Ric Sayre

Who is Ric Sayre?

Ric Sayre was a nationally renowned American runner, best known for his ability to compete at the elite level in numerous marathons each year. Sayre’s most noted achievement was winning the inaugural Los Angeles Marathon in 1986 with a career-best time of 2 hours, 12 minutes, and 59 seconds. The next year, in 1987, Sayre won the United States national marathon championship. He was also one of only four American men who have qualified in the marathon for the U.S. Olympic Trials five times. Sayre also excelled as a trail runner.

Sayre routinely competed in seven to eight marathons a year; of the fifty he competed in during his career, he won a dozen. Sayre, who was a lean 135 pounds, at five feet, ten and a half inches, credited his vegetarian diet with helping him recover quickly from races.

"Most run in one or two marathons a year," Sayre said. "They'll run once in the spring and once in the fall. They say that it takes you a day for each mile you run to recover. "But it takes me four days to a week to recover. I think part of it has to do with my diet and part has to do with psychology."

He finished seventh overall in the 1987 Houston Marathon, which served as the U.S. marathon Championship. As the first American finisher in Houston, he qualified for that year's Pan American Games in Indianapolis, Indiana.