Visit to Pre's Rock

Around Eugene, Steve Prefontaine is a legend. "Pre" ran for U of O in the early 70s, and his gutty running style and larger-than-life personality made him a huge fan favorite. At various points during his career, Pre held every American running record from the 2,000 to 10,000 meters, something that has never been duplicated by any American runner. I think part of the reason that Pre became (and remains) so popular in Eugene is because he had something of a renegade spirit to him, a trait that many Eugenians (sp?) possess.

To avoid rambling on, Pre had a disappointing performance at the Munich Olympics in 1972 and came home to Eugene with his sights set on the '76 Montreal Olympics. He rolled his MG Convertible coming home from a friend's house one night and died at the age of 24. "Pre's Rock" is where the accident occurred and is located in the south hills of Eugene just minutes from campus. I've always wanted to go up there but never took the time to do so. Until yesterday. Missi and I went up there with Sam, and we were touched with how the place has become an informal "shrine" to the legacy of Pre and to the sport of running. People have left their shoes up there, race bibs and medals, and even letters to Pre. I'm glad that I won't be moving away from Eugene without having visited Pre's Rock.

Two last bits of info: Today, May 30, is the 38th anniversary of Pre's death. It was purely coincidental that we visited Pre's rock just a day before the anniversary of the accident. Feeling inspired, we checked out "Prefontaine" from our local library and watched it last night. It's a pretty good movie and Jared Leto is surprisingly convincing as Pre. If you don't know the basic story of Pre and Bill Bowerman, I'd highly recommend watching this movie.





Great shot by Missi showing the Nike Zoom Haywards, a shoe that Nike says is modeled after Pre's drawings of what he wanted in a shoe. Pre's name appears on the tongue and there were only three colorways originally released: one in Marshfield High School colors (where Pre went to high school), one in Oregon colors (the ones I have), and a version in USA colors (to commemorate his participation on the Olympic team). There have since been other colorways released.