Marathon article in New York Times

[hc10003]

Interesting article in this morning's NY Times re marathoner Phil Coppess. I had never heard of him, but he ran 2:10 in 1985, still the CR at Twin Cities. He is still top 20 US all time. Neat article and good to see NYT with a track/road story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/sports/phil-coppess-still-holds-twin-cities-marathon-record.html?pagewanted=all

Also interesting in the article, first prize was $20k back then! It's $15k today.

[Conor Dary]

I read that article and I remember Coppess well since he is my age. A top runner in the Midwest back then. And yes, the Twins Cities race has cut back on the big prize money. One reason he still holds the course record.

A nice article, except for his comment about not going to college because he was not from a 'rich' family, which is pretty silly. Going to college in 1972 was not that expensive and practically free compared to the present. And he obviously had some talent. He could have been a walk on at a lot of places and got a free ride later.

PS. Now on the home page.

[kuha]

Very interesting. He obviously had some real talent, but to get to 2:10 totally on one's own is really something. This may serve as some sort of reminder for "young folks" here how different that whole world was 30 years ago, never mind 40 or 50...

[Conor Dary]

Working full time, raising kids and running 2:10. And all without an underwater treadmill, or trips to the Pyrenees. Something to be said about not being a full time runner.