What kind of coaching are you currently doing?

At the University of Hawaii, I coach women's distance runners in track plus XC. Except this year indoors at one meet in Seattle all of the distance runners ran personal best times in at least one event. Someone mentioned to the head coach what a marvelous coach I was. She decided to coach the travel squad distance runners herself! So now I only coach four or five slower girls who do not travel. Two of them are doing quite well though and I am afraid they will be traveling soon. The distance runners have not done any more personal bests.

Do any of your runners run like you did in high school and college?

None of the people I coach run the way I did. Are you kidding? I wish I could get girl runners who were dedicated to running but in America today that is nearly impossible. The coaches of today have been trained on weight lifting and exercises that actually detract from running. Everyone is afraid (or too lazy) to do the miles. Everybody is looking for a pill or secret workout that will make them fast without having to put their heart into running.

How is your running going personally?

Personally my running really sucks now. I might get in 30-40 miles a week. I have so many aches and pains I can hardly move at all. Every time I get into any kind of running shape at all something else goes wrong. I don't heal like I used to heal. A sprain or strain takes forever to get over. The competitive spirit still exists. I try so hard to instill it in my runners but so far everyone I coach here is afraid. The fear going out too fast, they fear making sudden quick moves in the middle of races, they fear leading. I get so frustrated watching women with great talent and training afraid to use it.

Favorite Runner?

As for runners of today Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia is my favorite. I watched him run in the Olympic 10K one time and use seven different strategies in one race. I was so in awe as I watched him throw in a four minute mile, slow-and-go, sudden jerk sprint, etc, I was cheering the television.

Jim Ryun: I lapped him in a two mile race in San Francisco indoors. He told me then that his goal was to break four minutes as a high school boy. I thought he was crazy. I inspired him. He knew that if such a skinny kid as me could run so well he could do anything.
Mary Decker Slaney: Oregon runners had this 'tactic' where they would bump your hips when you were in the air and they were in contact with the ground, and it would send a runner off course. I learned to know when they were going to do that by watching their eyes. They have to make sure you are off the ground so their eyes check your feet all the time. In the Olympics, when Zola Budd and she were close together, I watched Mary's eyes doing the same thing. I think she didn't get it right and it cost her the race. That's what I think!
Billy Mills:Another runner I was able to inspire. When I got injured at the Olympics Billy was my roommate. “Gerry!” he yelled as I lay on my back with ice on my ankle, "I can win the gold medal!" He said he knew he could not beat me but he thought he could beat everybody else in the race. Two days before the final and already Billy Mills had the gold medal.
Ron Clarke: He held all the records for distance races when I first started running. I raced him in San Francisco and led him for a mile and a half. When he sprinted around me there was nothing I could do to catch up. He beat me five times in a row before I ever learned how to beat him. A truly great runner!
Bob Kennedy: He was after my time a bit. I watched him methodically pace through some really good races and watched him hold back when the Kenyans sprinted away. It was so frustrating to watch!
Steve Prefontaine: Another runner I inspired. I knocked on his door when he was in junior high school and his eyes got so big. He looked me over closely and said "You're a wimp! I could beat you!" That was when he started running.
Lance Armstrong: People who have life-threatening diseases can take heart in the life of Lance Armstrong. I am impressed.
Coach Walters: My career, the successes I have had, and the influence I have had on other runners, on the world; all these things were orchestrated. The troubles I had in my early life, the pains I suffered, all of that was for a purpose. Coach Walters played a major role in all this. He guided me in the right direction, inspired me to focus on my running goals, and served as a surrogate father.

Who is the greatest runner you've ever seen?

The greatest runner I have ever seen is probably Ron Clark of Australia. He held every world record from two miles through ten miles at the same time. Every time I raced him I had to run the race of my life. He beat me five times in a row before I could ever get a victory over him.

When you were running 350 miles a week, what were you thinking about your training?

When I was doing those long runs I kind of knew nobody else was doing so much. I thought that if you want to run well you have to go through hell to get to heaven. I was just willing (or stupid enough) to do whatever it takes to serve as I wanted to serve.

How big were you in high school?

In high school I was 5'5" off the ground and weighed 118lbs. I could suck in my breathe, put my hands around my waist touching my thumbs and forefingers together, let out my breathe, and walk around grossing people out because I was so skinny!

Who would have won a 50 mile race between you, Alberto Salazar and Ted Corbitt?

In a 50 mile race between Salazar, Corbitt, and myself, I think I would have won it. Corbitt may have surprised me though. You never know.

Do you have any regrets?

Every day I have regrets. Why didn't I do more? Why did I stop at 50 miles when there was still sunlight? Maybe I could have been a bigger influence on other runners and non-runners too if I had just demonstrated a little more courage. I never did enough!

Who would win in a ten mile road race, you in your prime or Steve Prefontaine in his prime?

In a ten mile road race against Pre, I think I could have beaten him if we were both in our prime. Pre had more speed I think but I could use the speed over a longer distance. He was not too bad though. One of the great workouts I got from Ron Clark and passed on to Pre was a hard ten mile run. I tried to get the first mile down to four minutes and then keep right on going through the ten miles. The best I ever got that first mile down to was 4:07 but I think Pre told me one time he ran a 4:06. But my ten mile got down to 46:05 and Pre only got down to 47:17.

A lot of times you weren't healthy for the Olympics, if you were, what do you think you were capable of?

One of the prices you have to pay in order to serve others is to not succeed. When I went to the Olympics in high school I was too young to really know what I was doing. It was just a big race. I sprained an ankle and that did me in. I had just run a four mile cross country race at Mt Sac in 16:08. So, maybe if I had not been injured that year I might have done well. The sad thing about looking back is that hindsight is 20/20 but when you are there in real life you just can't know what can happen.

