BREAKING! Steve Spence runs 4:55 and continues his sub5 steak to 42 years.

It saying he couldn't have done it, it's just that he didn't.

He didn't run a single track race for years on end when he was a marathoner.

I spoke to Steve, with whom I share a May 9th birth date, at the PIAA State HS Outdoor Meet at SHIPP on the Saturday of Memorial Weekend at the end of May. He said that his earlier attempt this year had failed. So, it is great to know that he did it again this year! He had many legendary duals with Bill Reifsnyder Williamsport HS / Bucknell. Of Course Steve ran for Lower Dauphin HS / Shippensburg. Congrats To Steve!

Race or stfu wrote:

Begs the question, who has the longest streak of sub 5 minute miles in actual official competition and properly timed.

It "raises the question." It does not "beg[] the question."

BS alert wrote:

What's he using for mile races during his 20s and 30s when he was strictly a marathoner? He never raced a mile then. Is he using training times from mile repeats with running starts and self timed, or mile splits from marathons?

Calling total BS on the streak!

As someone has already pointed out earlier. This is something he does for himself and allows others to follow along. If he didn't run a track race in his 30's he is certainly counting workouts and races over that time period. Last time I checked if you run 28's for 10k you're hitting a sub 5min mile in there somewhere. He also ran 30:00's for 10k as a masters runner on the track which probably had a mile or two under 5. I doubt if he cares if other people don't count his streak as some sort of official record because he doesn't have a recorded "race" yearly. Dude knows what he has accomplished and that's that.

So how many of the years did he actually run a legitimate sub 5 mile?

Road race splits, interval training times, time trials seem to be the bulk of the sub 5s he's claiming.

BS alert wrote:

So how many of the years did he actually run a legitimate sub 5 mile?

Road race splits, interval training times, time trials seem to be the bulk of the sub 5s he's claiming.

Does it matter? Either you want to believe him or you don't. Assuming he doesn't care either way.

His claim is disrespect to milers and track runners. Road race splits, time trials, 1600m training intervals with running starts are not a mile.

It's like claiming a streak of sub 3 marathons based on training runs.

It's bs.

Very few of his 42 claimed miles are actually mile races. His high school races are 1600m. His times from his 20s and 30s are road race splits and times from tempo runs/1600m interval training with running starts.

He needs to show respect for the actual event and actually run one.

Called out wrote:

His claim is disrespect to milers and track runners. Road race splits, time trials, 1600m training intervals with running starts are not a mile.

It's like claiming a streak of sub 3 marathons based on training runs.

It's bs.

-10/10

It's true wrote:

Very few of his 42 claimed miles are actually mile races. His high school races are 1600m. His times from his 20s and 30s are road race splits and times from tempo runs/1600m interval training with running starts.

He needs to show respect for the actual event and actually run one.

last two posts actually made me laugh out loud. world champ bronze medalist and olympic runner disrespects anonymous letsrun posters and their meticulous record keeping--news at 11.

anonymous poster, i've run some mile races. i knew milers. milers are friends of mine. anonymous poster, you're no miler...

It's true wrote:

Very few of his 42 claimed miles are actually mile races. His high school races are 1600m. His times from his 20s and 30s are road race splits and times from tempo runs/1600m interval training with running starts.

He needs to show respect for the actual event and actually run one.

Dude, stick to one screenname.

I raced a mile in 4:55 last week here in Dallas to take my consecutive year sub-5 mile streak to 40 years. I am 55 yo. Steve is a stud and got an early jump on me. The year before my streak started, my best was a 5:01. I have raced an actual mile every year since before I turned 40. We all have different goals to keep us motivated. I bow to King Steve.

You may actually be the king if your times are from actual mile races.

We bow to you king.

Would you accept someone claiming a sub 4 mile from a road race split, downhill time, self timed, timed by friends, training session, treadmill, altitude conversion, relay split, running start, time trial, adjusted time due to heat or wind, 1600m time? No you wouldn't.

All of Walker and Scott's 100 plus sub 4s are real times. That's a real track statistic.

Spence's 42 claimed sub 5s are mostly false. It doesn't matter if he won a bronze medal at worlds in the marathon. He didn't complete his sub 5s in actual mile races.

Time trials, road race splits, 1600m interval training times with a running start, self timed, etc. is all bunk!

The mile is an athletic competition raced on the track, 1609 meters, against others racing the same distance.

Respect the integrity of the event.

So Cal Cush wrote:

Would you accept someone claiming a sub 4 mile from a road race split, downhill time, self timed, timed by friends, training session, treadmill, altitude conversion, relay split, running start, time trial, adjusted time due to heat or wind, 1600m time? No you wouldn't.

All of Walker and Scott's 100 plus sub 4s are real times. That's a real track statistic.

Spence's 42 claimed sub 5s are mostly false. It doesn't matter if he won a bronze medal at worlds in the marathon. He didn't complete his sub 5s in actual mile races.

Time trials, road race splits, 1600m interval training times with a running start, self timed, etc. is all bunk!

The mile is an athletic competition raced on the track, 1609 meters, against others racing the same distance.

Respect the integrity of the event.

Trying too hard..

Anybody here denying the streak is sad and pitiful. First of all, Spence never claimed for his streak to be race-based. He has simply stated that the streak is him having run a sub 5 mile every year. Only recently has he taken to the track to get it done. He's recognized that with his increasing age he's needed to to minimize factors that could keep him from traveling the distance in under 5 minutes. There has never been a "race factor" to the streak.

And if you don't think that he was running sub 5 miles during his prime, you're ridiculous. Any given day where he did a workout or race surely ticked the "sub 5" box.

Same rules apply for sub 5 as they do sub 4.

How much crap would someone cop if they claimed a streak of sub 4 miles using Spence's criteria.

Training runs, time trials, running start 1600m intervals, self timed, road race splits, etc.

What a load of crap!

It's like claiming a 26 mile self-timed training run under 3 hours as a sub 3 hour marathon.

Let's hear how many of his 42 "sub 5 miles" are legit. I'm guessing fewer than ten.

It's true wrote:

Very few of his 42 claimed miles are actually mile races. His high school races are 1600m. His times from his 20s and 30s are road race splits and times from tempo runs/1600m interval training with running starts.

He needs to show respect for the actual event and actually run one.

it's true you are BS

He's getting closer to the record but probably won't make it as it's still going ahead of him.