Love Testing Yourself More than Fearing Losing

Ron Clarke, in the lead. 

Former World Record holder Ron Clarke, the first man to break 28:00 for 10,000m, was a notorious front-runner. 

Clarke directly inspired famed Oregon distance runner Steve Prefontaine's brash racing style. 

In Kenny Moore's masterpiece Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, Pre is reported to have gotten chills from reading the following Clarke quote, which he said gave words to the front-runner's creed —

The single most horrible thing that can happen to a runner is to beaten in the stretch when he is still fresh. No matter who I was racing, I tried to force myself to the limit over the whole distance. It makes me sick to see a superior runner wait behind the field until 200 meters to go, and then sprint away. That is immoral. It's both an insult to the other runners and a denigration of his own ability.

Amen.

Thanks for reading. I'm glad you're here. // jm