A couple of the articles about her in the buildup and aftermath of this race have mentioned how she still runs 70-80 mpw.
A couple of the articles about her in the buildup and aftermath of this race have mentioned how she still runs 70-80 mpw.
heatwave wrote:
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.
So you're disagreeing with Not An Expert's statement that she first "broke" 2:50 in April 1979, based on her 2:50:44 in January 1979?
The thing that gets me about Joanie is her early history of injuries, including not only her famous surgery before the '84 Trials, but a major femoral fracture before she even took up running. By 1985, she looked to be near her expiration date, yet here she keeps plowing along. Apparently the long break to have/raise kids seems to have helped, but she is something special in this area of master's injury-avoidance.
I found the article:
Samuelson is racing Chicago and she's got some lofty goals. Her dream goal is to run under 2:47:00 and qualify for the 2012 US Olympic marathon trials at the age of 53. Samuelson said a sub-2:47 would be very hard for her to accomplish, but her main goal is to go sub-2:50 for the third time since turning 50. If she does so, she will have done it at each of the Big 3 of US marathoning - Boston (2:49:08 in 2008 at age 50), New York (2:49:09 in 2009 at age 52), and Chicago (at age 53). Samuelson hasn't gone sub 2:47 since 2005 when she ran 2:46:27 at Twin Cities.
The idea that it's even conceivable for Samuelson to qualify for the US Olympic marathon trials at age 53 is superhuman to us. The crazier thing is that Samuelson isn't the world record holder for women's marathonng at age 50, 51 or 52.
The records according to
http://www.arrs.netare as follows:
50y 2d 2:31:05 Tatyana Pozdniakova (UKR) 04 Mar 1955 06 Mar 2005 Los Angeles CA USA
51y 15d 2:35:46 Tatyana Pozdniakova (UKR) 04 Mar 1955 19 Mar 2006 Los Angeles CA USA
52y108d 2:48:47 Edeltraud Pohl (GER) 14 Jul 1936 30 Oct 1988 Frankfurt GER
53y301d 2:53:38 Manna Kwak (NED) 14 Dec 1944 11 Oct 1998 Eindhoven NED
So it looks like Samuelson will get the world record for age 53 if she runs well in Chicago. But that 2:31 at age 50 is simply ridiculous.
So Joan not only broke her own 50+ American record, she obliterated the world record for 53 yo women, and beat the one for 52 also. Very impressive.
Yup.. WR! That was mentioned a few posts up. Thanks for confirming!
She ran the Tufts Women's 10K this afternoon in Boston (yep, one day after Chicago), finishing at 40:30 or so. She was running with another women down the stretch, encouraging this other woman to finish strong. She then proceeded to high five pretty much the rest of the 8,000+ woman field as the other women as they crossed the line behind her. She is from another planet.
I've met her a couple of times. Nice lady.
To be honest She's not much for talking, she just DOES it.
If She were a guy, you'd say brass ba*ls (apology for being indelicate, but hey...giving credit here), not sure what the female equivalent is.
Good for her, she's on the Ed Whitlock road. She could be kicking a8ses all over, in her 70's.
Never underestimate a down'Easter.
... and follows up the next day in Boston with a 40:26 at the Tufts 10K!
Incredible!
A 53 year old AMERICAN woman going out at sub 6/mile pace. Awesome!!!!!
Am I mistaken or did LA skip the drug testing? These "performances" are so off the charts as to be ridiculous. What were this woman's performances prior to this? What is the next fastest 50, 51 performances.
Fastnbulbous wrote:
I found the article:
Samuelson is racing Chicago and she's got some lofty goals. Her dream goal is to run under 2:47:00 and qualify for the 2012 US Olympic marathon trials at the age of 53. Samuelson said a sub-2:47 would be very hard for her to accomplish, but her main goal is to go sub-2:50 for the third time since turning 50. If she does so, she will have done it at each of the Big 3 of US marathoning - Boston (2:49:08 in 2008 at age 50), New York (2:49:09 in 2009 at age 52), and Chicago (at age 53). Samuelson hasn't gone sub 2:47 since 2005 when she ran 2:46:27 at Twin Cities.The idea that it's even conceivable for Samuelson to qualify for the US Olympic marathon trials at age 53 is superhuman to us. The crazier thing is that Samuelson isn't the world record holder for women's marathonng at age 50, 51 or 52.
