Olympian Steve Spence runs sub 5:00 min mile for the 38th year in a row!!

Try it when you are 51 and see if you become retroactively impressed.

Veritas wrote:

I'm not impressed. Why should this be impressive?

Not that Steve probably gives a sh*t, but how many of those miles were in actual official races? This last one certainly was not.

Amazing effort regardless.

...actual official races?

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Would that matter to someone with Spence's experience? If it were me I would prefer to make such an attempt in an official race. There is something about being in a competitive race that improves my performance.

Veritas wrote:

I'm not impressed. Why should this be impressive?

Typical answer for someone like you who was wearing diapers 10-12 years ago. Idiot

Stuart Calderwood of NYC is at 41 years and still going.

VF Runner wrote:

That's pretty impressive.

NYC isn't too far from Ship. Maybe next year (and any future years) someone should try to get them together to race to extend their streaks.

5th avenue mile?

did not know that. Go, Stuart! And congratulations to Steve Spence for his terrific streak.

ifyouthinkso wrote:

Stuart Calderwood of NYC is at 41 years and still going.

VF Runner wrote:

That's pretty impressive.

NYC isn't too far from Ship. Maybe next year (and any future years) someone should try to get them together to race to extend their streaks.

5th avenue mile?

I would plan on going up to watch that.

Steve Spence did run a 25:44 8k last year which is insane for a 50 year old!

Ship Elite wrote:

Steve Spence ran 4:51 tonight at his collegiate XC camp to continue his streak to 38 years. Does anyone know if he is getting close to the longest streak ever?

One doesn't have to be a jerk - just a fan of the sport - to wonder if this is all that news-worthy or impressive? Given his obvious natural talent, is one 4:51 in your early 50s real impressive by national/world-level standards? Probably not. OK, but what about 38 years worth of them? Well, again, given his talent level, this streak of sub-5's basically says that he's been in decent shape for the last 38 years. Nice, but not all that impressive...in NON-Runner's World "just getting out the door to exercise is a triumph!" world.

One doesn't have to be a jerk - just a fan of the sport - to wonder if this is all that news-worthy or impressive? Given his obvious natural talent, is one 4:51 in your early 50s real impressive by national/world-level standards? Probably not. OK, but what about 38 years worth of them? Well, again, given his talent level, this streak of sub-5's basically says that he's been in decent shape for the last 38 years. Nice, but not all that impressive...in a NON-Runner's World "just getting out the door to exercise is a triumph!" world.[/quote]

Sorry, that should have been "AT LEAST decent shape for the last 38 years." He clearly exceeded "decent" in at least a few of those years !!

You're over-analyzing it.

This is cool, but I'd be more impressed if his job had been non-running related for the last couple of decades. IMO, it would be much, much harder for a working stiff (salesman, doctor, lawyer, garbageman, whatever) to keep up the motivation for all these consecutive years with demands of young families at some point (presumably) and long (or not) work hours. But a guy who was a professional runner and then a coach ever since is around running all the time and has time to keep up the minimum fitness. Hell, he probably trains at times with his runners.

Let's face it, sub-5 for a talented runner isn't all that difficult even into one's early 50s, particularly with no long break from running or big weight gain. It's the dedication to the streak that's impressive, and in this case it has been a lot easier than it would be for most. If the guy at 41 years has kept up a non-running career, that's far more impressive to me.

Iced Legs wrote:

Steve Spence did run a 25:44 8k last year which is insane for a 50 year old!

It's very good (well, much faster than me, anyway) but not insanely good. Remember that Martin Rees ran a 66 minute half marathon at 50 - same pace as this, or even a bit faster - for nearly 3 times the distance.

Wonder how long before Neely leaves Hanson's . She has not run well while training in Detroit. You'd think her dad would be a much better coach for her. Detroit is the armpit of the world so you can hardly blame her.

Pedantic Jerk wrote:

kipkeino3 wrote:

P Jerk,

4:51 * (1600/1609.34) = roughly 4:49.3

Thanks for doing the math. That is pretty fast! Any idea what his best mile time was when he ran it in the Olympics?

From this article:

Steve ran a 4:12 in HS (article says 1600, but I thought they were still running the mile then), and a 3:48 1500 in College. So...I'm guessing his mile PR is in the 4:02-4:05 range...or at least he was capable of it.

Actually quite depressing. He used to run 26 miles at that pace.

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Troll

I'm pretty impressed, even though Spence was an Olympic runner and remains a coach. Didn't Mark Coogan try this and he ended up tearing his achilles a couple years back. It's a streak to be proud of and an inspiration for us also rans.

Here's my litany of miles and trials and tribulations from 19 to 51. Pretty average by letsrun standards.

4:49

4:37

DNC in track (but many sub 5s in xc practice)

4:31

DNC (but see above)

4:44

DNC (but ran 15:28 5K)

DNC (but ran 15:52 5K)

4:24 (PR)

4:26

DNC (but ran 16:00 5K)

DNC (but ran 16:03 5K) (age 30)

4:31

4:32

4:34 road

4:42 time trial

4:46 time trail

4:50 time trial

4:51 time trial

4:54 time trial (note the trend)

4:57 time trial

injured (ran 17:20 5K/35:40 10K late in the year)

4:38 (age 40)

4:40

4;45

4:51 road

injured

5:02 road

5:08

4:56

4:54

5:07 road

5:00 (age 50)

5:00 (age 51)

Steve's Daughter wrote:

Wonder how long before Neely leaves Hanson's . She has not run well while training in Detroit. You'd think her dad would be a much better coach for her. Detroit is the armpit of the world so you can hardly blame her.

Yeah, she was only the highest finishing non-African woman at the world xc championships.

That was one of the most competitive fields in world cross history. Yeah and she did awesome in track too making the world team. Oh wait neither of those is true. Wait what place was she at U.S. Nationals in Des Moines? Nice try but you were never an expert.