Saturday, August 31, 2013

Two-mile run record holder 10:20.2






Words 527

Ran three miles today just so I wouldn't forget how. During the last half mile, I tried to really push it. I think that the running app 'samples' my speed every now and then; it then puts the results on the home page that I can see. A one point, it said I was running at 6:46 per mile. 
  
My brother holds the record in the 2-mile run for Newell-Providence High School—10:20.2.
I know this because at some point after the school consolidated with Fonda, I saw that the record posted on the wall in the gym was slower than 10:20.2.  I asked Mr. Spurbeck about this. I asked, "How can that time be the record when Rusty ran faster?"  He answered that it is a different school now. 
Before I could come up with another argument, he added, “Now Rusty’s time will stand forever.”  Right, if the school doesn’t exist anymore, the record can never be broken.

  I am truly amazed that Rusty ran so fast. He averaged 5:10 per mile!  That less than 78 seconds per each quarter for EIGHT quarter miles! I can barely run ONE quarter in 78 seconds.  My amazement is exacerbated when I consider his body.  I hope he will not be offended when I say that he did not have the physique of a long distance runner.  It’s not like he was a tall, thin kid.  He was tall and thick.  He looked more like the defensive and offensive tackle that he was during football season. I should think that a long distance runner might play a position like quarterback, or wide receiver—not an interior lineman for Christ’s sake.
            I ran the 2-mile during one track season in high school.  I was pathetic.  I had an impact on the finish of a race only once.  At the end of one race, two runners were sprinting for the end.  After eight laps, the difference would come down to less than one stride.  As these guys neared the finish, I was also nearing the finish line—they were about to ‘lap’ me—they had run so much faster than me that during the time I ran 7 times around, they had run 8.  I was doing my typical plodding along when I heard them behind me.  I thought, “Oh, my!  They are finishing the race; I better get out of the way.”  As I turned sharply to my right, I stepped directly in the path of one of the runners, thereby clinching the victory for the other athlete.  The script couldn’t have been written any better for a high school crime novel.

  My program has some gaps in it.  I planned to run 18 miles tomorrow, but I am feeling tired, and I will try to sleep on the train tonight.  I sleep well on the train—gently rocking back and forth, comfy bed with little extra room. But I don't get on the train until 23:31, and I arrive in Moscow at 6:30. I'll need to get more sleep. I'm thinking I will do the 18 miles on Sunday. 

3 miles SPB
1
08:26
2
08:32
3
08:03
08:20


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