Miselnost Steve Prefontaine-a skozi njegove citate

Prefontaine, ki je bil tekač na srednje in dolge proge, je v svojem obdobju imel za pasom sedem takratnih ameriških rekordov na stezi, od tekov na 2.000 metrov do teka na 10 kilometrov. Leta 1972 je nastopil tudi na poletnih olimpijskih igrah v Munchen-u, kjer je zasedel 4. mesto.

Po uspešnem udejstvovanju v srednješolskih kategorijah je pri prehodu na fakulteto v Oregonu stopil pod okrilje legendarnega trenerja Bill-a Bowerman-a, tudi soustanovitelja svetovno priznane blagovne znamke Nike.

Širšo sliko o tekaču samem si lahko ustvarite s prebiranjem njegovih citatov.

»To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift «. Steve Prefontaine

»If you have a body, you are an athlete «. – Bowerman

»A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I lose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself «. Steve Prefontaine

»Don ’t give anything away. Never make it easy for the guys you are trying to beat «. Bowerman

»How does a kid from Coos Bay, with one leg longer than the other, win races? All my life people have been telling me, "You ’re too small Pre," "You ’re not fast enough Pre," "Give up your foolish dream Steve." But they forgot something, I have to win «. Steve Prefontaine

»I ’m going to work it out so that it’s a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it«. Steve Prefontaine

»A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they ’re capable of understanding «. Steve Prefontaine

»Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, “I ’ve never seen anyone run like that before. ’ It’s more than just a race, it’s a style. It’s doing something better than anyone else. It’s being creative «. Steve Prefontaine

Tudi vam, dragi bralci, želim malo Prefontaine-ove mentalitete, da bi imeli jeklenega duha in močno hrbtenico pri zasledovanju lastnih ciljev.

Še kratek posnetek za lažjo predstavo Prefontaine-ovega načina tekmovanja.