Watching Their Steps

Finally we gathered at Loos Stadium for the six-mile race that, theoretically, would affirm the predictive value of the previous tests. The day was clear and cold. Frank Shorter and I sat out of the wind and decided the psychological variable was the most slippery. "I felt the competitive urge stirring when I got up this morning," he said, looking at the empty stands. "It must have been rolling over to go back to sleep."

Prefontaine originally was not to run, having a hard race a few days later, but after his treadmill performance he chose to do two miles with us as an exhibition. Geis, mournful and anxiety-ridden with a sore knee, did not start.

The first mile was fast, in the vicinity of 4:30. By the time Prefontaine stepped off the track at two miles and the pace slowed, some of us had become aware of another factor that was skewing the predictions: impending diarrhea. At nine laps I leapt the fence, found the men's room under the stands and rejoined Manley and Brown as they completed three miles. At four, Brown dropped out with the same problem. Ahead, the pack ran behind Shorter's pace until Gary Tuttle broke free with a mile and a half to go and won in a creditable 28:00.4, barely ahead of the late charge of Jim Johnson and Don Kardong. Then came Shorter, Galloway, Ndoo and Manley.

And the predictions? Since most of the more sophisticated data couldn't be analyzed in time for the race, the scientists made an informal choice based on maximum oxygen uptake, percentages of body fat, state of training and apparent motivation. Tuttle, who was second only to Prefontaine in consuming oxygen and led us all in leanness with his 1.28% fat, was in fact first choice. Yet, with his first words after he regained his breath, Tuttle cast some doubt on whether his performance was the result of simple physiology. " Dr. Cooper gave me a copy of his aerobics book," he said, "and wrote in it, 'You have the makings of a champion.' I figured he knew what he was talking about. This whole week has been a fantastic confidence builder."

To Galloway it had seemed a long race. "The old Olympians [Shorter, Galloway, Brown, Moore and Manley] didn't do so well today," he said. "It seems like we were worn down more by the week's tests than these hungry guys."

Afterward Prefontaine and I were taken to the home of his host, Ronnie Horowitz, where we were made to sit on a couch and were brought a post-exertion bottle of champagne, cheeses and fruit. We sipped quietly for a while, and then Horowitz said, "It may well be true that the most intelligent and congenial of all athletes are runners."

"You hit the nail right on the head!" cried Prefontaine.

"With certain exceptions."

The bubbles appeared to rise into Prefontaine's nose and he sneezed.

As we dripped and stretched in the Horowitz sauna, I asked Prefontaine whether he had found the study rewarding. "I don't know," he said. "I'd like to come back sometime when I'm in really good shape and put that oxygen uptake mark way out there."