Learning From The Legends,pt.7,Bill Rodgers On Hill Running

Once again,what more can be said about Bill Rodgers? There are so many great things you could write about him but for now, lets just say that he was an incredible marathoner in his time. If you haven't read the post from March 9 of this year entitled, Learning From The Legends,pt.3, I would encourage you to do so because it gives a partial list of Bill's running accomplishments. No American marathoner has run the number of outstanding races at that distance that he has in his career.Besides his excellence in the marathon, Bill was considered to be one of the best downhill runners. What follows is an excerpt from an interview done many years ago where he describes his downhill running technique. It will start by giving his method for running uphill which is,not surprisingly,THE way it should be done. "Going uphill,I try to run at a very steady pace,similar to the pace I run on the flats,my stride shortens some going up and I try to keep my arms moving very symmetrically,very rhythmically. When I run down the hill,I often lift my hands up high for balance and to keep them off my sides. This permits me to expand my chest and take more air into my lungs. I also run with with my hands out in front of me for a short distance,if it's a steep downhill, I may do it for a longer stretch. This is primarily for balance. Going downhill I let the hill take me and I turn it on." As I read this I recall running long races over very hilly courses,usually on trails,where my quads got so beat up after awhile that going downhill hurt alot more than going up.Ah, the good old days. In closing, I would like to say that if you are new to this site or perhaps you haven't noticed, there is an archive section to the right of this page where you can access posts that go back to December 2010. As of this week I believe there are close to 130 articles available. Thanks to everyone for taking the time and stopping by to read Live for the Run.