Nolan Shaheed

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.

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!

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!