is hope for you, but you must do two things. See you tomorrow.

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In watching these two videos, it’s clear where my mind was. It was on motivation. Everyday our minds should be on motivation.  Everyday.

Many of you will never be runners. That’s ok.  Never want you to feel like you should be a runner. But I absolutely want you to feel you should do something. Walk, bike, dance, roll, swim, stairs, yoga, gym, ski…. it doesn’t matter, unless it matters to you.

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Steve Prefontaine.  The son of an Oregon logger man.

Too small for football.  Too slow for track. Not a sprinter. Also not fast enough to be a great miler.

But, he could endure more pain than anyone else.

He set the the National High School two-mile record.  Bill Bowerman, the University of Oregon head Track Coach, recruited “Pre” and the two of them forever changed American running.

Steve Prefontaine is the only athlete, ever, which Nike has immortalized with a bronze statue.  Are ya with me?  The only one.

This You Tube video is the final five minutes (of a 13-minute race) of the 1972 Munich Olympics 5,000 meter final.  It’s breathtaking, and awe inspiring to watch a man run the best race of his life, and finish fourth.

America thought the best was still to come and the world knew that Steve Prefontaine would return in four years, with a vengence and determination to win the Olympic Gold medal and set a new World Record.

But a tragic, late night car crash changed all that.

Carpe diem.

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Steve Prefontaine's Legacy

Here’s my personal favorite tip to stay motivated:

• Find a million ways.

Who’s going to be more passionate and concerned for your motivation than you?

Seriously.  Who?

Studying others who’ve overcome obstacles is just one way. It’s one of my favorite ways. Steve Prefontaine, a rebel, also happened to be a runner.

And in the process, with his relentless courage and determination, he changed the way Americans thought, and continue to think, about running. He held every American running record from 2,000 – 10,000 meters.

In his greatest race at the 1972 Munich Olympics, he finished fourth. No medal. No glory. No hero’s welcome.

But yet, he’s the only athlete Nike has ever immortalized in a bronze statue. Ever. Any sport.  Period.

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