Why Was Steve Prefontaine So Good | We Miss You Brother

[@rundreamachieve]

🚨 Check out our running courses here ➡ courses.rundreamachieve.com/ 🚨 Get your new training plan at ➡ www.rundreamachieve.com/shop 🚨 Interested in monthly coaching? ➡ courses.rundreamachieve.com/membership 🚨 Become a RunDreamAchieve affiliate (its free to do so) and earn unlimited 40% commissions ➡ courses.rundreamachieve.com/affiliate-program 🚨 Digging the videos? Hit that "..." thanks🧡and donate. Appreciate your support.of R.D.A

[@CandtheBirds]

“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.” 🏃‍♂️ Thanks for sharing this very interesting story!

[@rundreamachieve]

So true and my pleasure 😍😍😍

[@xx1590]

To get drunk and kill yourself in a collision is to sacrifice all the gifts you have.

[@joshuarusselldagastino9439]

"And today looks like a good day to die"

[@RobertLKing]

I was in graduate school at Oregon when He was a freshman. I saw him break the college two mile record running in a three mile race in a driving rain. He was a machine.

[@rundreamachieve]

Way ahead of his time..glad you actually got to see him race in person..what an experience that had to have been. He definitely was a machine

[@user-High-IQ769]

Grew up behind Pre, same town, same school, same track, track day sat mornings for all the kids in the county, McClure, Pursian, Solomon, Moore, just to name a few coaches always there, pre stopping by , get the kids all fired up, great times , great memories Pre was a legend in the area before he became a legend anywhere else

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@prespeoplemovie2988]

I was there too🕶

[@rundreamachieve]

💪@@prespeoplemovie2988

[@mlb5525]

I retired in 2011 from my employment but not from running, still running. My 1st post retirement vacation was to Oregon. I went all over the state but made sure I went to the University of Oregon and took at a look at Hayward Field and then ran the Prefontaine trail by the campus. I made it to Coos Bay and after running the hills of the town I realized at least part of the reason Steve was such a great runner😉. Thanks for this video and a huge thanks to Pre for the continuing inspiration all these years later.

[@rundreamachieve]

Appreciate your support MLB. I have visited Eugene a few times, absolutely love it out there. I still need to make it out to Coos Bay to visit Pre's grave but plan to. Keep up the great work out there. Congrats on the retirement too.

[@hvymettle]

"The best pace is a suicide pace, and today is a good day to die," is a quote attributed to Pre but it is likely he never said it. The essence of Pre's front running was the opposite of suicidal. He wanted to make everyone following suffer, put crap in their legs, but with the object of getting the most out of his own races. He very much wanted to be alive and strong at the finish. The idea that each race is a war against what's possible that could end disastrously is the key to the Pre mystique. His willingness to go on a suicide mission every time he raced was and is unparalleled, even if he never put it that way.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@barrydeacon3551]

What a runner! Never forget Pre! Amazing stamina! Guts.. always ran as hard as he could! Only ONE PRE👍 B Deacon Manitoba Canada 🇨🇦

[@rundreamachieve]

SO true! 💪💪💪👊✊

[@timjohnson5519]

Great story folks. Pre was my idol as a high school runner. Graduated the year he was taken from us. Thanks for putting this together.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪

[@crosslink1493]

Yep, graduated in 1975, too. We'd come back from the California State HS championships where one of our teammates had run the 2-mile on that fateful day. The news was reported the next morning in the newspaper, devastating to all of us who were on the XC and track teams. Reminded us of that line in Don Maclean's 'American Pie' - "The Day The Music Died".

[@rundreamachieve]

💪

[@gary1961]

Gone 48 years ago today. RIP Pre. Thanks for inspiring me to run like the wind over here in England back in the early to mid 1970s.

[@rundreamachieve]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@johnowens4334]

“I guess you could say I run like the wind blows”………Forest Gump

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@DanielNowak-xj5oc]

RIP Pre you inspire me to breaking 15:00 mins in the 5000m track someday ❤

[@rundreamachieve]

❤

[@elefantrising]

Im 48 and still run today I was born a few months after his death and I still look up to Pre as an inspiration not just for the running but the spirit and determination he showed in it. He never sacrificed his gift gave it all he is the best of the human spirit. Pre Lives.

