Where Your Dreams Become
Reality
Where Your Dreams Become
Reality
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LetsRun.com Recap: Bruce Hyde Runs 3:55.76 Full Mile In action over the weekend that we didn't get to due to our focus on the 2008 World Cross Country Championships, LetsRun.com is pleased to report that Bruce Hyde ran a startling 3:55.76 full mile at the Cornell Opener on Saturday. Prior to yesterday's race, Hyde was best known for being LetsRun.com co-founder Rojo's greatest runner at Cornell (and Wejo's training partner in Flagstaff). In 2004, Hyde ran 8:03 and then 3:42 to grab 4th at the USA indoor meet. He followed that up with one of the greatest xc seasons by an Ivy Leaguer in recent memory as he dominated the Northeast that year, winning both the Heptagonal and NCAA Regional title before garnering All-American honors at NCAAs. At NCAAs, Hyde finished one spot behind Ryan Hall. Since 2004, Hall and Hyde seemed to go in opposite directions. Hall of course has gone on to become the US record holder in the half-marathon and the fastest American-born marathoner in history, thanks to his amazing 2:08:24 debut in London last spring. Contrast that to Hyde, who since 2004 had barely been heard from. Early in 2006, there were rumors of a comeback, but those proved to be short-lived after he ran a 2:00.71 for 800 in an indoor meet in February.
Until today, the 2:00.71 had never been officially acknowledged as Hyde ran under the pseudonym Bruce Denton. But after two years of participating in the conspiracy, LetsRun.com is ready confirm that Hyde, a huge John Parker fan, ran 2:00.71 in 2006 as these results prove. Since then, no results had been recorded for Hyde and many had assumed he had hung up the spikes. "My training has been a bit up and down the last few years. I knew I had to do something totally different to get to the world-class level and it took me a while to figure it out," said Hyde who actually recruited Rojo to be his coach at Cornell after his freshman year. "It finally started to click this winter and it was going unbelievable, but I didn't race indoors as I was overdoing it a bit and became overtrained towards the end of February. So last week prior to this race, I decided to just sit on the couch, play poker and have a few beers for a few days to let my body recover, and then just close my eyes and go all in once the gun went off. Amazingly it worked pretty well. Wejo taught me that it's better to be a luck-box than to be good." Hyde's 3:55.76 opener is generating a ton of buzz in track and field circles. Track statisticians in particular are up in arms about the opener as they aren't sure if it should count as an Ivy League record. The stat geeks also are unsure if Hyde goes on to run faster than Sydnee's Maree's collegiate record of 3:52.87 later this spring if it should count as a collegiate record. Hyde, who is in his 8th year at Cornell, certainly thinks it should count as the collegiate record. "I'm a college student. If I break 3:52.87, how could it not be the record? I've had to work unbelievably hard and had to be very creative to stay in college all these years. Its would be a shame if it all was for nothing. I'm certainly not putting in this work trying to make the Olympics this year as the first round of the 1,500 at the Trials is the same day as the start of the Main Event of the WSOP in Las Vegas," said Hyde referring to July 3rd, 2008. On that day the 1,500 rounds get under way at the 2008 US Olympic Trials and the main event begins at the World Series of Poker.
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Runner's World &
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