An article about the night Pre died

I'm a Pre-ophile, a group that was small when I was in high school but has grown immensely in the last 10 years.  My mother went to high school with Pre at Marshfield, and I remember the day he died - my mother's reaction was visceral, and stuck with me.  Knowing most of the stories about the night of his death, this article was of great interest - and really shed some new light on the event. 

I prefer another scenario: After Pre dropped off Frank Shorter on Skyline Loop, he was away from people — alone for the first time all day. Now he could reflect and be proud of his most recent accomplishment, the Finnish track tour.

Prefontaine was no different than the rest of us in that regard. He had hopes and dreams and conversations with himself. Perhaps he was having one of those conversations as he descended Skyline Boulevard. Reliving the recent past, planning for the future, daydreaming. He just wasn’t thinking about the here and now. It’s something all of us do every day.

Don’t blame Steve for that; don’t blame anybody. Blame the road, blame the car — but don’t blame Steve.

I’m sorry if this all seems too morbid, especially during what is such a celebratory mood in Eugene. But I present this because I believe that’s the way Steve would have wanted it: for all of us to forget how he died, and to just remember how he lived — how he did truly live.

Copyright © 2008 — The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

---