[@rundreamachieve]

👊👊👊👊👊👊

[@adameckard4591]

I got to see Pre, he was great.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪

[@gurufitness1984]

Set a lot of records in North America. Finished fourth in his only Olympics and never held a world record. His best 1500mtrs was when he finished 11th and his mile time was beaten by an Aussie in 1958. Really impressive.

[@rundreamachieve]

😰😰😰😰😰😢😥😪

[@justinpino8115]

Who let the European in American KZbin?

[@projectc.j.j3310]

If you think setting every American record from 2000 to 10000 meters isn’t impressive something is mentally wrong with you😂 also considering his sweet spot was between 2000 and 10000 miles, not a single person cares about the mile

[@rundreamachieve]

💪

[@AnthonyMcqueen1987]

He is overstated here in the states he was only good nationally not internationally.

[@JohnTaylor-tb8dr]

Inspiring story of courage and love for the ultimate sport- running ❤

[@rundreamachieve]

Absoluely John. Miss that guy :(

[@garywells3763]

Pre was blessed with superb physical talent and a runner's mentality shaped by good coaches. There are literally millions of kids with talent out there who never develop their potential because of coaches who are either unskilled or are more dedicated to football than to the sport they're supposed to be coaching. Pre was blessed with a lot of people with great expertise who gave of their time and experience to develop Pre's potential. Many runners past and present were and are envious of the great support structure that was in place at the right time for his arrival. It's unfortunate that the culture did not do more to discourage use of alcohol.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@deanprecourt1280]

My home stomping grounds. Love this footage.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@JarrodMiller-z7j]

It's pretty special that someone as good as he was, ended up being born in a State where Track and Field was such a big deal. I became fascinated with Pre, and I'm not even a big Track and Field fan. He just has a charisma.

[@rundreamachieve]

The guy was definitely unbelievable..miss him daily. Appreciate your sharing your thoughts regarding Prefontaine 👊👊👊💪

[@happy777abc]

Kind of like Kaitlin Clark in basketball now. I don't watch basketball ever. But I do now, because of this phenom Kaitlin. God bless.

[@8d3g5af8]

One of the best to ever do it huge inspiration for me !

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@andrerichison4426]

Great stuff, love it! thank you!

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@mittstewart5089]

Thank you for the inspiring life Pre!!!

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪🙏💪🙏

[@steffenlang4815]

🙏🙏🙏 for putting this out. Legend

[@rundreamachieve]

My pleasure. Pre definitely is a legend.#respect

[@chocolatetownforever7537]

Im not a runner, or old enough to have seen Steve Prefontaine run, but I remember being a kid in the 80s and 90s and seeing stories about this man, and admiring him. I believe in my heart he would have won the gold medal in the 5k at Montreal had he lived. Whomever was the modern day prophet that first proclaimed that life isnt always fair, was so right. Steve Prefontaine deserved that shot in 1976, because everything ive read and seen about distance running, nobody is in their prime at 21 or 22 like Steve was in 1972. His passing was and is just a sad, sad, story, yet in the short time he had on this planet, Steve Prefontaine lived one hell of a life, and accomplished so much. God bless him. Oh and P.S. A question from a noob, and possibly a dumb one. The clips ive seen of Pre in high school, the guy was shredded much more to me than in 72 when he ran against the best in the world. Im not saying he WASNT in great shape later in his career, but why the difference in his body? More muscle means heavier, or was that the way Bowerman trained his athletes to have less muscle, or was it simply because Pre was busier, didnt have proper funding, or what? Just curious.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@davidfraseur71]

Thank you for sharing Nate!! Give your best, for sure. You certainly know a lot about that too.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪

[@rickcamacho9588]

Go pre❤

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪

[@mittstewart5089]

A true stud!

[@rundreamachieve]

💪🙏💪🙏

[@lotusman1974]

At 1:39 the photo of a lane full of runners saw, my friend Steve Peterson no. 12 , who transfered from Marshfield high school to Highline which was in south Seattle to run track his last two years at my high school. He actually was faster than Pre early on as Pre was at least two years behind in school and hadn't established himself just yet and a funny, true story, one day Pre told my friend Steve P. that he Pre, hoped to be as good as Steve Peterson who wasn't a slow runner and ran through college in Idaho.

[@rundreamachieve]

That is awesome regarding Steve Peterson, appreciate you sharing this and pretty cool to read that Prefontaine wanted to be as good as him. #respect

[@Blork1999]

Pre and James Dean were similar characters who died in almost the exact same way.

