Harvey’s W40 indoor mile world record falls to Sonja Friend-Uhl
Any time you beat an Alisa Harvey record, you know you’re good. So good on Sonja Friend-Uhl, who ran a mile Saturday in 4:44.81 at Virginia Tech. That crushes Alisa’s listed W40 world indoor record of 4:47.26 from 2007. See results here. Sonja says: “I am preparing all documents now and already received the required signatures on site the day of the meet. Just waiting on the surveyor’s certificate so I can mail everything in to Sandy Pashkin. I’m very excited and hoping to run faster this spring.” In fact, she’s not the fastest W40 middle-distancer of all time. That title will ever belong to Russia’s Yekaterina Podkopayeva, who ran an indoor 1500 in 4:05.19 at age 44 in 1997. But Sonja’s mark is still amazing. In the video, announcer is acutely aware of WR prospects.
Sonja shared details of the race at my usual shameless insistence:
Splits were: 36.3 (209 meters for first lap), 36.1, 36.5, 34.7, 34.1, 34.8, 36.1, 36.1. They had a rabbit but she did not take us out fast enough. In fact, I was in the lead for the first 150m and then tucked in trying to relax a bit. We were supposed to go through the 800 in 2:20 but were off of that from the first lap.
So coming off the turn into the 4th lap I took over the lead and dropped the pace from 36 to 34s to get us back on pace. Only one other runner came with me (from UNC – Greensboro). She stayed behind me until 2 laps to go when she moved up on my shoulder and took over the lead coming into the last lap. This was actually perfect because my legs were dying at that point and I needed someone to help with the pace. I finished just behind her for 2nd but secured my record time which was the obvious goal!
I think I could have ran a bit faster if: 1) We had went out at the appropriate pace (70/2:20) and 2) if I didn’t have to drop the pace so drastically in the middle laps.
My only challenge coming into the race was the fact I have been battling a strained hamstring/glute in my right leg since late December. It is slow to heal, and has limited my training — especially speed work, but I am still quite strong aerobically and can run a good mile off of strength.
My goal was first to break the record by any margin…2nd goal was to run 4:45, and ultimate (secret!) goal was to run 4:44 or better. So the outcome I had best hoped for was a reality. I am very happy with the result and looking forward to running even faster this Spring as well as going after some national records in other events!
6 Responses
Great run! Congratulations!!
Sonja is a big-time runner in both style and performance. That she would handily beat all but one of the college women in this race is no surprise. The woman from University of North Carolina-Greensboro who finished ahead of Sonja must be very good indeed.
sheeeeeesh! anything close to an Alisa Harvey effort is crazy – let alone improve on it. well done
Way to go Sonja! Too bad the runner from NC-Greensboro didn’t share a bit of the lead in the middle of the race. College kids these days . . .so lazy.
Alisa Harvey wrote me this morning, replying to my request for reaction:
Congratulations to Sonja! “Records were made to be broken!” Perhaps I should have thought about racing at Tech’s banked track after setting my record. I might have improved my time from my former record setting performance at George Mason’s flat 200m indoor track.
Unbelievable. Congrats to you, Sonja, on raising an already exremely high bar for masters women…and way to show the college girls how it’s done!
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