Still Running (weakly). Issue 95

PAST – inspiration – “And that is real sympathy from Keino,” intoned David Coleman, as the Kenyan Olympic 1500 champ from 1968 consoled long-time rival, American Jim Ryun, who had won silver behind Kip in Mexico City but who had tripped in his heat in Munich 1972 and failed to qualify for the final. (Keino would win silver behind Pekka Vasala of Finland there, having already won steeplechase gold; he had won 5000 silver in 1968 to go with his 1500 gold.)

It was Ryun’s third Olympics and his last chance at gold. He had first competed in Tokyo 1964 as a 17-year-old and therein lies his claim to greatness. He was a prodigy, becoming the first high schooler to run a sub-four-minute mile, and setting world records at 1500 and the mile at the ages of 19 and 20.

Ryun, a classically built, tall, lean miler, trained ferociously hard – 40x400 metres at the age of 17 – and took the mile down from Michel Jazy’s 3:53.6 to 3:51.3 and then 3:51.1, and Herb Elliott’s 1500 mark of 3:35.6 down to 3:33.1!

PRESENT – perspiration – Sam Ruthe has done it. The young Kiwi ran a 3:58.35 mile on 19th March this year, becoming, at the age of 15 years and 341 days, the youngest ever to break the fabled four-minute barrier. In so doing, he surpassed Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was a positively geriatric 16 years and 250 days when he did it in 2017.

He drew praise from, among others, compatriot John Walker, who knows a thing or two about breaking barriers: he was the first man under 3:50 and the first to run 100 sub-4 miles!

As we noted last week, Ruthe has some great running genes, his maternal grandfather being Trevor Wright, who, in addition to winning European marathon silver in 1971, was still going strong 10 years later, when “the long-striding Yorkshireman” of Ron Pickering’s commentary, came third in the inaugural London Marathon.

The focus now perhaps shifts onto Faith Kipyegon, who is the first female to be talked about as having a chance at a sub-four-minute mile. She ran 4:07.64 in 2023, taking a chunk from Sifan Hassan’s 4:12.33 from 2019. It’s a huge ask..

FUTURE – suggestion – We 5km/10km/half/marathon headbangers often overlook the mile, but it is a great distance to test yourself against. It contains an element of endurance of course but remains at the lowest end of the racing spectrum for most of us.

But there are more and more road and track mile races around – and I would urge you to consider having a go at one of these. My club holds a Dream Mile every year, so called because it’s for guys like me who still dream we can run fast.

While we’re on miles – once in a while, at the end of a speed session, particularly one on the track, have a few minutes rest and then do an all-out mile.

It’s a great test and adds a valuable extra dimension to your session – the ultimate investment that you can cash in later, if you like. Brooks Johnson, the US coach who died last year, would often get his athletes to complete a final extra mile, which he called, “the one we can take to the Bank of America.”