[@rundreamachieve]

👊💪👊💪👊

[@irritablearchitect]

Why? Pride, courage and determination. He trained like an animal and raced like a savage.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@angelmatos9143]

Coos Bay. Where America’s competitive spirit lives. 🎉

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪👊👊

[@angelmatos9143]

@@rundreamachieve Steve inspires the hell out of us to this day.

[@rundreamachieve]

#facts #gopre

[@rundreamachieve]

#facts

[@Lehmann108]

He had a genetic gift of a huge engine and the good karma and will to actualize it.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@Blork1999]

His talent was superior. The guts and toughness were 10% add-ons to the 90% talent.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪👊💪👊💪

[@sarge420]

Imagine what Pre could have accomplished with a true nutritionist? Not Top Ramen 🍜. Legend

[@rundreamachieve]

😥😢😪😥

[@sarge420]

@@rundreamachieve - I live 10min from Pre’s Rock 🥹

[@rundreamachieve]

Beautiful area..visited that rock about 10 years ago. Still can't believe we lost that guy at only 24.

[@garyhobbins4746]

He had the ability and loved what he was doing. It is said that when you love what you are doing you are closest to God.

[@rundreamachieve]

SO true Gary 💪💪💪💪

[@garyhobbins4746]

Thank you! Yours in the Self-Discovery of Running, Gary

[@rundreamachieve]

🙏🙏👊

[@victoriapendleton4099]

Preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[@rundreamachieve]

💯💯💯💯💯💯

[@lukerocheleau9173]

And once the stache came out it was game over

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪👊💪

[@ColdFlowStillMoon]

Think how great Pre could have been today, if he could have gone pro and focused on running full time instead of working odd jobs to make ends meet.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@APBCTechnique]

Pre was a great national runner but failed on the global stage coming 4th place in the Olympics

[@rundreamachieve]

4th in the world is definitely not failing. He definitely was a great runner 💪💯🙏✊ Thanks for sharing.

[@APBCTechnique]

@@rundreamachieveAnything other than winning gold is a failure to people like Pre

[@Ketofit62]

Pre Fountain

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪💪

[@davidhorton2782]

will truth ever be told .....?

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪

[@MelusMay-tn6zs]

Shit didn’t even know he was dead

[@APBCTechnique]

Pre was a local or national legend but internationally failed. He didn’t even get a medal and run out of steam up the finishing straight. Gutsy runner but not world class at the age he competed. If he had an extra 4 years I believe he’d be a medalist at the Olympic games. It’s a shame he didn’t reach his potential. God rest his soul

[@rundreamachieve]

♥

[@tedallison6112]

Pre is definitely an icon. It is interesting however to compare times. If Pre raced Jakob ingebrigtsen in that 2 mile he would be 30-40 seconds behind. Evolution, right?

[@rundreamachieve]

Very true. Yeah, hard to believe Pre's 8:18 2-mile time would be that far behind Jakob's. That being said, I think Pre would have lowered his then American record, 2-mile time down somewhere under 8:10 which would have been closer to the current 7:54 2-mile WR. We definitely lost a great man in Steve.

[@acetofresh1]

Not evolution, more like super spikes, increase in the use of weights, strength and conditioning programs, and rise of EPO and etc. Evolution doesn’t occur in such a short span of time, we’ve been anatomically the same for millennia. Case in point: Matthew Centrowitz won Olympic gold with slowest time since 1920, the winner of 1920 was FASTER.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪

[@jadedbrad]

Pre was better at the 10,000 than the 5,000. And he rarely ran it.

[@rundreamachieve]

I agree. He was even better at that 10,000m versus the 5000m, super competitive in both but a tad better in the 10💪💯💪✊

[@johnwilson5743]

