Jim Sorensen, our great miling hope, celebrated his 40th birthday on Thursday. And a member of the T&FN Message Board posted a wonderful review on his storied career. We learn: “Congratulations to Jim Sorensen, 1996 OT runner-up, who turns the big 40 today. Jim has been looking forward to this day for a good while now, as his track durability has astonishingly remained in tact well beyond his peak, having run 1.50.89-3.44.17-4.02.66 last season between his 38th and 39th birthdays (4:02 was run six days before his 39th; 3.44 was run three days after his 39th)”.

We further learn:

Sorensen was the 1991 NCAA II 1500 champion, but was denied his 15 minutes of fame when, powering down the homestretch against Sonoma State’s Mike Stone, Sorensen was mis-identified as 1990 NCAA II champ Scott Hempel, Sorensen’s teammate who won the event as a first-year Cal Poly SLO student and was also in the race. When he was identified, he was in the process of recovering from delirium and exhaustion following a hard run in San Angelo’s heat, and was whisked away for drug testing.
A funny thing happened to Sorensen along the way in life when he followed John Rembao, his SLO coach, to Arizona. Sorensen — who doesn:t look or dress much like a runner (usually ran with a plaid shirt on and training pants with holes in them to go along with glasses he had taped together!) – was asked by the head coach of the U of A programme to actually get off the track one day when Sorensen was out warming up, with the coach saying something to the effect that the track was for athletes only (as opposed to everyday joggers). Taught one and all not to judge a book by it:s cover – not then, and certainly not 13 years later.
Sorensen has had a small hand in history, running his first-ever sub-4,00 mile (3.59,70y) in the exact same race Matt Giusto ran the first sub-4,00 ever in San Francisco (Keazar Stadium).
Sorensen placed sixth (video) in the 1986 CA State Meet 800m in 1.52,38 at Cerritos College following a 1.53,99 qualifier the prior evening. For good measure, the three distances down from Sorensen:s race — the 100m, 200m and 400m, were either won or placed by future Olympians (Watts 2:nd in 100m, won the 200m; Steve Lewis won 400m). Just to give you another perspective of how long ago this was, Janeen Vickers was on her way to winning two state hurdles titles on the women:s side.
Sorensen’s greatest, most spectacular race, was the 1996 Olympic Trials, where he mustered enough guts and slowed down the least, to nab 2:nd in a slow, tactical kickers race. Everyone except McMullen paid the price for letting a guy who, at 18-years-old, had run 48.6 in the 400m and had gained a whole lot of strength in the 10 years since then anywhere near the pack with a lap to go. Sorensen, as well as third-placer Jason Pyrah and fourth-placer, Erik Nedeau, had provisionally qualified, but lacked the Olympic standard time (3.38,00) to make the team. They zig-zagged across North America and also Europe in search for their marks – much as did Michael Stember in 2000. Sorensen’s PB – and his ever-so-close ticket to the Games in Atlanta, was set in Hechtel where Sorensen was actually asked to rabbit a race and get paid for it. He wound up getting into the 1.500m there, and ran 3.38,65, but could not catch a break before the qualifying deadline. On 16-july-1996, Brian Hyde learned he’d become an Olympian.
El G won the Hechtel race in 3.31.61.
Sorensen marches on in time not because he can:t hang up the spikes – his peak long past him, rather because he can still throw down against the best of them and be competitive. Curt Schilling keeps track of all his opponents in scrapbooks and makes notes of particular players tendencies to swing at certain pitches.
No one on this planet has more information gathered and stored than Sorensen does about his competitors, tracks, splits and times! It:s a love for the sport and an appreciation for hard work which keep this man:s two feet moving forward in the direction they are seemingly headed: to record performances and a little more respect than he received in 1991 when he was called the wrong runner, and in 1996 when nobody knew enough about him to give him a chance.
Here’s hoping that when Sorensen wakes up on the West Coast of CA today he smirks.