Joan.....2:47:50....impressive

Not An Expert wrote:

for the few others (how many are there--4? 5?) who have run sub-2:50s in five decades

I think this warrants a response, even if I might be distracting from a riveting semantic argument.

No person ever, male or female, has gone sub 2:50 in 5 consecutive decades. This is a huge accomplishment.

C'mon dudes. This is unbelievable. A woman who won an Olympic Gold Medal in the marathon over a quarter of a century ago just ran a 2:47:50 at the age of 53, and all you guys can talk about is when a decade started and ended.

Impressive and inspiring run, Joan, no matter what decade we're in right now.

angelaZee wrote:

I thought that all Olympic Trials marathons champions had an automatic entry to all oly trials marathons as long as they live.

When Anthony Sandoval won the '80 trials I thought he entered the '92 trials without a qualifying time but on being the '80 trials champion.

Maybe one of you knows the answer to it.

Congratulations to JBS. She's great!

Correct as a USA OG Marathon Team member she get a trials invite automaticly.

I was on the course at miles 7 and 20, and Joan looked much better than in NYC. What's insulting is that the coverage of the race didn't even mention her until well after she was done, despite the fact that she broke her own AG record.

There was an article linked on Let's Run's front page last week that I thought said what the world age group record was, but now I can't find it.

Today NYT:

Now SHUT UP about it and talk about the woman's great accomplishment.

From Wikipedia

"Although any period of ten years is a decade,[2][3] a convenient and frequently referenced interval is based on the tens digit of the calendar year, as in using "1960s" to represent the decade from 1960 to 1969.[4][5] Often, for brevity, only the tens part is mentioned (60s or sixties), although this may leave it uncertain which century is meant. These references are frequently used to encapsulate popular culture or other widespread phenomena that dominated such a decade, as in The Great Depression of the 1930s.

Since the common calendar starts from the year 1, its first full decade contained the years from 1 to 10, the second decade from 11 to 20, and so on.[6] So while the "1960s" comprises the years 1960 to 1969, the "197th decade" spans 1961 to 1970.

A decade may also refer to an arbitrary span of 10 years. For example, the statement "during his last decade, Mozart explored chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time," merely refers to the last 10 years of Mozart's life without regard to which calendar years are encompassed.

Thus, an unqualified reference to, for example, "the decade" or "this decade" may have multiple interpretations depending on the context."

auto-in wrote:

Correct as a USA OG Marathon Team member she get a trials invite automaticly.

Even if that weren't the case, she could've run St. George five minutes faster.

conditions were not ideal and she went out very fast. even at the half marathon, she was on 2:42 pace, so there was clearly enough in the tank to run an even split 2:45. what she did at 53 is unbelievable.

auto-in wrote:

angelaZee wrote:

I thought that all Olympic Trials marathons champions had an automatic entry to all oly trials marathons as long as they live.

When Anthony Sandoval won the '80 trials I thought he entered the '92 trials without a qualifying time but on being the '80 trials champion.

Maybe one of you knows the answer to it.

Congratulations to JBS. She's great!

Correct as a USA OG Marathon Team member she get a trials invite automaticly.

Do you have a link or citation to that rule? I wasn't aware that it was ever in effect after '92.

I remember when that rule (or that exception to the general qualifying standard) was announced for the '92 trials on the men's side. I thought that it was a terrible idea, done primarily to accommodate Al Salazar, who had announced his return to competition and was suggesting that he was getting back into top form. Ultimately, Tony, Al, Kyle Heffner, and Benji Durden all took advantage of the new rule (or exception) and participated without qualifying marks, although none of them was very competitive and they all dropped out within the first half of the race. (Buddy Edelen, Ron Daws, and Frank Shorter were there, but didn't run in the race. I assume that Johnny ("the Elder") Kelley, who was only 84 at the time, could have run in the race, but he probably had better things to do.)

Not An Expert wrote:

sub-2:50 in five decades ain't too shabby.

What date did she first break 2:50 and what was the time?

Her you go my friend-

... and she probably could have run 2:45 if she hadn't gone out so fast.

number of years wrote:

What date did she first break 2:50 and what was the time?

'79, Boston, 2:35:15.

Posted Earlier wrote:

Not An Expert wrote:

for the few others (how many are there--4? 5?) who have run sub-2:50s in five decades

I think this warrants a response, even if I might be distracting from a riveting semantic argument.

No person ever, male or female, has gone sub 2:50 in 5 consecutive decades. This is a huge accomplishment.

According to this list, there are at least three men who have done sub-2:50 in five consec decades: Yamada, Magee, Kotov.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that Joan now holds the single age 53 female WORLD RECORD! (unless I'm mistaken??)

Look at the single age historical results for age 53:

http://www.arrs.net/SA_Mara.htm

Definitely not an expert, Not An Expert. In January of 1979, after winning a 10K race the day before, Joan entered the Bermuda Marathon and ran 2:50.44, finishing 2nd in the women's division and qualifying for a little race that spring in Boston.

How much training is she able to do at this age? I wonder what her mileage is like.

Awesome!

p.n. wrote:

Agreed, but she's only done it in four decades: the eighth, ninth, and tenth of the 20th century, and the first of the 21st century.

Alright, I never knew 1980 was considered the '70s!! I am enlightened.