Henry Rono

Henry Rono, the former multiple world-record-holder who has been blogging for almost two years about his aim to take the 4:40 world mile record for masters from Nolan Shaheed, has now announced a series of races that amounts to a world tour.

Everybody knows I'm not a fan of long, slow distance. Me, I'm a died-in-the-wool fan of the Coe-Ovett-Cram British school of training: quality not quantity. And yet...

it was Olympic medallist Lorraine Moller who first suggested I put the Garmin and the stopwatch to one side and focus on running easily, well within my fitness level. It would, she said, help me rediscover the joy of running after a year spent frantically trying to catch up with the level of fitness I thought I "should" be at.

Former world record-holder Henry Rono, still on the track of the world masters mile record, did achieve one his goals this year: he finished his autobiography and got it published.

Here's the truth as only Henry can tell it, of those classic races -- some of them won despite severe over-doses of alcohol -- many of them performances that set the track world on fire and had world-class athletes shaking their heads in disbelief.

Mine's on its way from Amazon; can't wait to get the real inside story on how he did it.

Oh good, it's not just me.

Former world record-holder Henry Rono's forum/blog reappeared back at letsrun.com, but the comeback star with ambitions for the masters mile record of 4:40 has been strangely quiet.

Latest post from King Henry tells the tale -- like the rest of us, he's finding that turning yourself into a decent miler takes longer than you'd think.

I'm sure Henry doesn't think so, but it looks like the controllers at letsrun.com have decided enough is enough and have pulled the plugs on the former world record-holder's months-long blogpost on his comeback training and an attempt on the world mile record for 55-year-old men, currently at 4:40.

After months of training, Henry has only got his mile time down to 6:21, failed to lose the weight he said he would, and yet is still telling people he will be running at the world masters championships in Riccione in September and facing off Nolan Shaheed for a new world record.

A moment of truth today, an "official" not-secret time trial over my chosen race distance -- one mile.

We did it on a slightly downhill dirt road with a rising headwind after half a mile. The last 400m was hell, pure hell, but I staggered in with 5:28, about 15 seconds down on Kyle.

I just found the The Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre website, which bagged recent interviews with Henry Rono and Haile Gebrselassie. It also has loads of interviews and features on training techniques and philosophies.

I've only listened to Henry's so far; a bit long on the historical for my taste, as I am more interested in what he is doing NOW. However, he does say he still has as goals a world mile record, then the World Masters Championships in Italy in September.

Two big stories for me to come out of the Carlsbad 5000 today (Sunday)...

first, Henry Rono served notice that it's not all talk and he really is serious about his comeback, with a storming 17:48 in his first major race since, well... forever. The former three times world record holder was second in his age group behind the man who remains The Man to beat: 57-year-old Nolan Shaheed, who covered 5k in an astonishing 16:31.

Second, comiserations to my training partner Patty Murray, who ran a fantastic 17:05 in the masters women's race and lost the race by just TWO seconds!

Henry got a lot of positive media coverage praising his reinvention of himself as a world-class runner, this time as an age-group masters champion. However, a little puzzling was the mention of Henry's attack on the 4:40 world mile record for 55-year-old men, which some are saying he has scheduled for September at the World Masters Championships in Riccione, Italy. These being regular track and field title events, there is no mile race, just a 1500 metres.

Henry Rono, the former triple world record-holder who's making a comeback aged 55, will run the Carlsbad 5000 on April 1.

The world-class 5k road race staged in San Diego is dubbed "World's Fastest 5k" and has the distinction of being a place where world bests are set -- and for featuring separate races for masters. But although Henry will run with world masters mile record-holder Nolan Shaheed at Carlsbad, he is not predicting a super-fast time.

Henry has been getting some stick on the letsrun forum where he logs his progress reports, with some readers disbelieving that he is serious about racing at a high level again, and others obsessing over his weight and why he hasn't lost more despite running about two hours a day for nearly 8 months. He has only had one low-key race this year -- running 19:20 in Cincinnati in December.

The Henry Rono comeback story has taken an interesting twist, as Masters world mile record-holder Nolan Shaheed (he of jazz trumpet fame), has as good as challenged the Kenyan maestro to a showdown.

"I am glad to hear that you are endeavoring to set the record in the mile", writes Shaheed on Henry's letsrun.com thread. "As you know it's my endeavor too. It would be great for us to go for the record in the same race at the same meet at the same time. Maybe there is a race promoter out there who would be interested."

I would LOVE to get in that race!