Prefontaine

We watched Prefontaine last night. It had been in our Netflix que for a long time. This is a "must-see" film for any runner. Pre was a little before my time, but I have heard about him for years. The movie documents his life as a University of Oregon track star and Olympic runner. It also portrays legendary coach (and co-founder of Nike) Bill Bowerman. It showed him developing the Nike Waffle Trainer (which was one of my first running shoes). It also portrayed a couple of my early running heroes, Jeff Galloway and Frank Shorter. I have followed Galloway's training plans for many years, and I once ran in a race with Frank Shorter (and later got my picture taken with him).

I knew how the movie would end (he died in his prime in a car crash), but I underestimated the "verklemptness factor." When the hearse did the last lap around the UofO track and the crowd began to chant, "Pre! Pre! Pre! Pre!"....Gulp!