50-year-old Linda Somers-Smith finishes 8th (in the women's open race) at US Club Cross Country Champs

Really enjoying the ad for Poise brand hourglass shaped pads that popped up next to your post--just thought I would let you know.

rude brospeh wrote:

i saw her at some PA races this year...trust me, no certificate needed. she looks all of 55 or whatever.

Respectfully submitted: Except for that crazed look in her eyes when she's racing. She's a beast.

ddk wrote:

I don't understand how this doesn't register with you.

No one is picking on anyone here, it's simple fact.

Numbers don't lie, that's what makes track beautiful.

I don't understand how you can be statistically challenged enough to think you can compare two different populations "linearly", let alone compare cross country to the marathon! Take a statistics course bud.

+1

rude brospeh wrote:

i saw her at some PA races this year...trust me, no certificate needed. she looks all of 55 or whatever.

I'm confused -- what does fibroid surgery have to do with her racing incredibly fast?

She ran amazingly well this year and this weekend.

Drug test her.She's frickin dirty.Remember Eddy hellabuyk.same old crap.

Funny enough, at the very top (say WR times and near) males and females 'slow down' at a very similar rate as distance goes up (say from 1500m to 42.2km). The dropoff occurs on a micro-scale (let's say on a per-race basis).

I think I understand what point you're trying to make, however if you consider male and female world records 'equivalent' or roughly equivalent, wouldn't you also expect to see the same 'rough equivalent' dropoff for 10th, 25th, 50th, or 100th place?

Here's my attempt at a chart (event, pace, % difference between event and next shorter event)

Ev. - M / W (pace)

15 - 55 / 61

5k - 61 / 68 (90%)

10k - 63 / 71 (95%)

M - 70 / 77 (90%)

I did some minor rounding, but the percentages are within 2% each time. (how's that for statistics?)

So if it's not a lack of depth, why do women's races get proportionately slower than men's races as the places get larger?

There was a RT article about her a few months ago and I remember it talked briefly about how she had uterine fibroids that inhibited her training, but did not really go into specifics, other than that she had something done to take care of the fibroids and her training was back on track.

Again, screw the % comparisons and just spot the poor lady a full decade- 40 to 50- and ask yourself "When did 40-year old man have a chance for a top ten finish in a national championship, even Clubs?

oh please spare us wrote:

Are you kidding us?! She ran freakin' 20:27 for 6K, which would have been good enough to place her in the top 37 at the NCAA Championship! This has nothing to do with depth. She's running legit times.

ddk wrote:

I think that's the point. 36 places behind the men's winner is not the same thing as 36 places behind the women's winner. If we're talking about overall depth in women's distance running, not just the difference between master's and open.

What?

Fibroids are like tumors. Not only can they be painful they develop their own vasculature diverting blood and nutrients. They can be numerous and grow to extremley large sizes in diameter and mass. I can imaging they can be very problematic for an athlete on any level. Try running with a 2-5lbs that sucks blood and grows. Treatment can include occluding the blood supply, removal of specific fibroids, and removal of the uterus. Removal of fibroids can result in dramatic weight loss specially if it includes removal of the uterus as well. If you loose 3-5lbs would you be able to run faster? Not to mention the added benefit of not having a tumor utilizing blood and nutrients.

While I do agree that there is not nearly as much depth in women's running as there is in men's, it is still ridiculous to act like this is not a crazy accomplishment.

If you set the winning time from the women's race (19:54) equal to X, Somers-Smith's time is equal to X+0.0276X. For the men, this equation gives 29:38+0.0276(29:38) which is equal to a 30:27. While it is true that 30:27 would have only taken 20th in the men's race, it is still much more impressive than any master's male actually ran.

ddk asks: "Are there 50 year old men that can run low 5's for 6km?"

There must be. I'm mid-40's, and can run 6:00's for 5k, and I'm not a distance guy, and only do limited 5k stuff, mostly off-season in the winter on treadmills.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

ddk asks: "Are there 50 year old men that can run low 5's for 6km?"

There must be. I'm mid-40's, and can run 6:00's for 5k, and I'm not a distance guy, and only do limited 5k stuff, mostly off-season in the winter on treadmills.

It's one thing to do it on the roads, entirely different on an XC course. This is the only guy I'm aware of that can approach 5low at a 6K XC though there are probably lots of others:

Brian Pilcher 55 M 0:23:38 (5:34) 10/29/2011 Tamalpa Challenge PA XC 4.25M

Another who can. From USA 2011 XC Championships - (8K, right?)1. Peter Magill 49 M 26:17 (5:13)

Flatulus wrote:

Sprintgeezer wrote:

ddk asks: "Are there 50 year old men that can run low 5's for 6km?"

There must be. I'm mid-40's, and can run 6:00's for 5k, and I'm not a distance guy, and only do limited 5k stuff, mostly off-season in the winter on treadmills.

It's one thing to do it on the roads, entirely different on an XC course. This is the only guy I'm aware of that can approach 5low at a 6K XC though there are probably lots of others:

Brian Pilcher 55 M 0:23:38 (5:34) 10/29/2011 Tamalpa Challenge PA XC 4.25M

From USA 2011 XC Championships - (8K, right?)

1. Peter Magill 49 M 26:17 (5:13)

Ha! Of course Magill could do it (how did I overlook him?!) ... that was 10K not 8K. Wow.

Oops, wrong race - you're right 8k. But here's three guys from the USATF club championships who ran pretty well over 10K at ~50 (I bet they could run a little better at 6K):

26 Danny Martinez 49 M Compex Racing-A 34:02 5:29

27 Tony Young 49 M Club Northwest-A 34:07 5:30

28 Ken Ernst 50 M Compex Racing-A 34:08 5:30

Very impressive.

As a 54 yr. old guy who runs 50 mpw but gets hurt just thinking about racing I have a tremendous amount of respect for her performance.

Sadly, this.

santa fe transplant wrote:

Drug test her.She's frickin dirty.Remember Eddy hellabuyk.same old crap.