Pete Magill turns 50 on June 19. “And I can’t wait!” he writes in reply to questions in the wake of his huge 14:45 over the weekend in an open 5K in Los Angeles. But was he surprised to drop a single-age record early in track season? Nope. “I entered myself at 14:45, because that’s what I thought I’d run,” he says. “And I ran 14:45. So the time wasn’t a surprise. The surprise was that I was able to run the time following that faster, demanding first mile. If I’d slowed 3-4 seconds that first mile, I think I would have finished much stronger, possibly even challenging my American M45-49 record of 14:34.” But in my quickie Q&A with Pete, he spent just as much time talking up his son, Sean. That’s our Pete.

Here’s my Q&A with Pete:

Masterstrack.com: What were the conditions for your 14:45? 

Pete Magill: The meet was held at Occidental College in Los Angeles, with temperatures in the upper 50s and no wind to speak of.  In other words, conditions were perfect.  The only “condition” that wasn’t conducive to good racing was the size of the 5000 field, which totaled 53 entrants.  That’s a lot of bodies for a track race, especially when 75% of those bodies are inexperienced college and junior college runners

How did the race develop?  Did you have a plan, pace?

My usual race plan for a 5000 is to take the first 8 laps at a modest pace — just a little bit slower than what I feel I can handle — and then pick it up over the final 4 1/2 laps.  The size of the field demanded a different approach, however, as younger, inexperienced runners tend to go out way too fast — meaning I could easily have found myself trailing all 52 other runners and then having to pass them one by one throughout the race. 

That’s especially tough, because young runners will fight tooth and nail before they let this bald old man go by them, meaning I’d be exhausted by surges and mini-races long before the finish line.  Since my one goal was to run sub-15 minutes, I decided to risk a faster first mile, having confidence that I could hold on when the bill came due.   So that’s what I did, sitting in about 15th place after the mile, then slowing down my lap pace even as I eventually moved up to sixth place overall.  As it turned out, I had a lot left for the last lap.  But better cautious and sub-15 than overzealous and crawling to the finish line.

What meets will you enter this year?

Early April, I’m going to run the Carlsbad 5000, since it’s a race my club enters, and since we’d like to win the masters race as a team this year.  And I’ll probably run one 1500 this spring, just for the fun of it.  And then I probably won’t run a serious race again until the Masters 5K Road Championships at Syracuse, NY, in October.  After that, the USATF Club Cross Country Championship is the only meet I’m focusing on, where my 50-59 Compex Racing squad will be looking to unseat Club Northwest as age division champions.  The race is in Seattle, giving CNW a hometown advantage — plus, you know, they’re really, really good!

Any chance of hanging on for Sacramento worlds?

I’m not even considering entering worlds.  If I’m to achieve my goals in the fall, I’ll need to use the summer as a base-building period.  But I’ll still be going to Sacramento to cheer on my masters peers.  And since I won’t have to race, I’ll be able to help each day’s participants celebrate their victories and great efforts!  That is, until I run out of beer money.

What records are your shooting for at age 50?

I’m only shooting for one record: the road 5K mark for M50-54, currently 15:00 by Martin Rees of Great Britain.  Millions of 50+-year-old runners have raced 5K on the roads, and it’d be an honor and a thrill to be the first to dip under the 15 minute mark.  Rees also holds the M50-54 world record for 5000, at 14:53.2, but I probably won’t even think about going after that mark until 2012.  That’s OK.  It can wait.  When I turned 45, I made a point of immediately running all distances from 1500 to 10,000, thinking that was my best chance of getting age group records.  Well, I got four records, including the American 5000 mark less than two weeks after my birthday, running 14:45.96 – about one tenth of a second slower than I ran last night at almost 50! – but I also got a nasty case of plantar fasciitis from pushing it.  So I’ve learned that patience in going after records, as in all things, is a virtue.

Anything interesting about your recent training? Any life challenges or circumstances overcome?

Exactly a year ago, I couldn’t run a step because of a knee injury.  And I wouldn’t be able to run a step for another two months, finally able to train again in May.  A couple months later, I got my behind handed to me in both the 5000 and the 1500 at the USATF Masters T&F Championships in Sacramento.  That injury and those losses put a chip on my shoulder the size of the Rock of Gibraltar.  And they led to the kind of consistent, smart, focused training that is sometimes only possible when we feel we have something to prove.  That chip led me to the USATF Masters Club XC (10K) and USA XC (8K) individual championships, and it led me to 14:45.  Hopefully, there’ll still be a little chip left when I turn 50!

How is your son doing?

My son Sean is doing great.  He’s a junior at South Pasadena High School, where he plays football and runs track.  Last year in track, he won his school’s Frosh-Soph sprinter award, winning races during the year at every distance from 100 to 800 meters, as well as anchoring the squad’s 4×400 relay to the league title. 

This year, he made a huge decision, deciding to move up in distance as a prelude to running in college eventually.  So after football season— during which he played defensive end at 195 pounds — he spent 10 weeks training under my guidance.  He dropped to 165 pounds, then ran his first 1600 ever in 4:34.8, closing with a 66-second last lap.  I’ve now turned him over to the school’s distance coach, Pat MacGrail — who has some pretty good credentials as a coach, having mentored senior Sam Pons to the California State 3200 title last year and to a 14:16 5000 already this year.  Sean’s in very good hands.