Ed Whitlock

How fast is Ed Whitlock?  He replied to my email queries only hours after I sent them — despite his stiffness after running a half-marathon in 1:37:34.  Among other things, he gently corrected me on the M75 age-group record for 13.1 miles. I cited an Italian’s 1:36:56 in 2008. Turns out that a respected group called the Association of Road Racing Statisticians, which keeps single-age records, has a 2007 mark of 1:29:26 for a 76-year-old phenom named  . . . Ed Whitlock. Thanks for your memory, Ed! In any case, Ed hopes to recover in time for WMA indoor worlds in Kamloops in March 2010 and Sacramento in July 2011, when he’ll be 80. Look out, worlds. You ain’t seen nuthin yet!

Masterstrack.com: Was Toronto really your first race in two years, as some articles said?

Ed Whitlock:  I guess a little word got lost in the translation. I said it was my first serious race in two years. I have run a few races previously this year, but my training was woefully lacking and they were entered with little ambition — more like survival.

Why the half instead of the full marathon? Wimping out on us?

A 1500 isn’t tough? Because of my knee problems, I haven’t done enough training to run a marathon, I hadn’t really done enough for even a half. All being well if I can keep training, I hope to run marathons again, but probably not till next fall.

Describe every step of yesterday’s race. When did it hurt?

My objective was to beat Ed Benham’s single-age (78) record of 1:38:05. At 5K I was under my target pace but at 10K I was over, my knee was complaining a little and I wondered if the sensible thing would be to stop, but kept going — struggling for another couple of kilometres to a turn-around point where the slight breeze became favourable and I immediately felt better and thought my pace improved. 

On checking my splits afterwards, this was not true — there was only a very marginal improvement so that I didn’t lose any more time. With 5K to go I did manage to speed up although I was not aware of that. But my confidence was improving and I pulled back the deficit then got under target pace. I finally realised with about 1K to go that the record was achievable. Felt quite good at the end.

 Did you run with anyone?  Get any help at the end by some whippersnapper?

 Lots a runners around all through the race, but it was an ever changing group.

Did you beat any kid worth mentioning — and shame them into retiring from the sport?

 None that I know of.

Tell about your recent aches and pains and how you overcame them.

I started to have trouble with my right knee in the summer of 2007 and stopped running in August. I would give it a rest for a while then start running again, but the pain would recur. I was optimistic it would eventually improve as I had a similer ache in my left knee eight years ago and recovered from that after a year’s rest. 

Finally after a year had MRI’s done on both knees. Osteo in both of them, running days were over according to the joint specialist. Got a second opinion from another doctor who is also a competitive runner who was encouraging. Told me to keep trying. 

Finally things began to improve and although I have had numerous interruptions I have gradually made progress and managed to get in a couple of months of continuous training before this race. I have been taking glucosamine in the hope it may help.

What was your goal? Were you aware the Italian had a faster M75 time?

See answer to Q3. As far as I know, I have the unofficial M75 record of 1:29:15 at age 76 which is better than Luciano’s at age 75 (see www.arrs.net  and click on single age records).

How did race organizers and media treat you afterward?

The race organizers have always been very nice to me at the Waterfront marathon. An elite start, flowers at the finish, VIP treatment, stage appearance and assistance in giving out the prizes to the major winners together with Joan Benoit Samuelson. Not much media attention, although some sound and video interviews at the finish.

Now what?  Tell about your track plans for upcoming year and seasons.

Ah, now we come to it. No big plans, I have to see how I recover from this. I’m quite stiff today, my knee seems OK but won’t know till I run on it. I have thoughts about going to the WMA indoor in Kamloops and of course the WMA outdoors in Sacramento.