Peter Johnson

Most people think of a cross-country race as a difficult and painful business, but it takes a really awful meet to bother Peter Johnson, the only four-year harrier at Harvard.

Johnson expected trouble when the Crimson arrived at a rain-soaked course three weeks ago to face Yale and Princeton and the Elis refused to give their visitors a pre-race tour of the course. The omens were significant: "Peter's tough," said coach Bill McCurdy, "but not as tough as that oak tree." Johnson had swerved sharply to avoid the tree on a steep downhill and wrenched his back. And as if that weren't enough, the harriers were buried by both their opponents.

Typically, Johnson ran in the next meet, the Heptagonals in New York, despite his injury. Injuries, after all, are no recent problem for him. Since his sophomore season he's been bothered by recurring back problems, as well as a case of weak ankles. But his ability to run even when hurt is what most impresses those who have seen him training and racing.

"Tough," "intense," "competitive" are common descriptions of his attitude toward running. "He's certainly learned to face adversity," says coach McCurdy. "He's very, very strong, very, very, tough." "He's the kind of guy who takes the sport very seriously and tries very hard," notes team captain Adam Dixon. "In a sport in which you can never be sure of what's ahead of you he never assumes that he's reached his peak." If Johnson does poorly, he recognizes it and makes determined efforts to lower his times.

Until his sophomore year Johnson's cross-country times were steadily improving. At high school in Wakefield, Mass., he starred in both cross-country and tennis, and he ran with the varsity as a freshman at Harvard. As a sophomore, says Johnson, "I was probably in the best shape of my life." He was usually the Crimson's fifth finisher, an important spot since cross-country scores count each team's top five runners, and he set a personal best of 31:14 on Harvard's home course in Franklin Park.

He hasn't lowered his time since then, though he came close with a 31:25 in this year's Greater Boston Championships. The team's performances in the last two years have also been disappointing. In each year a fast start turned into a .500 record by season's end. Johnson notes the predominance of freshmen and sophomores on this year's team, adding that less-experienced runners may have been intimidated by the reputations of the powerhouse teams at Dartmouth and Princeton, top two in the Ivies this year.

Johnson claims that "cross-country is not my best season," admitting that he tends to look ahead to the indoor season, which he considers the highlight of the team's year.

On the track he especially enjoys his original event, the mile, though he concentrated on the half-mile last year. In the shorter distance he turned in one of his best times, a sizzling 1:54 in the first leg of a distance medley relay, contributing to a school record. Coach McCurdy hasn't decided on Johnson's event for the upcoming season, but he remembers his surprise at Johnson's turning in such a fast time while in his usual injured state.

McCurdy notes that Johnson is not built like the typical tall and skinny distance runner. He is relatively muscular, making him less limber and giving a somewhat less smooth stride than most harriers.

"He's always been the gutsiest runner on the team," says teammate Felix Rippey. "He's actually quite a talented runner but his injuries have hidden a lot of his ability."

Outside of competition, though, Johnson isn't nearly so intense. Besides the kidding he regularly takes for having the team's only year-round tan and for having tight muscles--the source of many bad jokes--he has lately been a leader in the infamous "arm-jogger" plot. As soon as they received them from an eager salesman, the team decided the arm-joggers, hand-weights for training, were utterly worthless. So far, two batches have mysteriously disappeared, and Coach McCurdy's resulting investigation has been rather lackadaisical.

Johnson, a South House resident. plans to stay in shape and run in occasional road-races after this year. However, he definitely expects to avoid any full-time involvement, like running in a road-racing circuit. An English major, he is interested in law school but hopes to get a year of working experience before applying,

In the meantime, though, his main concern is the upcoming season.