Thinking of Pre and Jaz

It's so sad that Steve Prefontaine was cut down in his prime.
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He was inspirational in the way that he gave his all.
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Who knows what he would have accomplished if he didn't die so tragically in that car crash? He'd probably be a Nike executive, but I'm sure that he would have pushed the running envelope.
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After all these years, and even though he's dead, he still provides motivation.
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When I was at UMASS, there was a kid a year ahead of me on the track team that reminded me of Pre.... Tom Jasmine. He was a little reckless and seemed to push the limit.
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I remember running with him on snowpacked snowmobile tracks in the wooded Berkshire Hills. Jaz was a lot better than I was, and he was way ahead of me on the trail, but waited for me to catch up with him at key turns, so that I didn't get stuck out there lost and alone.
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He used to call me "kid" which seemed funny since he was only a year older than I was.
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Jasmine and his girlfriend died in a car crash too. A tractor trailer slammed into them out in the Berkshires at the end of his Sophomore year.
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I think about Pre and Jaz every once in awhile.