It’s now Thursday, May 14th and I have been doing endurance work-speed endurance and speed work for six weeks. All on dirt roads, dirt trails and my own grass track. My workouts have been very encouraging; however, I am constantly thinking maybe I should have taken the seven days off, then started back slowly.

My shin splints have gotten worse and the doctor recently confirmed plantar fasciitis in my right foot. I now have metatarsal pads in my shoes and hope to be getting orthotics. The pain can be unbearable when I do speed workouts. Tomorrow I will run the 5,000 meters in a meet at the LA Coliseum.

It will be only my second attempt to see how I am doing training through my races so I can hopefully gain some additional training time. My goal is to meet the Olympic qualifying time in the 5,000 meters.

It is early evening, May 15th, 1964. The starter’s pistol is raised and we hear “Set!” The pistol is fired and we are underway. As I expected, my legs are tired since I am finishing a hard 85-mile week of training with this 5,000-meter race.

I take the lead to set a pace that will be under the Olympic qualifying time so I will not have to rely on a strong finishing kick to achieve it. Bill Baillie from New Zealand goes with me.

Baillie is an excellent runner and has a chance of winning an Olympic medal in the 5,000 meters or the 10,000 meters for his country and he has an impressive finishing kick. I am actually feeling better as the laps go by. I lead for the first two miles, then Baillie charges to the front, taking the lead and moving hard. I went with him. We break the field. The race was now between the two of us. One more lap to go, I take the lead but make a novice mistake perhaps because of the pain in my shins. I don’t move fast enough. Baillie settles in right behind me and with 200 meters to go, starts his power kick. He opens 12 yards on me and I can’t close. I finish 2nd.

My teammate Don Jeisy comes running up to me and says, “Congratulations, you met the Olympic qualifying time! First step is accomplished.” He is referring to the process of becoming an Olympian:

1. We have to meet an Olympic qualifying time,
2. Qualify for our Olympic Trials from one of several designated meets, and
3. Then, finish in the Top 3 places at our Olympic Trials.

I go to join Don in the stands and I hear a voice say, “Nice race, Billy!” I look around and to my surprise it is former KU track teammate Wilt Chamberlain, of basketball fame. We have a great visit. The track meet is over. I start to get up and feel the sharp pain.

It is Monday, May 18th and in the morning I do a hard 10-mile run. In the afternoon I follow up with speed work. My total mileage for the day: 19 miles.

I am in a lot of pain. I know what I have to do. I tell Coach Thompson I will forgo the 5,000 meters and focus on the 10,000 meters and the marathon. He agrees and we joke about watching the Olympics together on television with its 4-hour satellite delay if we didn’t get my injuries healed up!

In deciding what to do about training and healing, we start by reviewing my last 6 weeks of training. April 6th, 1964 to today, May 18th.

We will look at the training, then the highlights, and make adjustments based on where we think my progress stands.

Week of April 6-12= 85 Miles

Injured myself on April 5, when I won a 1-mile race in 4:05.2, training through my race. This week I missed 3 days of training due to the pain.

Week of April 13-19= 65 Miles

I missed three days because of the injury but still ran a 4:05.3 mile, 9:00 two-mile and 4:10 mile- three races that I won.

Week of April 20-26= 85 Miles

Had a full week of training; no meet. The pain is now located at the bottom of my right foot, as well as my shins.

Week of April 27-May 3= 70 Miles

This week included races at the USMC relays: Winning the 1500 meters in 3:49 and anchored the distance medley relay with a 4:06.6 mile time (first place). My injury continues to get worse. Lots of pain.