Talent never goes away, Dick Beardsley post-addiction and accidents

Dick’s career prize money is $6000. Yeah right…

Thanks for posting this. I have read the great book "Duel In The Sun" about Beardsley and Salazar. Dick's injuries were horrific and it is amazing that he was able to recover to the point of running marathons again. Of course the addiction is a lifelong battle. He is lucky to be alive and deserves our respect.

Look at all the cool races he ran early.

5 miler, 15K, 10 miler, 20K, 15 miles, 30K, 20 miles, hour.

What happened to those days?

Well Dick was old school. Maybe a bit of the Billy Rodgers approach without much emphasis on running his best 10000m so he utilized many of those races as training for the marathon. Squires was advising/coaching him. Dick seemed to have similar talent to Rodgers. Maybe both would struggle to run a 4:10 mile but they could really run hard for an extended period.

Yeah, even in the early-2000s when he was running 2:40 all the time, he was turning 17 minute 5Ks. Endurance monster.

Or, monster in general. HOW anyone can do that after what he went through is beyond me. 2:08 guys are different, I suppose.

Beset by poor choices and bad luck…but having spent some time with him since the 80’s, I stand behind my claim that Dick is one of the nicest ambassadors of our sport.

rundochere wrote:

Beset by poor choices and bad luck…but having spent some time with him since the 80’s, I stand behind my claim that Dick is one of the nicest ambassadors of our sport.

Having spent some time with him in the last decade-plus, I agree. He’s a great storyteller and even better guy.

Not An Expert wrote:Having spent some time with him in the last decade-plus, I agree. He’s a great storyteller and even better guy.

A few years ago, he was contributing here on the 50+ training thread, planning another marathon after knee replacement surgery. He stopped posting, so I assume that didn't work out. Do you know how he's faring now?

Roadrunner, roadrunner wrote:

I had no idea how prolific Dick Beardsley was, after a time span when was thrashed by farm equipment, got in three car crashes, and was addicted to painkillers. In the early 90s he ran a ton of 2:40 marathons. Crazy.

https://more.arrs.run/runner/7385

You have no idea how much I needed this today. It’s nice to see some positive things posted. And that no matter happens you can get back to who you once where

Dick Beardsley is a beautiful human being. I have been blessed to meet him several times.

He inspires with his faith and his sobriety following his nightmare painkiller addiction. Running was just one of many things he excelled at. He lived through personal tragedies including his son's suicide. Those of you wanting to speculate on this or that about him need to get a hobby.

We haven’t been in touch in a while, but he and his wife are running a B&B in Bemidji, and he’s doing some guiding as I understand it. As someone else noted, their son tragically died by suicide a few years ago, but they seem to be doing as well as can be expected under those circumstances.