So USA, you have a misguided view of Pre. Yes, he is to be admired as a gutsy "never say die" type of runner. He was very personable also. Plus, he was a top middle distance runner (along with Marty Liquory) but ONLY in the USA. He seldom raced the top runners of that time, in Europe and "Down Under" in Australia/New Zealand. Sure, Pre messed up the 1972 Olympic 5000m by his inexperience in international running. He ran 4th. Still a fine result but, watch the WHOLE race. He ran wide for much of the race, covering an extra 50 meters or so. Then his bursts into the lead were poorly timed and simply wasted a lot of energy. Yes, he gave it all but his inexperience cost him a medal. By 1976, he still had few races internationally but the world had moved on. New Zealand alone had 5 guys faster than Pre! Including the world record holder, Dick Quax. (5000m) Plus, a whole heap, around a dozen top 1500m men, world wide, had moved up to 5000m, thinking they had a better chance of getting a medal at 5000 than challenge Bayi and Walker at 1500m. ALL this dozen were running faster times than Pre @ 5000m and were much faster finishes with their 1500 speed! Along with a whole host of new African runners (Yifter the shifter). In fact, Pre was ranked around 25th in the world at 5000m in 1975. A group of Kiwis had plans to go to USA in 1976 to race him, en route to the Olympics but, sadly, Pre died in that car accident in 1975. Since then, the USA has damn near dieified Pre when he simply wasn't going to be good enough. There is a strong possibility he would not even have made the final! Yes, I was with that group of Kiwis touring US but I wasn't good enough to get even close to making the Kiwi Olympic team. But I was in the stadium for the 76 Games and saw all the Track action. Pre did 99% of his racing in the USA where standards were much lower than the rest of the world. He never came close to a world record. All his PBs were AMERICAN records only.

[@dontlookback3549]

had he been drinking when he was killed?

[@rundreamachieve]

😪😢😥😰😪

[@Elemental_Entity]

🛑 STOP PRE 🛑

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪👊🙏

[@geraldcalderone5228-x2p]

Prodigal??? Like hell! There was nothing prodigal about him. To call a man a prodigal is a huge insult. He was a PRODIGY. You owe the viewers a correction. He was just great

[@rundreamachieve]

I didn't make the video but I agree with you Gerald, we lost a GREAT man in 1975 THAT is for sure.

[@geraldcalderone5228-x2p]

@@rundreamachieve this is a problem with many of these videos. There’s no editing. It’s often sloppy and wrong. When you are perusing videos, take note of misspellings and bad grammar.

[@rundreamachieve]

I think more folks are just interested in the gist of the topic matter of the video, not overly concerned about grammar. Of course, some are but I thought whoever made the video did a descent job. More importantly, it was another opportunity for Steve's life to be shared. Glass half full, half-empty, our choice on how we see things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts though.

[@geraldcalderone5228-x2p]

@@rundreamachieve there was so much more to the Prefontaine story. The high school phase was a mere prologue.

[@rundreamachieve]

💪💪💪💪💪

[@petekadenz9465]

He was very good, but he was not the best in the world; an American all-time great but not a world all-time great.

[@rundreamachieve]

😭😭😭😭

[@alexvanoverSlashTraxNetwork]

He would have been.

[@rundreamachieve]

👊👊💪

[@robford3211]

@petekadenz Not a world class : name me one national runner in any country that has not won an Olympic medal but has 2 Hollywood films and 5 documentaries ? Galen Rupp is levels above Prefontaine at same age time and has zero documentaries or Hollywood films about him.

[@pdfortune]

He died very prematurely and what he could have achieved is a mystery. The others you mentioned are still alive and nearly retired so the movie doesn’t have the allure of a young man dying in his prime.

[@MarkKanaster-ev6pq]

So he was good at Oregon but he was a bust against the top😊

[@rundreamachieve]

that guy was on another level for his time and basically made the 1972 Olympic final..those guys definitely had to bleed to outrun him in that last lap..had he just held back a tad with 600m to go he might have had silver, possibly gold.

[@lolotaeja3911]

He was good nationally, not just Oregon. Internationally? Not so much.

[@dgarr2224]

Lol, he got 4th in 1972 olympics

[@byronkramer565]

He died before he reached his prime. How did you do? Certainly not well enough to criticize someone who was infinitely better than you

[@crosslink1493]

He was extremely motivational to a lot of us younger runners at that time. He made some pretty brash statements about winning and was able to back them up. I know he complained about getting stuck in foreign races without top-flight competition so it was a waste of his time to compete overseas. The one time he did was at the 1972 Olympics and he got 4th place . . . not too shabby for a 22 y.o. Who knows what he would have achieved had he not taken that fatal late-night drive on a twisty road.

[@jamesharrigan7063]

He was nothing compared to Jim Ryan, mile record holder at the time, 3:55.

[@rundreamachieve]

😪😢😥😰

[@thezeek2745]

Nothing. LMAO!

