Henry Rono training for masters mile record. PART II

Wow henry great result. The growth curve for Henry has been so mind boggling. Just think a few months ago he was over 200 pounds struggling to run "grandy pace" up the hills and walking down them.

As long as he has that record in mind and as long as he works towards it seems inevitable he will achieve whatever he wants.

Also, great performance by Solomon Kandie in the Steeple at Stanford. Team Rono is taking over the distance world!

17:47?! That's moving! I knew he has been running for a while now, but I didn't think he'd be sub 18 already!

I'm thrilled to hear about Henry's race in Carlsbad!

A little late to post these articles, but I didn't see them until just now:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20070330-9999-lz1s30back.html

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03/30/sports/scholfield/21_28_443_29_07.txt

Wow! Well done, Henry.

I ran a ways behind Henry this morning. His form looked great. He still has a ways to go to get to a good racing weight, but his running was impressive. Congratulations Henry! Keep up the good work. You are an inspiration to all of us older runners.

Great run Henry. I had predicted sub 18:00 if you had a good day but did not expect you would break it by much. You are in better shape than I think anyone expected. Keep up the great work! You are on track to meet your goals.

HIP HIP HORAAAY!!!

Onward and upward to the poppermost of the toppermost!

Old guy II wrote:

I ran a ways behind Henry this morning. His form looked great. He still has a ways to go to get to a good racing weight, but his running was impressive. Congratulations Henry! Keep up the good work. You are an inspiration to all of us older runners.

I ran close to him too, for a while this morning. I was surprised (I'll admit), that he still looked pretty heavy. He ran a great time considering he's hauling 15 lbs of extra weight on those 55 year old legs and knees. Can you imagine what he will run when he's under 150 lbs? I won't be running next to him then; that's for sure!

Since nobody has done this, I guess I might as well. This is from the race website. You have to scross all the way down to the very bottom to get "results":

4272 Geoffren Erickson Wilmington CA 56 M 13:39 13:39 3 3 0

7973 Nolan Shaheed Pasadena CA 57 M 16:31 16:32 24 24 1

30 Henry Rono Alburqueque nm 55 M 17:48 17:50 50 50 2

4446 Reid Harter Boise ID 56 M 18:16 18:18 80 80 3

985 Gene Wilson Redondo Beach CA 57 M 34:03 34:13 94 53 0

So look, dog (as Randy Jackson says on American Idol): the evidence is conclusive, overwhelming, what have you. Henry is for real, and closing fast.

Did ANYBODY really think, one year ago, that he would be doing this?

I'm reminded of the epigraph to Jay McInerney's BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, which is a quote from Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES. Something like, "How did you go broke, Mike? Slowly at first, then quickly."

Henry's astonishing progress inverts this. Comebacks work in mysterious ways. This comeback took its sweet time, but it's starting to flower, quickly, and that's sweet.

Go Henry! No stopping now!

Sorry about that. This is the 55-59 AG.

The last three numbers are, I believe, the following: chip time, gun time (or vice versa) and AG place. Notice that the first and fifth guys have "0" for AG place. DQs, I assume?

Henry, in any case, was, as noted, 2 in AG and 50th overall.

KudzuRunner wrote:

Sorry about that. This is the 55-59 AG.

is this result saying that the winner of the 55-60 year old div. ran a 13:39 5k.....no way..

You're right. That's why I made that third post. I'm quite sure there's a mistake there. The #'s in the right-most column are AG place, and the "0" says all that needs to be said.

KudzuRunner wrote:

The last three numbers are, I believe, the following: chip time, gun time (or vice versa) and AG place. Notice that the first and fifth guys have "0" for AG place. DQs, I assume?

Henry, in any case, was, as noted, 2 in AG and 50th overall.

Correction: chip place, gun place (not times), AG place

I believe Geoffrey Erickson of California competed in the wheelchair division.

Nolan Shaheed was 1st, and Henry finished 2nd.

This is awesome!

no way... wrote:is this result saying that the winner of the 55-60 year old div. ran a 13:39 5k.....no way..

Yes, you guys are absolutely right. I went and googled, discovered that one Geoffrey Erickson had competed in several wheelchair-divisioned events.

Henry was indeed 2nd in AG.

When I plugged Henry's age (55) and time (17:48) into the WAVA calculator, it said that his time was equivalent to a 25-year old running 15:15.

At 15 pounds above running weight, that is not bad.

Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen. We're in for quite a ride.

Well done Henry Rono!!

Recover well, and have a great spring and summer on the roads. Will you be racing on the track as well??