Catching Up with Bill Rodgers

In the '70s, the name Bill Rodgers became synonymous with the Boston Marathon and marathons in general.

Rodgers, a guest speaker at noon on both days of the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon Health & Fitness Expo in Euclid, won 22 marathons in his career. In 28 of his 59 marathons, he finished in under 2:15.

He won the Boston and New York marathons four times each between 1975 and 1980, twice breaking the American record at Boston (2:09:55 in 1975 and 2:09:27 in 1979). Track & Field News ranked him the world's No. 1 marathoner three times.

In advance of his Cleveland appearance, Rodgers, who ran for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team in Montreal, discussed the state of marathon running and other topics in a phone Q&A on Tuesday.

Q: What was your favorite race?

BR: [Laughs.] I suppose it's the Boston Marathon because it was kind of my breakthrough to marathoning. I went from being kind of a solid New England runner to, I got invited to races around the world, that sort of thing. [First-timers planning to tackle the Cleveland Marathon on Sunday may find this interesting: The Boston Marathon was his first. He didn't finish.]

Q: What was your best time (and for what distance)?

BR: 2:09.27 in the 1979 Boston Marathon, breaking the American record a second time.

Q: Favorite Cleveland memory?

[In 1993, Rodgers ran the 10K in 30:50, setting an American Masters age group record for 45-49-year-olds.]

BR: I remember Cleveland very well. It was a very competitive race. Jack Staph [executive race director] has kept the race strong despite sponsorship changes. It's got to be one of the oldest marathons going way back.

Q:  Do you still run competitively?

BR: I try. Sometimes I can do OK and some of the races I might even win my age group if there's not too many competitors. [He's 63.] And sometimes I get beat pretty good. I run in about 30 races a year all over the country and I've done that since '73.

[Rodgers said he considers himself "a retired marathoner." He trains about 45 miles per week. When he ran marathons, he trained twice a day, running 17 to 18 miles per day and about 130 miles per week. ]

Q: Common running mistakes you've noticed?

BR: I see a lot of runners not thinking that they're on the road with cars or bikes. They're running with earphones, listening to music, with their back to traffic. I've known runners who have died that way. The other thing I notice, a lot of beginners have no interest in learning about training. That's astounding. They take it up for a fundraiser or to lose weight. They don't approach it as a sport.

Q: Who's the best American runner right now?

BR: I think [the] marathon runner would have to be [Ryan] Hall. And on the women's side right now, on paper and performance, Desiree Davila is.

Q: Favorite marathon memory?

BR: It's either winning Boston in '75 or making the Olympic team in '76. It's hard to choose between them. Both mean a lot to me.