Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis

Following the disappointment of the Olympics, Pre returned to his quiet Oregon life and did not participate in the 1972 cross country season. To many competitors and coaches, Pre seemed more human and able to relate and less invincible and distant.

In the 1973 indoor season, Steve continued to win races, seeming to again feed off the fevered energy of the massive crowds that came to see him. Pre remarked that it was the "people shouting" that would carry him across the finish line. In his first competitive six-mile of the year, he set an American record.

At the Oregon Twilight meet, Pre complained that his "legs were dead" and that he didn't want to race, but Coach Dellinger reminded him about how the crowd was there to see him, and Pre raced a mile of 3:55.0, a mark bested by only two Americans...