I saw somewhere online that you told an interviewer that you were twice on pace
to break 2 hours, late into a 26.2 mile race. If you were to have dedicated your efforts to the marathon, what would your capabilities be result wise?

Because I was training 25 to 35 miles a day on the average, the marathon was not a big challenge for me. At that time the marathon was not such a big thing. Bill Rogers had not run his fantastic string of victories at Boston and New York and marathon running was not a big sport. I had a couple of good runs at the two hour mark, hitting the wall in one and passing out in the other. But I never got serious about the race.

You never mention any spiritual sources as your motivation, what "power" did you used to summon on those long runs when you didn't have anything left in your tank?

When the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and when we learned to translate the writing of the earliest civilizations on Earth, we learned of the gods who preceded us on Earth. Zacharia Sitchin, a Palestinian Jew, learned the ancient languages and was asked to help interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls. From his books (Earth Chronicles), Genesis Revisited, in particular, we learn that we were created to do the work of the gods. When we do something unselfishly, for the benefit of others, energy flows into you as you work, rather than out from you. That is because we were built to do the work of the gods. My good fortune is that I was such a wimp and worthless as a runner. My coach told me to become the rabbit, to sacrifice myself for the good of others, so that the team could grow stronger. In running as a rabbit without any regard for myself, I tapped in to the will of the gods. The longer I ran the more I felt energy was there. The harder I trained the more joy I experienced. On those long lonely runs I was always either given more energy by the gods or forced to suffer some unusual circumstance that would test my determination to serve.

If you were to race competitively these days, how do you think you would stack up against the large group of African runners, what would your PR's be?

If I were still able to race like I used to race before I would welcome the elite of Kenya and Ethiopia. I wish I had someone like that around when I was younger. I would NEVER sit in the back as American runners do. I would force the pace and make even the Ethiopians worry. I would use sprints, hard pace, sudden surges, and anything else I could come up with to disrupt the pace. Whoever won the races would have had to take the best I could dish out. I cry when I see our runners sit in the back and then drop off pace. But to do that, you've got to TRAIN to do it. As for times of such races I could never even comprehend. When I ran 13:44 for 5K the world record for 5K was 13:38. The record is now around 12:38 and the high school world record ought to be 12:44 or better. If a runner would get in so many miles that his/her legs are strong as an ox and then race workouts as if they were the World Championships, 12:44 is possible within two years of beginning training. It would be hard and call for total focus, but sacrifice is what creates great accomplishments. In the beginning a runner would miss all those social things sacrificed, but the longer you focus the more true joy that fills your life. The tougher my self-discipline got the more I loved to run!

What went through your mind when Galen Rupp, of Washington rival Oregon, broke your HS 5K record?

When Galen Rupp finally ruptured that record I was so happy. It had stood for way too long.

Can you give me specifics on your diet when you were doing 350 miles per week?

When I was running well I was eating well as well. I ate anything and often. Still I was all skin and bones. People would walk up to me in the mall and offer me money to go get something to eat. They thought I must be starving to death. I have adopted a vegan diet now because it is energy-wise at my age. But back then I had no special diet.

Why did you stop competing in the mile after high school?

After high school I was doing so well at the 5K and 10K that I never got to go back to the mile. America had many great milers at the time but nobody in the distances. In college there were more 'points' to be gained in the longer races than in the mile. I was stuck!

What are some problems with America today?

I could write a book on the problems. America changed. Kennedy reflected the quality of America back then when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask instead what you can do for your country." Virtue existed. Mind you, there were still a lot of selfish, fearful people back then too, but the quality of selfless effort was there for anyone who would follow such a direction. When the military/FBI/organized crime conspired to kill Kennedy, they killed virtue as well. Selfish military, selfish government and lies took over. We had rioting in the streets, distrust of police and government, and more and more people looking at what they can get for themselves. Runners today don't want to MAKE great races; they only strive to win them. Runners are afraid to train hard, race hard, pay the price. It is as if we outsourced courage to Kenya and Ethiopia.

What do you think about personal music devices?

IPods and MP3 players are things I have never tried. Shucks, I am still trying to figure out eight track players. I listen to music of the 60's and 70's mostly. I don't know a single popular song of this era.

What do you think of steroid use, blood doping, and other techniques of cheating in track and field?

There is such an emphasis on winning that a lot of people try and find short cuts to success. In my day there were coaches who put their athletes on gobs of pills to give them what they needed to run well. If they spent the time running instead of gulping down pills they would have been better runners. I don't even like weight training. The same time spent running would make you a better runner. I don't like anything that promotes you as a runner. It is much more important to do it by yourself with no help whether it is a restricted drug or a pill. Just do it.

Is there anything else you would like to say about running?

I would like to add that every runner knows deep down what he has to do to be a better runner. More miles, more speed over those miles, more toughness in workouts. Better preparation is the key to better racing. When I got on the starting line and looked down the line at all the other runners, I knew I had run more miles than they had, I knew that I had put myself through more stress, had sprinted workouts when I was too tired to go any more. I looked down the line and I knew I was prepared. I didn't run to win races. But if anyone on that line was going to beat me to the finish line I wanted to make sure that I had done everything in my power to make that victory a hard-fought one. I usually started way too fast. By the end of the first quarter mile only those who came to race were still there. I was tired already but so was everyone else. It levels the field a bit when everyone feels it. No one can sit and kick. My rational was that I wanted to help make every race a great race and later on I might be too tired to be of any service to anyone. So, as long as I had something still in my legs I might as well use it.