Gerry Lindgren opened up 10 mile training run with 4:08 mile

Gernact wrote:

Yes, he deserves a pass for abandoning his wife and children and for lying about his running career because he was fast in high school and college.

So we've established that Gerry was a phenomenal runner who wasn't perfect. He also has a tremendous sense of humor and it is hard to tell when he is pulling your leg.

We've also established that Gernact and others like him are raving a$$holes with no sense of humor and are probably pissed off at life because they dropped out of their only mud run. So that pretty much sums up the thread.

So people calling out Lindgren for being a wife/child abandoner and for being a bold faced liar about his running are A-holes. Yet, the guy who abandoned his wife/children and who makes bold faced lies about his running is a great guy.

Lindgen did not hold the WR for 6mile/10000m, other Americans have held world records for long distance events, Lindgren did not come within a second of the 3mile/5000m, and other Americans have come just as close to the 5000m world record. Don't lie about verifiable facts.

To be fair, the main point being debated here is not whether or not Lindgren is a good guy (though some have touched on that), but whether his stories about running outside of his verifiable track traces are true.

Good guy? OK, fine. But the fact of the matter is there are lots of sources (including a fairly well-known book) that detail accomplishments by Lindgren that did not take place. The whole 88 mile long run, 350 miles a week spiel. THAT is what most people are objecting to.

Truths wrote:

Lindgen did not hold the WR for 6mile/10000m, other Americans have held world records for long distance events, Lindgren did not come within a second of the 3mile/5000m, and other Americans have come just as close to the 5000m world record. Don't lie about verifiable facts.

Lindgren and Billy Mills shared the six mile WR in 1965 for a few weeks until Ron Clarke took it back en route to his 10,000 record that year. The only other American distance runners I can think of who you could say held a world record was Buddy Edelen who set the marathon record in 1963. But in those days there was no official marathon record so even Edelen wasn't an actual record holder. Bob Schul had the two mile world record in 1964 so maybe he counts but I think of the two mile as middle distance.

What Americans other than Lindgren and Mills have held official long distance WRs?

Lindgren was credited as co-world record holder for the 6 miles in 27:11.6. I think what the poster "Truths" might be thinking is that since Lindgren was beaten by Billy Mills, how could he be considered the WR holder? I suppose this is kind of a semantic issue, and people can think whatever they want. Here's a link to a video of the finish:

"Truths" also stated that other Americans have come just as close to the 5000m record (I don't think he stated that American other than Mills and Lindgren held distance WRs). The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Sydney Maree, who finished in 13:01.15 in the race where Said Aouita set a WR of 13:00.40, so 0.75 seconds outside the record.

John Hayes (08), Robert Fowler (09), James Clark (09) and Al Raines (09) all of the United States held the World Marathon Best Time in the years shown.

I saw that 6 mile World Record race between Mills and Lindgren. It was one of the best races I ever saw. My memory that the lead changed nearly every lap but as the video shows Mills clearly won.

Billy Mills held the world record for 6 miles. I'm not sure why Lindgren is being credited with a world record when he was the second place finisher in the race.

Salazar and KK both held the marathon world record.

Video of Mills clearly beating Lindgen and establishing a new world record for 6 miles.

It's been a long tough road wrote:

Those bashing Gerry have issues themselves. The things I have read about Gerry's childhood are horrific and led him to great running and poor parenting. I've spent enough time in Adult Children of Alcoholics meetings to know how insideous being beat and tortured by your drunk father can affect the rest of one's life. Any ACOA needs ongoing professional help and they still have difficulty making a satisfactory adjustment to life. Gerry's personality is classic ACOA and I wish him and his kids the best.

Quit judging.

This

upthewsu wrote:

Billy Mills held the world record for 6 miles. I'm not sure why Lindgren is being credited with a world record when he was the second place finisher in the race.

.

By rounding, they had the same time and were both credited with the record. That was the rule at the time and has since been changed.

Truths wrote:

Lindgen did not hold the WR for 6mile/10000m, other Americans have held world records for long distance events, Lindgren did not come within a second of the 3mile/5000m, and other Americans have come just as close to the 5000m world record. Don't lie about verifiable facts.

Sorry but you're wrong.

Gerry Lindgren set the World Record for 6-miles (a superior mark to the 10,000m WR) in July 1965 at the AAU Nationls in San Diego. He also ran less than a second off the World Record for 3-miles (a superior mark to the 5000m WR)in May 1966 in Seattle at the Pac-8 Northern Division Championships.

No other American can boast better credentials in the two distance track events.

Bill Rodgers.

He lost in that 6 mile race to an American. He can't even claim an American record let alone a world record. Two near misses in two events, 3 mile and 6 mile, that weren't even international events is good domestic running, but not world class.

5000 meters - 13:33.8

10000 meters - 28:40.2

Lindgren's personal records at the two long distance track races.

3 miles ain't 5000m and 6 miles ain't 10,000m!

Beliefs

Lindgren has reiterated his belief is "Karma" as a large factor in his running success. He claims that "Karma comes from serving other people instead of serving yourself. I found that if I could serve others people without them knowing about it I could grow Karma faster," and that this would lead to success on the track.[citation needed]

Who is responsible for this piece of irony on Wikipedia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Lindgren

Realist1 wrote:

Two near misses in two events, 3 mile and 6 mile, that weren't even international events is good domestic running, but not world class.

clockdon'tlie wrote:

5000 meters - 13:33.8

10000 meters - 28:40.2

Lindgren's personal records at the two long distance track races.

3 miles ain't 5000m and 6 miles ain't 10,000m!

You guys just aren't getting it are you?

The 3-mile and 6-mile were run more often back then by Americans, British, Australians, and New Zealanders - who happened to be among the very best runners in the world.

Lindgren's pr's:

3-mile 12:53.0 Converts to 13:20-13:22 for 5000m

6-mile 27:11.6 Converts to 28:09-28:11 for 10,000m

The 5k and 10k World records at the time of Lindgren's runs:

5000m 13:24.2

10,000m 28:14.0

Realist1 wrote:Two near misses in two events, 3 mile and 6 mile, that weren't even international events is good domestic running, but not world class.

Prefontaine raced 3-miles more often in the 70's than he did 5000m's.

Yet, it took him 8 years to break Gerry Lindgren's American record of 12:53. Why? Because the 12:53 was superior to any of Pre's 5000m races. Pre finally broke it by 1.6 seconds after graduating college, and it remained superior to any of his 5000m races as well. If you were white and spoke English back then, the 3-mile was more common than the 5000m, whether you were from USA, Britain, New Zealand or Australia.