Smashing time in store for Hartshorne masters miles

Good Luck to all the Master Blasters! See you all there.

How low will Tony go? 4:04?

I'm not a betting woman but I would say 4:06!!! heehe no pressure Tony. Should be a great event on both male and female sides!

Ike Low wrote:

How low will Tony go? 4:04?

Good luck Sarah, Tony, and the rest!!!

Can hardly wait to read how it turns out!

Wow big race. I viewed the women's field. Never heard of any of them. 99% are from New York.

Any results?

Tony 4:20 out well, but just no comp, I will talk to him at the party for more info. Women's times of 5:02 through 5:19 or so for the top 4 ladies! I ran 5:04.7, not bad for fat guy!

4:15 for the $

Actually that is pretty amazing, this is not a banked mondo track like Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, Tony ran a incredible solo effort, and besides which are you 40 or over? Did you drink your Haterade today? This is the best Masters mile in the US of A, and is on the map for future years,mark my words! A meet record for a 42yr old woman, solo effort, 5:02, come on now, pull your head out!

talk is cheap wrote:

4:15 for the $

Wow...I remember watching these races before the Cornell collegiate meet every year...it's an awesome event. I hope when I'm in my 40s I can still bust out a 4:20! Props to all of the masters who raced today!

Classic, predictable response, Sarah!

My point is/was based on Tony not having a great year last year, ailing a bit in Nov/Dec and not having raced a mile(let alone indoors) in a while....coming out and predicting 4:10 was a little bold.

As a matter of fact, yes, I am 40+ but that doesn't mean I automaticly agree with anything a top masters runner has to say.....guess I'm not part of the team!

BTW, how are your iron levels? :)

In the past three years, Tony hasn't debuted slower than 4:10 (or maybe even 4:09), so I'm not sure predicting 4:10 was "bold." And if he'd predicted 4:15 and then opened with 4:06, someone out in letsrun-land would have accused him of sand-bagging. When it comes to public predictions, you just can't win.

If Tony did indeed run 4:20, then that's by far the slowest he's run as a masters (beating his previous "dud," a 3:57 1500), and he certainly couldn't have predicted that. Given his recent workouts, I'd say this is an abberation and not an indication that Tony is about to topple off his masters pedestal.

In any case, I'll save Tony the trouble and predict 4:10 or better for him his next time out.

Any more results?

Didn't Tony have his back go out at XC Nats (also in NY) from sitting in the plane? He is a long tall dude to cram in those little seats- maybe us rich geezers on here should chip in the extra for first-class next time?

boy wonder wrote:

Didn't Tony have his back go out at XC Nats (also in NY) from sitting in the plane? He is a long tall dude to cram in those little seats- maybe us rich geezers on here should chip in the extra for first-class next time?

Until I move up to the next age group, Tony can keep cramming himself into the tiniest plane seats possible. ;-)

Yes exactly, I know precisely Tony's race history & I certainly would expect he'd think & aim & intend to run in the 4:10 range. It just suprises me that masters runners are still willing the voice their lofty goals knowing how many times in the past they haven't panned out & how much more unpredictable it is at masters age.

Let the racing/performances speak for themself!

Best training & racing wishes to Tony this year....and you too Pete, and Sarah, and OMBTS & all the groupies :)

I know where you're coming from, and I purposely steered clear of any suggestion that you shouldn't be able to criticize us big-mouth masters guys (especially given that I've been known to predict a little myself! ... ;-) when we come up with predictions on these threads.

Hey, you open up your mouth in public, you can't expect not to hear a little back - no matter how it turns out.

That said, I think we masters tend to talk out loud on these message boards a little bit (though usually only on our masters threads) because for many of us, the other guys/gals on the threads are people we see and race against quite often. They're friends whom we go out to dinner with before and after races, have drinks with a few times a year, etc. So it's sort of like just sitting around with the guys/gals and throwing out your goals - the same as I did earlier today over the phone with letsrun poster Shorter Than Frank. On these boards, over the phone, by email - there isn't that much difference to a lot of us (I've been known to use all three to carry on a conversation over the course of a day). Even the posters I've never met, I consider them friends. I root for them. I sweat out their injuries with them. I cross my fingers that their training and racing goes well.

Also, it's not like when we were younger. There's no pecking order at these races based on time. When Tony busts a fast one, we all cheer - and he still has to pay his part of the check at dinner. He runs slow ... well, maybe then someone will buy him a beer (or about 50 when his back went out at Clubs!). So it's not like he's trying to score points on anyone by predicting a fast time - because there are no points to win.

Anyway, I'm predicting all us masters guys get slower over the next couple years ... but I'm predicting most of us keep predicting we're just "that close" to bustin' another great race!

Following up on what Pete said, I think that it is good for the (masters) sport to "go out on a limb" (within reason, and TY certainly was within reason, considering his recent training). We may be geezers, but goddammit we don't have to be boring and predictable!

It's funny, there is kind of a reverse psychology going on with masters, compared to young runners. When (for example) Alan Webb busts a good season, everyone wonders how much faster he can run in the next few years. When TY gets a good one, everyone wonders, whether they voice it or not, how many more seasons he can simply maintain that level. In both cases their is both suspense and inspiration for the rest of us.

P.S. My personal suspicion is that Pete slipped a $100 to the seating reservations dept. to keep tony away from the aisle :-)

He ran 4:05 last year. How the heck is predicting 4:10 bold??? Get a clue.