I have run hundreds of mile races in my life though I was not a miler. Ran mile races in high school, college and post-collegiate.
My statement that "you are a joke" was way too harsh and personal,and I felt bad immediately after sending my reply. I apologize for that. It was uncalled for. And, I do agree with you that if claiming a record that he would need to actually have participated in official mile races. But, I think Steve is simply doing this for his own personal challenge and not for any type of record, and he knows, without a single doubt, that he ran a sub 5 mile in most every race he ran and every workout he did in his prime that had repeats longer than a mile. He also has all of his workouts recorded in his "logs". I can guarantee that.
I never did mile repeats on the track that weren't sub 5 when preparing for 5000's, 10,000's, half marathons, marathons,, etc.. and Steve was much better than me. I trained with Olympians and multiple OT participants like myself. Sub 5:00 pace was a given most any time we hit the track or intentionally pushed the pace.
Steve also knows this about his past running, and he is just challenging himself to try to reach his old tempo paces as he ages. Old tempo paces are now all out short intervals and mile efforts for him. I often do the same. Let him have fun. I have fun doing the same thing, it is just that the media and others around him find it interesting as he is an old Olympian. They aren't a bit interested in me, but I do the same thing. It is not his fault others have become interested in his own personal challenge. Trust me, what he is doing is fun and challenging. He enjoys that post workout feeling and the mental challenge of it all. It his how he is built.