Steve Roland Prefontaine essays

Steve Roland Prefontaine essays To Give Anything Less then Your Best is To Sacrifice the Gift. Steve Roland Prefontaine was born in Coos Bay, Oregon, on January 25, 1951. Through out his life he established himself as one of the greatest American Running legends. He is the only person to ever hold the American record in all distances for 2,000-10,000 meters. The impacts of his short life can still be seen and heard today. Wendy Ray the announcer at Hayward field during Pres running career describes him best saying He just had whatever that is-I dont know, actors have it. Singers have it. Some people have it, some people dont. Most people dont. He had a lot of it. (Jordan 115) Pre was a special person and changed running totally. He changed peoples views on it he made people see it as a sport and not just a hobby. To him running was special and he conveyed these feelings to all the world. He once said Some people create with words or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, Ive never seen anyone run like that before. Its more then just a race, its style. Its doing something better than anyone else. Its being creative.(Jordan 161) Pres running career did not start until he was in the 8th grade. In the 8th grade while at football practice he would see the cross country team running by and think to himself What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?(Jordan 6) It wasnt until physical fitness test in gym showed him what it was to run, and that he had a talent like nobody else. Once in high school he just started winning. In his freshmen year he found himself a letter winner on his schools cross country team. In his senior year he set a new high school 2 mile record running a 8:41.5. He won the mile ...