The records according to
http://www.arrs.netare as follows:
50y 2d 2:31:05 Tatyana Pozdniakova (UKR) 04 Mar 1955 06 Mar 2005 Los Angeles CA USA
51y 15d 2:35:46 Tatyana Pozdniakova (UKR) 04 Mar 1955 19 Mar 2006 Los Angeles CA USA
52y108d 2:48:47 Edeltraud Pohl (GER) 14 Jul 1936 30 Oct 1988 Frankfurt GER
53y301d 2:53:38 Manna Kwak (NED) 14 Dec 1944 11 Oct 1998 Eindhoven NED
So it looks like Samuelson will get the world record for age 53 if she runs well in Chicago. But that 2:31 at age 50 is simply ridiculous.
So Joan not only broke her own 50+ American record, she obliterated the world record for 53 yo women, and beat the one for 52 also. Very impressive.
... and follows up the next day in Boston with a 40:26 at the Tufts 10K!
Incredible![/quote]
I was working the h2o stop @ mile 5. I actually yelled "hey you ran marathon yesterday. What are you doing?" She laughed. Made my day.[quote]encore! !! wrote:
BraveNewWorld wrote:
Am I mistaken or did LA skip the drug testing? These "performances" are so off the charts as to be ridiculous. What were this woman's performances prior to this? What is the next fastest 50, 51 performances.
Pozdnyakova was a 3:56 1500m runner in her day so she does have a pretty good pedigree. Who knows what she could have done in the marathon had she moved up earlier.
Avocados Number wrote:
heatwave wrote: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.
So you're disagreeing with Not An Expert's statement that she first "broke" 2:50 in April 1979, based on her 2:50:44 in January 1979?
Thanks, AN. Too many people seem to think that a 2:50:xx is "breaking" 2:50--hell, I don't even think it's "running" 2:50.
I see the same thing in track: "Soandso [with a 4:23 PR in the 1600] is a 4:20 miler!" Uh, no.
www.666energy.com wrote:
A 53 year old AMERICAN woman going out at sub 6/mile pace. Awesome!!!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a 2:47:50 is a little under 6:25/mile .... yes?
Bay Stater wrote:
I've met her a couple of times. Nice lady.
To be honest She's not much for talking, she just DOES it.
If She were a guy, you'd say brass ba*ls (apology for being indelicate, but hey...giving credit here), not sure what the female equivalent is.
Good for her, she's on the Ed Whitlock road. She could be kicking a8ses all over, in her 70's.
Never underestimate a down'Easter.
We call them ovaries. Brass ovaries.
el jefe wrote:
Too many people seem to think that a 2:50:xx is "breaking" 2:50--hell, I don't even think it's "running" 2:50.
I think we have Boston to thank for this.
www.666energy.com wrote:
A 53 year old AMERICAN woman going out at sub 6/mile pace. Awesome!!!!!
Some Coach wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a 2:47:50 is a little under 6:25/mile .... yes?
So...what's that got to do with the first 5k?
http://tinyurl.com/22l6yctSplit time of day time diff min/mile miles/h
05K 07:48:58AM 00:18:33 18:33 05:58 10.06
10K 08:07:57AM 00:37:32 18:59 06:07 9.82
15K 08:27:28AM 00:57:03 19:31 06:17 9.56
20K 08:47:15AM 01:16:50 19:47 06:22 9.42
HALF 08:51:34AM 01:21:09 04:19 06:21 9.46
25K 09:07:10AM 01:36:45 15:36 06:26 9.33
30K 09:27:26AM 01:57:01 20:16 06:32 9.20
35K 09:48:20AM 02:17:55 20:54 06:44 8.92
40K 10:09:11AM 02:38:46 20:51 06:43 8.94
Finish 10:18:15AM 02:47:50 09:04 06:40 9.02
Not An Expert wrote:
number of years wrote:What date did she first break 2:50 and what was the time?
'79, Boston, 2:35:15.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Benoit
Thanks, that is 32 years then.
Just over 3 decades, not close to 4.
What was the temperature in LA when she won Olympic gold?
Only 3 men 50-over ran faster than her.