masters

So, up to one mile I rock, from 800 on down I am in serious need of rehab.

That's what the All American Standards of Excellence tell me. These are age group standards based on current world records; as far as I can tell, the UK standards are exactly the same.

Many of our best masters runners are currently in Riccione, Italy, for the world championships.

News so far... my erstwhile training partner Patty Murray finished a storming second in her heat of the 5000 metres. Looks like she's sucessfully recovered from injury, but may not have the legs to challenge the Belgian Corinne Debaets who is running in a different class, the only woman under 17 minutes. But Patty is second fastest of the lot so far by a comfortable margin, so fingers crossed there is a medal on...

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.

Rochelle Stevens, a member of the US 1,600-meter relay team, who won silver in 1992 and gold in '96, is coming out of retirement to bid for glory at the 2008 games in Beijing.

Stevens is now 40, and says: "There are a lot of young women still not running as fast as I used to on a bad day".

Martial arts training, forced on her as a way of staying in shape following a torn cartilage that ended her running career in 2000, got her so fit that she made an exercise DVD. And it while filming running sequances, she realised she could still do it.

Check out the full story by Ron Higgins

Great interview with masters mile phenom Nolan Shaheed has just been posted by Dan Empfield on the triathlon site Slowtwitch.

Nolan is a multiple world record-holder and a leading jazz trumpeter, once the lead for the Count Basie orchestra and a highly sought-after session man who has played with Natalie Cole, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Phil Collins. The interview has details of his slightly strange training routine, which can see him running up to 2 hours a day, six days a week -- on a track. He says he doesn't get bored, because of all the jazz impro he can hear in his head!

On May 14, 2005, John Keston, an 80-year-old from Oregon, ran a mile in a historic time of 6:48.3. That's about one minute faster than the existing American and world records", writes Dave Clingan.

Pictures show John mid-record at the Canby HS track in Oregon, and in the 2005 USA Cross Country Championships.

There was uproar among masters athletes worldwide when the record was not accepted by USAT&F. Now, at last, the wrong has been righted.

The story behind thw story makes staggering reading, as the mile record signalled a massive comeback after John had a four-year spell starting in 1997 that included breaking his hip when he fell of his bike, breaking a leg after falling in snow, ripping tendons in his foot when he hit a rock while running, and then going through prostate surgery.

Never mind the four-minute mile; once you get to a certain age you adjust your sights. There are a bunch of us geezers and geezeresses (?) here in Boulder who have decided that a worthy goal is to break 5 minutes for the mile.

World-class coach Bobby McGee, who cut his teeth training sub-4 milers in South Africa back in the day, didn't need much persuading to get involved. Before you could say "Roger Bannister", he'd come up with a 45-week specialised training program that will take a small group of us from base work right throught to a peak of speed in August next year -- just in time to sweep the Pearl Street Mile, the classic street mile sponsored by the city of Boulder.

Some people reckon Derek Turnbull was the greatest veteran runner of all time.
This is the guy who at 65 years old ran 2:41:57 in the London Marathon, still an age-group world's best.

That same year, 1992, he set six 65-69 age group records, among them a blistering 4:56.4 -- yes you read that right -- a sub 5-minute mile at age 65.

Turnbull, a sheep farmer from Tussock Creek, New Zealand, died in his sleep at home on his farm and Nature Reserve called Sherwood Forest, leaving a wife Pat and a grown-up family of six, 14 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.

He set 25 world records at distances including 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 5000m and 10.000m and set best times for cross-country as well as the marathon. He won 28 gold medals at the World Masters Championships on the track – these included six golds at the championships in Durban in 1997 (at age 71). He ran 5:04 for 1500 meters at age 70. Yet he regarded his 58-year running career as just a hobby, and a way to relax and unwind from his "day job" as a sheep farmer.