Fitzsimmons Takes Success in Stride

It's a treat, being a long-distance runner, out in the world by yourself with not a soul to tell you what to do. --Allan Sillitoe, The Loneliness of the   Long-Distance Runner

For freshman harrier Pete Fitzsimmons, the feeling of being out on his own is a familiar one--he either won or finished near the leaders in all ten races this year, placing first among Harvard runners in eight of those.

"Sometimes when you're running well, you're just gliding along, you're alone, and you're at peace with yourself," the Mansfield, Conn., native explains. "It's a feeling of exhilaration."

At 5'9" and 125 lbs., Fitzsimmons is not overly impressive in stature, and he is surprisingly humble in talking about his accomplishments. But his action in competition speaks louder than words.

"He was amazing," explains coach Bill McCurdy, "freshmen just don't do things like that." "He offered not only his physical performance," McCurdy continues, "but a big plus in the intangibles--he became a rallying point for the team."

But the exhilaration, the accomplishment and the praise did not come to Fitzsimmons on a silver platter. They resulted from years of running experience and thousands of grueling training hours in the off-season.

Experience Pays Off

Fitzsimmons' track experience dates back to eighth grade, "but I didn't get serious with year-round running and cross country until the winter of my sophomore year in high school."

Since then, he has been running in a blaze of glory. As a senior in high school, Fitzsimmons tied the Connecticut outdoor two-mile record at 9:11.2, broke the state outdoor two-mile record at 9:08.7, and won the state cross country championship.

This summer Fitzsimmons trained hard every day since July 20, concentrating mostly on distance conditioning. "Day after day, pounding out miles, it gets to be a grind," Fitzsimmons says, "and you definitely get fed up with the monotony of year-round running."

In the summer, especially when you're training without competition, it gets really monotonous and seems like something that doesn't merit all that work," Fitzsimmons explains. "But when you get to the season, it's all worth it."

When the season did begin, Fitzsimmons faced the problems of adjusting to the longer distances of college competition and the rigors of participating on a varsity sport as a freshman.

Everything worked out well, though. As a freshman, Fitzsimmons "was accepted immediately, and Jeff [Campbell], Bill [Okerman] and Stein [Rafto] were helpful telling me what to expect in college competition."

At first, Fitzsimmons recalls, "I was a little wary of how well I'd do in five-mile races, but it turned out to be a little easier than expected."

All-Ivy

The freshman's performance on the season was not entirely expected either, but his running was so outstanding it earned him all-Ivy status and the Mikkola Award for the most improved Harvard runner.

After a respectable fifth place finish against Northeastern in his opening race, Fitzsimmons launched a steady improvement of his times throughout the rest of the year.

He placed fifth versus Providence-UMass, fourth against Penn-Columbia, first against Brown, fourth in the Greater Boston meet, fourth against Yale-Princeton, first against Dartmouth, sixth at the Heptagonal tournament and 30th at the IC4A tournament.

But there is more to Pete Fitzsimmons the runner than just a list of accomplishments. "He has a splendid attitude, he likes to run, and he is oriented to working hard and steady," McCurdy says. "But even more, he's a great competitor."

Team captain Okerman sees Fitzsimmons as more than just "our best runner." "He was the type of guy who came down every day of the week and worked hard, leading by example," Okerman asserts. "He tried as hard as he could every race, and every practice."

So what comes next for the dedicated and accomplished Fitzsimmons? Well, the indoor track team faces BU a week from today, and you can bet that Fitzsimmons, who has not broken training, will be running in the mile and two-mile events.

Comparing indoor track to cross country, Pete feels "it's faster, [and] maybe because I have more endurance than speed, the faster stuff is a little harder." In a typical Fitzsimmons understatement, he adds, "I haven't decided whether I'm fast or not yet."

The question is not whether or not Pete Fitzsimmons is fast, but just how fast he may get in the future