[@linjicakonikon7666]

Why is this guy worshiped? I watched the 5000M at the 72 Olympics. Didnt even place. Big fail.🙄👎🤪

[@rundreamachieve]

4th in the world is a big fail? I'd say it is pretty damn good, FAR better than you and I will ever run. He was a machine

[@AnthonyMcqueen1987]

Prefontaine was only good nationally when it came to international competition he didn’t do well. His arrogance and ego cost him the gold medal. If he was more patient and stayed with Viren then who knows he might’ve gotten a medal. As for the 5k world record he wanted I don’t think so.

[@rundreamachieve]

He definitely went for gold in Munich and certainly wasn't racing for a bronze.

[@AnthonyMcqueen1987]

@@rundreamachieve Yeah but he wasn’t smart about it.

[@rundreamachieve]

Yeah if he would have held back and been a bit more conservative I do think he could have gotten, at a minimum, bronze

[@AnthonyMcqueen1987]

Possibly he gassed out and failed he has the best in the world at that time to face. Pre to me is overrated sure his life was cut short and we will never know if he would've done well in the 76 games and beyond. He was a product of his time but ego and arrogance can only get you so far.

[@thezeek2745]

So 4th in the entire world isn’t doing well. You are an idiot

[@supercededman]

He was overrated. His international record attests to that.

[@tomcat4841]

You wanna why he was great? Because LeBron hadn't been born yet.

[@rundreamachieve]

😂😂😂😂

[@jameywc2]

Coulda been roids?

[@rundreamachieve]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@markjones195]

Weird how Yanks think he was so good. He really was not. A middle talent.

[@rundreamachieve]

..but FAR better than you and I

[@brian9088]

World record holder is in the middle. Do you know how a clock works

[@charliemiller828]

Lol … a middle talent who held the American distance records from 2000 to 10000m … please don’t comment when you don’t know what you are talking about

[@richardthegingerbo909]

American distance records . . . but on the world stage?

[@scottfuller7037]

It is beneath your dignity to diminish an athlete from another country in order to elevate your own. You and I both know that is exactly what you are doing since you chose the condescending "Yank" title the British have used to insult their cousins across the pond for more than 240 years. Steve Prefontaine was every bit in the class of competitors he raced at the world level. As your own Ian Stewart said years later regarding the 5000 in Munich: "In fairness to Prefontaine, he ran better than I did that day. I probably didn't deserve a medal, not the way I ran." Your own David Bedford expressed the following sentiment: "The fact that he died so young meant, I think, that we're left with just a feeling of, you know, so much unfulfilled talent, you know, so much unfulfilled promise, and so much that could have happened." Bear in mind that Bedford was a year older and Stewart was 2 years older. They continued to compete for years after Prefontaine was dead. Nevertheless, The best times of Prefontaine exceed these 2 great British athletes in all but a couple of instances. Stewart's best time for the 10,000 is less than one second better than Prefontaine. Bedford's best 5000 is decisively better than Prefontaine by around 4.5 seconds, although he came in 12th in Munich. Mohammed Gammoudi was 13 years older than Steve Prefontaine in Munich and therefore much more seasoned than the other 3 in the lead pack. All of Prefontaine's best times were superior to Gammoudi's Lasse Viren is of course a different story. He is known for little else than those 4 gold medals and his best times in the middle distances occur within the Olympic season leading up to those gold medal performances in 72 and 76 respectively. In other words, Viren laid back for 4 years of base training and peaked only once. Whether or not he doped as some have suggested is irrelevant as no one can prove it. In my opinion his once in 4 years peak is a more likely explanation, for the same reason Stewart still came in 3rd at Munich after being bumped by Prefontaine, or Zatopek won the marathon after a forced layoff from illness. Even a very minor moment of recovery can lead to a victory. At 84.4 mL/kg/minute, Steven Prefontaine had one of the very highest VO2 max scores ever measured in humans that run. Prefontaine did not race smart. As much as he wanted to win, how he did that was more important to him. You might say he was famously "Cricket" in his approach to middle distance running. He wanted to run hard more than he wanted to race well. If he had lived to the 76 Olympics, Steve would likely have entered as a 3:51 miler, or better. I think even the enigmatic Viren and his low impact training strategy would have been challenged.

[@t.s.9656]

He's the most overrated track athlete ever.