I didn’t officially enter SF Marathon in 1979 and had no mementos, so I bought this poster. Some of landmarks on poster were not part of original course.
By John Murphy
I have been thinking about running lately. No, not actually doing it – just the physical act of running.
Seems like another lifetime, but on July 8, 1979 I ran the San Francisco Marathon in three hours, 50 minutes. I know this, because there were free programs at the event, and I grabbed one and wrote my finish time on the cover.
It’s funny because examining the cover of the 1979 SF Marathon program, there’s a picture of the 1978 winner, Steve Palladino. He’s shown, shaggy hair flying, cruising into the finish in 2:21 in the second SF Marathon ever held. I think he received a trophy.
Palladino (see photo below) was in my home room at Serra High School. The winner of the first SF Marathon in 1977 was one Athol Barton, a taxicab driver from Reno. He received a T-shirt!
I got nothing for my 26.2 miles of agony. Zippo. I wasn’t even officially entered. This was typical of me and my running friends like Keith Larsen and Steve O’Brien at the time. We didn’t have a lot of money and so we automatically blew off the modest entry fees for all races such as the Bay to Breakers and the Zoo Run.
We caught the bug as part of the running boom of the 1970s. The boom started after the United States’ Frank Shorter won the Olympic marathon. The late Steve Prefontaine was a rock star runner at the same time and the movement just caught on, much like tennis during the same era.
I probably should have left well enough alone after 1980, but in 1981 I went back. I tried to run the SF Marathon again and hadn’t trained enough. I dropped out after 20 miles and started walking. Then I cramped up and couldn’t even walk and sat down.
Before long a big truck full of non-finishers – I call it the “loser truck” – comes around and picks you up. Everyone’s quiet and somber and disappointed in themselves after they’ve run 19 or 20 miles. It’s more than a little ironic.
Well, I couldn’t finish on such a sour note. I got more serious about training and finished the race in 1981. It was rush and a feeling of redemption to run triumphantly across the finish line. My time was the same as in 1980 – safely under four hours. Not bad, but not nearly in Steve Palladino’s class.
Four decades later, I am as proud of running the marathon as anything I’ve done. I even have a framed copy of that 1979 program up on my wall.
So comeback in 2021? Nah, not even. That’s a ship that sailed a long time ago.
Main Street Dog 