Sonja, like Alisa, also runs roads for giggles.
Running at the masters-friendly
Music City Distance Carnival, Sonja Friend-Uhl
took sixth in the women’s invitational mile Saturday and beat a record by the legendary
Alisa Harvey. Sonja, 43, clocked a 4:45.68 to better the listed W40 American outdoor record of 4:46.29 by Alisa in 2006. Sonja set the W40 indoor mile WR of 4:44.81 in 2012. Via Facebook, Sonja of the Atlanta TC described her race to me: “First lap was 72/73 (71 for 400m), then 2:23/2:24, 3:33 (69-second third lap). The lead runners opened up on this lap and my goal was to really
phentermine no prescription focus on 800-1200 so this was good!) 71/72 for last lap.” Meet director
Dave Milner announced the record attempt at the starting line, which added to Sonja’s butterflies. But she delivered! She’s entered in the masters 3000 exhibition at Eugene open nationals June 27, and she’ll compete at Jacksonville masters nats as well. The W40 all-time best remains 4:23.78 by Russia’s
Yekatarina Podkopayeva in 1993. The Music City meet (in Nashville, of course) saw
Brad Barton’s steeple record and
Tony Whiteman’s mile record. So it was a perfect venue for Sonja. Nice run, champ.
3 Responses
Now that’s what I’m talking about: A former collegiate star (College of William & Mary) shows us how it’s done as a master. Very similar to the woman whose record she has now bested: Alisa Harvey out of the University of Tennessee.
Alisa, like Sonja, has had a great masters career. I remember so well that 4:46.29 by Alisa mentioned above; it was run at the 2006 Penn Relays before a huge crowd. The announcer actually focused on Alisa rather than the collegians, and she broke the mark while finishing 8th.
It took absolutely forever to gain acceptance of Alisa’s mark; I hope Sonja fares better. What a runner both of them are, and it makes me proud that I have announced them on numerous occasions.
Congratulations! “Records were made to be broken.” Keep having fun and running fast!
WOW! What a fantastic time. Congrats!!!
Leave a Reply