 Batten Kill Valley Runners |
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At the Running of the Turkeys someone asked me how racing was in the old days, and that remark carried me back to the togs we wore and the shoes we used. A day later, I called some other BKVR runners who might have memories to share. Len Kotler, who was a 50's sprinter from New Jersey, remembers his track spikes, which had leather uppers, flat neolite bottoms, no cushioning, and five mean looking ½ inch spikes under the toes for grab on the cinder tracks we used. I remember those cinder tracks and running five or six laps with a cinder grinding away inside my spiked shoe, too. Len also remembered the sneaker of the day, Converse, which offered deck sneakers (white or blue); their All Star basketball sneakers (white for preppies or black for greasers); and low-cut, clunky, white tennis sneaks with reinforced toe. All Converse sneakers featured even cushioning, front to rear, but arches were left pretty much on their own so that running in my size 13 tennis sneakers left me with aching feet every time.
Bill Kelley has fond memories of his old shoes because his college paid for them all - from the workout shoes to the spikes. It seems that for Bill free was enough of a gain in spite of the pain. Al McAllister was also a sprinter. Al ran in college meets in New York and New Jersey and, as a matter of fact, he ran in the prestigious Penn Relays. He remembers winter running in Converse deck sneakers on concrete in his local unheated Armory, but when his team raced the three mile cross country course in Van Cortland Park, track spikes were the order of the day. Races at Seton Hall in New Jersey saw Al switch back to his deck sneakers for a course that mixed gravel, grass and blacktop.
Track coaches in the 50's used the same standards as modern coaches to grade recruits. The fast guys do the sprints, the middle distances and the long jump. Skinny guys with long legs try out as high jumpers and then are assigned the mile, the two mile, and a guaranteed spot on the fall cross country team. I remember the running shoes we used then in the days before K's and meters. Someone, probably a basketball coach, reasoned that since sprinters (and basketball players) run on their toes, this is true of all runners. By the time I came along, black canvas distance shoes, the dinosaur daddies of today's sleek styles, were modeled after a sprinter's spikes, except that the spikes had been replaced by a big bulb of gum rubber under the toes for grip and cushioning. And the heel? Don't be silly. All the experts agreed that good runners were up on their toes. No built up, cushioned heels and extra weight in our distance shoes. Want to know how it felt? Try this. Take a pair of street shoes, pry off the heels, and then walk around for a bit. Everything seems to be uphill? Right!! Running in them, especially for pronating heel slammers like me, was guaranteed to produce shin splints and did, even in the five mile college races we entered. Who knew then that shoes and sore legs were related? My shoes were the largest made, a size 12, and so I got gorgeous toe blisters - but oddly enough never lost a toenail. I went along, applying wintergreen, until the spring of my senior year, when blissful ignorance led me into a deeper disaster.
On the eve of Patriot's Day in 1960, my little heel-less running shoes and I took a train ride to Boston and then a bus ride to Hopkinton where I lined up with 350 others. Four hours later I finished the marathon with screaming shins which kept on screaming for the balance of my spring track season, which was also the end of my competitive running for several decades. In the 60's and early 70's, there wasn't much company for guys who ran beaches and roads. As a matter of fact, I wasn't in touch with anyone who ran for fun. Any shoe improvements were unknown to me; when the mood struck me, I simply ran in whatever sneakers I had.
And then..the epiphany. Saucony says they started producing runners' shoes in 1948, and it may be that they get the blame for the down at heel running shoes I wore in school. They admit that they didn't start to pay attention to runners' foot dynamics until 1977 when the first fitness craze swept the USA and jump-started the running shoe industry. The rest of the story you know as well as I because the same catalogs arrive in your mail as in mine, but if you'd like to know more about the old days, ask Len, Al, or Bill. They were all there a lot longer than I was.
by Jack Quinn
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