Greatest front runner of all time?

calculo wrote:

i'd put this run on dirt right up there :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlwS0Fyq8vk

( stadium clock gave him 3'50.9 & that was likely some sort of auto-timing, so not sure why he got a 3'51.1 from the stopwatches ?! )

he admitted he was terrible judge of pace, partly because just 20y & not used to self-pacing & also because partial deafness made it hard for him to hear lap splits being shouted out & re-adjusting pace, so mostly had to do it on "feel", which he wasn't good at, at just 20y

worse still he bemoaned his pace misjudgement ability, stating after run that he

~ so much energy left at the finish, I couda gone another 100y at same pace !!!

( i can make an estimate for that, but later )

to put it into context, the all-time list after that run was

Ryun - 3'51.1WR

Ryun - 3'51.3WR

Keino - 3'53.42

jazy - 3'53.6wr

Ryun - 3'53.7

jurgen - 3'53.8

he had just solo'ed the mile WR, beating 2nd fastest guy's time by

2.3+s !!!

Entering the stadium Friday evening, Ryun had no idea of the wonders he was about to perform. He was not even sure he would try for a record. "I'm prepared for a big effort mentally," he said, "but I'm still not sure I'm all right for it physically. It all depends on just how good I feel." Thoroughly rested after an easy week, he stood for a few moments on the grass near the entrance to the track, then turned to some friends. "Don't take this the wrong way," he said quietly, "but could I have about 20 minutes to myself right now?" He had made his decision. He jogged off alone across the field outside the stadium, then sat down under a clump of trees to complete the loosening-up exercises that would prepare him, physically and psychologically, for the fastest mile that has ever been run.

In his recent races Ryun had been relaxing behind the leaders, surging to the front whenever he pleased and winning in times dictated by the early pacemakers. "I realized," he said, "that I wouldn't set any records doing that, because no one was going to knock himself out setting a record pace. So I decided to push myself." He told only one opponent, Grelle, of his plan. "Fine. See you later," Grelle answered. "I sure won't try to keep up with you."

No one tried, as Ryun ran the first quarter in 59.2 and the half in 1:59, slightly slower than he had wanted to go. "My legs felt kind of heavy early," he said. "Then I began to feel very good. In fact, this was an easier race than the one at Berkeley last year."

Moving farther away from the field, Ryun ran his third quarter in 58.6. "When I saw what you were doing," said Oregon's Roscoe Divine, who finished fifth, "I thought I'd like to rush up to help push you. But then I said, 'Let him do it himself. I'd better just worry about placing.' "

When the time was announced, officials asked Ryun to jog a victory lap for the crowd. "You must really feel like jogging another lap," someone said. Ryun looked up with a small smile. "You know, that's the trouble. I do. I have too much left." As he jogged, Divine talked about Ryun's feet. "With somebody to help him," Divine said, "he'll certainly run 3:50." Grelle, who was delightedly claiming a world record of his own—"for my age group"—added, "You can't set a figure. There is no limit."

Ryun came back and asked to hear the times for all the runners. They were duly recited, down to Liquori's 3:59.8, and as he listened Ryun seemed to realize for the first time just what he had done. "Gee," he said, "that was a fast race, wasn't it? But if I could run that fast, and still close in 53.5, I guess I've got a long way to go yet."

The next year when you ran your final World Record mile of 3:51.1, the race wasn’t as even-paced, but a last lap sprint. After laps of 59, 60 and 58.5, you closed in an amazing 53.7. Did you think you had a chance for the World Record when you hit the bell lap in 2:57 and change, and how fast were you feeling that last lap and during the final home stretch?

JR It’s kind of funny because that race had a preliminary heat the night before and sometimes that is overlooked. I think we ran about 4:07 in the prelim and the last three quarters was 3:01 point something. I wasn’t rested on that next night. Because I was in one of the inside lanes, my strategy was to go to the front quickly and then to let someone come around and take the pace. Nobody wanted to do that so the pace was very even, something I had planned on. About halfway through the race I started feeling really great. It was one of those rare moments, and you call it the zone, whatever or however someone may think of it, but I felt very comfortable and very relaxed. My first thought was, ‘I feel really great. I wonder how the guys behind me are doing?’ So if you see the race on tape you will see me occasionally take a quick glance backwards. I could not hear them. I have a hearing loss and wasn’t wearing hearing aids then as I do now. I could see they were drifting back a bit and so my thought was I should probably accelerate some because, if they were feeling like I was, I might have extended myself too much too early in the race. We got to the last lap and I began a gradual pick up of the pace. I don’t know how to say this any other way, but there are days when you can’t do anything wrong and that was one of those days. I was floating. I was comfortable. Again, it was my answer to prayer. I was only a little disappointed that I didn’t run a little harder on the last lap. It could have been under 3:50. It was one of those moments when everything was going very well, but you are never sure of that. One of the things that I am often asked at our running camps is what it is like to be out in front of everyone that far. Every runner may find themselves in that situation at some time. So I’m asked if I felt really confident and strong. My thoughts in that race were that I was out in front and there was no guarantee I would even finish, but you just do the best you can and in this case it was a 3:51.1 mile

GCR: Even though you are known primarily for your mile and 1,500 meter racing prowess, you set your first World Record at 880 yards at the 1966 US Championships in 1:44.9. Most top half mile and 800 meter races are run with a two second positive split, so how tough was it to run negative splits of 53.3, 51.6? Also, were you fully recovered from your 1:51 heat two hours earlier or was it a good warm up?

JR That was in Terre Haute, Indiana and we did run that preliminary just a few hours before the final. It was one of those unusual times when I was really worn out as I had a little bit of a sore throat. I tried to go back and go to sleep across the street in the Indiana State dorm where we were staying. I tried to rest and it didn’t work. I knew at that time that I didn’t have the experience as a half-miler, but I wanted to score the points for our team. My intention was to stay off the pace and it happened that way. I don’t remember who led but after the first 500 yards on the back stretch I decided to make a decisive move and to my surprise it was a very easy opening up of a very large distance. I was able to maintain that pace which surprised me. I finished that last 440 as you said in 51 seconds so they were negative splits. Coach Timmons was in the stands and was timing me. He told me someone asked him the time and he said he didn’t know because he had looked at his watch and thought, ‘This is a World Record. This isn’t Jim’s race. Wat is happening here?’ It was a surprise to everyone, I included, and it was the beginning of another era of middle distance running for this country and for me