Prefontaine!

Three years ago, we went to Eugene, Oregon. The friends we were visiting took us to the Nike museum, because Nike was invented in Oregon.

– It was once just a running shoe, Nike, an innovative shoe created by and for runners that had the kind of shape and texture about it that runners needed. But this was long, long ago, before things like the Nike Free, a [probably very expensive] running shoe that makes you feel like you’re running barefoot. Ahem. –

And on the wall of the Nike Museum is a giant mural of Steve Prefontaine, a man who was born in Coos Bay, Oregon, went to the University of Oregon and ran great, wide, charismatic circles around his peers. Just look: this man has a whole fansite dedicated to Pre. The mural, with J.Lo the duck puppet in the foreground for scale:

He ran to live. He ran with bad, floppy hair and a bushy mustache, with women crooning in the stands. He was a renegade and he was stolen from the world at the age of 24, when he crashed his adorable, orange MGB after having a lot to drink.

There were two movies made about Prefontaine; in one, he is played by Jared Leto, in the other, he is played by Billy Crudup. Both of these men are fine by me and this is the extent of my actual fandom. I am not a track and field junkie, nor have I traditionally cared much about people who run. For example, right now? if I was a 133+ runn0r, I would be watching the Olympics. But I am not.

Anyway, in Oregon, there was Prefontaine, larger than any duck,

(and they had a few ducks around Eugene)

up muralled on the wall. And we all shouted, “Run, Prefontaine! Run!” for no good reason that I can recall except it made us laugh. And then some time passed. And I started running, for fun and fitness. I joined a run club at work and we ran. And ran some more. And last week we finished our 10 week training program and I got a certificate and everything! I can run for 30 minutes without stopping or becoming winded! Well, I can run for 30 minutes without stopping or becoming winded if it is not 30C outside. I may never run for 30 minutes without stopping or getting winded ever again but I have done it a couple of times and I have a certificate so there.

Now that I am a person who can run 30 minutes without stopping or getting winded, I have started to identify more closely with Prefontaine. All these years, Saint Aardvark has been calling me “Pre” and I have taken to calling him “Pre” and sometimes I call the catt or my co-workers “Pre” just for fun. But sometimes I hear a little voice calling from the back of my head when I am running. “Run, Prefontaine! Run!” it says and even though it is my own little voice, not that of my fans, I keep on. It must be the spirit of Pre. It is definitely not the shoes.