Why not win two races today?

In the summer of 1972, a young runner named Larry Greer emerged on the road racing scene, seemingly out of nowhere, and started winning road races. He simply came out and beat the veterans. Until then, the best road racers in the state, Ken Flanders and Ralph Thomas among them, were hardened physically and mentally by years of training and racing. To have a kid appear out of high school and whip them not once, but many times, had runners throughout Maine buzzing.

That year, Greer, just 17, unleashed an 18-race winning streak that started on July 1 and ended on Sept. 10. He sometimes won two races in a single day – as he did on July 8th, July 29th , and Aug. 19th . Some races were won on consecutive days: double wins in a 1-miler and 2-miler on July 8 followed by a l0-mile victory on July 9; and a 4-mile win on Sept. 9th followed by a 2.5 mile win on the l0th. In one stretch, from Aug. 17-20, he won four races over four days, including two in one day.

Greer started running in the spring of 1969 in his freshman year at Cape Elizabeth. "My friend Scott MacDonald wanted me to accompany him in joining the Cape Elizabeth outdoor track and field team," said Greer. "In my sophomore year another friend, Dan Barker, introduced me to longer runs and cross country by challenging me to a race from my house to the Cape Elizabeth town dump and back (four miles)."

There was little doubt that Greer had talent and motivation. By 1971 he had won, in record fashion, the Triple-C championship, then the regional championship, and finally the state Class B championship where he set a course record. Also in his senior year he won the state indoor 2-mile in a record time of 9:47.1, and in the Triple-C outdoor track championships won both the 880 and mile. At the western regionals he set another state record in the two-mile, in 9:39.9, and went on to win the state championship in the two-mile, in still another record time of 9:27.6.

His high school honored him with a number of awards, including most valuable performer in cross country in 1970 and 1971, and outstanding athlete of the year in 1972. He earned the Sprague Corporation College Scholarship and received an athletic scholarship to attend Northeastern University in Boston.

And what drew Greer to Northeastern? Ken Flanders. "From the first time we met, Ken was a world of encouragement, supplying me with workouts and rides to and from road races," said Greer. "Even his records that stood at every track or road race provided me with incentive. It was easy to decide which college to attend - just follow Ken to Northeastern University. My running world seemed to revolve around reaching Ken's level and passing it when possible. Running performances were judged on how I did against Ken's standards.”

So Greer went on to Northeastern. But there he met with some bad luck. "Through 1972 my running improvement was steady. Then came the first setback caused by severe shin splints. But I persisted and was shortly able to turn it around, at least until December, 1974. The second setback was when a plantar fascia injury came into play. Still, there was no giving up. Six years passed in search of an answer to cure this injury. From December, 1974, to the fall of 1980, the plantar fascia problem would keep me in check with a three month training/racing schedule followed by a three month rest. Finally, the orthotic was on the horizon and this proved a. perfect solution for my problem," he recalled.

All this down-time due to injuries surely kept Greer from the achievements he was capable of, compared to what they might have been had he been healthy. Yet he did succeed in chalking up a few championships: He won the Greater Boston 6-Mile Championship outdoors and the New England J.V. 2-Mile in indoor track. However, with the help of orthotics, the stage was set for a comeback. In the fall of 1982, Greer won six out of seven races he entered.

Over the years, Greer won at least 150 races, 122 of those just by 1975, counting high school and collegiate victories. His greatest memory in running, he said, was his participation in a 24-hour 10-man relay at Fitzpatrick Stadium, Portland in 1973. He ran 30 miles averaging 4:46 per mile to place him third in the world that year in the event. Greer considers this to be his best lifetime performance. "It was the most grueling event I have ever attempted but gave me the most gratifying result,” he said. The nine others on the team included: Steve Jaynes, Brian Gillespie, Ralph Thomas, Jerry Crommett, Jeff Sanborn, John Emerson, Dave MacDonald, Mark Beede, and Danny Paul. Running more than 278 miles, the team set a new New England record and ran the fourth best distance in the world.

Through the years, Greer belonged to the Greater Portland Athletic Club, the Maine Track Club, the Maine Rowdies, Olympia, and the Soho Racing Team. He ran 17 of the years, from 1969 through 1990. His most recent win was in June, 1990, when he won the Dartmouth College l0-K.

A 6-footer who competed at 160 pounds, Greer recorded the following PRs: Mile, 4:20 (cinder track); 2 miles. 9:17.2; 3 miles, 13:47; 3.1 miles, 14:22.5; 4 miles, 18:00.0; 5 miles, 23:47; 6 miles, 29:28.3; 6.2 miles, 30:17; 9 miles, 46:22.6; and 10 miles, 52:32. Greer notes that some of these times were recorded on courses that were probably not measured accurately. "Races in my day weren't measured as accurately as today. We got in a car and drove to measure the distance, or we guessed."

After graduating from Northeastern in 1977, Greer returned to Maine where he started his own general contracting business. Shortly thereafter, he secured a cross country coaching position at SMTC (then known at SMVTI) where he coached for two years.

During the spring of 1979, he began coaching outdoor track at Cape Elizabeth where he has remained as coach for 17 years. Some of the highlights of Greer's coaching career include the formation of Cape's first official indoor girls' and boys' track teams. The boys 1984 indoor team, in just their first year of existence, won the Class B state championship, and the outdoor track team that year went on to capture the title as well.

Greer's love of sports has extended to the community. He organized Cape's original summer recreation track program, organized the Cape high school alumni cross country race, initiated a basketball program for wheelchair athletes at Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, and donated over 200 of his own trophies to the Maine Track Club to be recycled and used as awards in future road races. Working with town, school, community and students, he organized various fund-raising activities for eight years that led to realization of his dream of a community track in 1986.