The love to run: that is the key to the first sub-two-hour marathon. That guy has to love to run. And then you have to put all the other elements in there: the science, the equipment, the money.
So says Norman Higgins, one of the best distance runners to come out of America. Higgins, who clocked the ninth-fastest marathon time worldwide in 1971, spoke to me for an article published yesterday by VICE Sports about whether it’s possible to run a marathon in less than 120 minutes.
Higgins, age 78, is full of great stories. Like being encouraged to run as a high schooler by his neighbor, the two-time Boston Marathon winner John J. Kelly. Or befriending the Olympic marathon champion Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia. And training with the legendary track star Steve Prefontaine in Oregon, where they were both used as guinea pigs for the earliest prototype sneakers made by the coach Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike.
Higgins also has a very entertaining tale about mistakenly winning the New York City Marathon in 1971, which my article — titled “Running to Narnia: The Quest for the Two-Hour Marathon” — uses as a jumping point into a review of the new book “Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon,” which was published this week ahead of the annual NYC Marathon on November 1.
I came to meet Higgins through his wife, Judy Fontaine, who has for many years taught at the same middle school in eastern Connecticut as my uncle. She encouraged me to run as a kid and even picked out my first pair of Asics running sneakers. At the time, I had no idea that Judy herself was a world-caliber sprinter and long-jumper who competed in the Olympic Trials.
A couple years ago, I got back in touch with Judy for advice on marathoning. She and Norm promptly started sending me weekly emails with a detailed training schedule, coaching me to a time of 2:30 at the Hartford Marathon — good enough for ninth place in that race, though still 15 minutes slower than Higgins’ best time.
Here’s a photo of him winning New York in 1971:
