Nick Berra, Anselm LeBourne and Nolan Shaheed were among the men starring at Saturday’s Hartshorne races in Ithaca, New York. Nick won the M40 elite race, Anselm the M50 elite race and Nolan — well, he just shattered the M60 world indoor record with a 4:57.  After the meet, I wrote all three, asking them about their race plans, their rabbits and what the whole experience was like. You’ll like their replies, which show some truly thoughtful gents — as well as incredible runners. Said Nick, speaking for most entrants: “Even if things had not gone my way, I still would have gone home with a huge smile on my face.”

Nolan wrote:

Running the Hartshorne is  a great experience and pleasure. That race along with Dave Clingan’s outdoor mile race in Oregon are the best masters races in the country if not the world in that Both Tom and Dave treat the masters athletes with high respect, warm hospitality and great competition.

I’m not in the best shape and still have the pain in my ankle (tendon), but two weeks ago I ran a mile at an all-comers meet in 5:03 with Rich Burns, who ran 4:53 and Rich suggested I go for the record. I talked to Mark Cleary and we discussed strategy and decided it was best to just try to break 5 minutes, rather than going out fast and possibly dying. And after talking to Frank Condon, I decided to run 75 seconds for every 400 meters.

Tom Hartshone graciously let me run with the 50-year-olds, so when the gun went off I kind of tucked in near the middle of the pack and tried to hold on. After a couple of laps, I realized I was right behind Steve Chantry who was looking very strong and running exactly the pace I wanted. So  I tried to stay with him and with a lap to go, he made a strong move and I went with him. At that point I knew I had the record. I felt I could have run the last lap maybe a full second faster, but it wouldn’t have made a difference because Steve would have run 2 seconds faster. I knew he wasn’t going to let me beat him that day.  I ran every lap at 37 seconds and the last at 34, thanks to Steve.

I don’t know what will be my first outdoors competition this year, but I will be going to (Kamloops) indoors worlds and nationals and try not to aggravate my injury. I’m not the only hobbler this season. Tony Young has a stress fracture of his toe, Kevin Forde is recovering, and (John) Hinton and (Jim) Sorensen are sick.

Anselm wrote:

I did not have a specific race plan other than to follow the rabbit as closely as possible for the 1,000 meters that he was  going  to run.  I wanted a pace of about 2.:16 at 800 meters so I can gauge my exact fitness at this early part of the year. The rabbit hit the exact  pace, which I  felt was very comfortable.  The sixth lap I decided to take a little rest, and David Cannon surprisingly went by me and opened up a gap of about 5-10 meters.  I am never surprised by any  of  my  competitors’ efforts, because I am sure all my opponents are  running so they can win the race and run fast regardless if I am in  the race.  For a 53-year-old, Dave ran an outstanding race, and I am  wondering  if his 4.38 is not a single-age record.  I doubt very  much  that Dave flew all the way from the West Coast to hand me an easy race.

The rabbit did an excellent job and I want to thank Tom Hartshorne and Richard Hoebeke for acquiring the rabbit and for  their  many  years  of holding this excellent mile race for many male  and female masters’ milers.  We all appreciate the hard work by Tom and Rich to hold this event year after year.

The Hartshorne mile experience is always a wonderful experience, as I always look forward to  running  the  mile there year after year.  The camaraderie at the meet  with the other masters milers is always a wonderful experience. Traveling  to  the  meet  is not a problem, although I live 3½ hours away.  I normally take the Friday off from work and drive up that day so I can get good rest for the race.

I  never really considered myself a half-miler.  I always wanted  to be able to run both events well as I have done many times in  the  past.  Training for both is not easy, but it depends on which event  you  have upcoming — then you will train accordingly.  My advice to other masters athletes is not to overtrain.  As you get older, do not expect to do the same workouts you did five years ago. If you try, it will surely lead to injury.  It is also important to make sure you

take 1-2 days off during each week to rejuvenate the body and muscles and drink at least 64 or more ounces of water a day.  In addition, it is very important to stretch before and after a workout, and to drink water  again when you are finished working out.

Finally, my motto is “Hard  Work  Beats  Talent When Talent Does Not Work Hard.” So  every time  at practice I am working hard to make sure I am ready whenever I am in a race.

Nick wrote:

My plan was to run a pace that would allow me to run what I thought I could run in a perfect world, and at the same time be ready to answer a challenge if the winning time ventured back into my range.  I did not want to struggle in the last lap or so.  I set out to run 66-second quarters for 5-6 laps, and I was pretty close — I think I went through the 1200 in about 3:20.

At that point Tony Young was dominating the race, and that didn’t surprise me.  I knew he was planning to run faster than I thought I could, so I was prepared to concede to him if he was able to pull it off.  With about one lap to go Tracy Lokken started rapidly closing the gap on Tony, and I was sort of being dragged along about 10-15 meters behind him.  I also passed Tony with about 170m to go, and on the backstretch it was then just me and Tracy.

I made up the last 10 meters and pulled up on him with about 40 meters to go.  We both ran a crazy final stretch, bumping and weaving like a Hollywood NASCAR finish.  All I can remember was watching the finish line crew moving back and forth with the “Hartshorne Mile” finish line tape trying to figure out what lanes we would finish in, hoping that they would unravel an additional foot or two because I knew they were going to need more than the six-foot’ section they had prepared to extend for the winner!

You asked if I was surprised that Tony Young fell back.  I honestly don’t know.   I had heard that he was not 100%, and even if he was you can’t expect anyone to PR every race, no matter how good you are.  I was excited to race against a national leader like him, and like I said earlier I knew that if he nailed one I was not in that league and could not challenge him.  I did have a contingency plan in the event he was not at his best, and in the end that was the way it played out.  I hope I am there when Tony does break that record.

As far as Tracy was concerned, everyone joked the night before about how this race was pitting a lot of unknowns against each other, and he and I were perfect examples.  He is a world-class marathoner, and I am more of a 400/800 guy.  I think that between the two of us we had probably raced about 3 miles in the last 20-25 years.  It was like that old show “The Superstars”, where Mean Joe Green would race Ken Norton on a ten-speed bike — how could you possibly know how that would end up?  With a lap to go, he looked really smooth, and I figured he could probably go forever.

When I was finally able to pull up next to him I figured that my 400 speed had to be good for something, and if not at least I had leaned a time or two in my career.  We had a good laugh about it over a beer at the banquet — he is not only obviously a fantastic runner and a fierce competitor, but also a great guy.  I look forward to following his career, and maybe doing this again sometime (nothing longer than the mile, though, or I can guarantee the results would be quite different!).

The Hartshorne Mile turned out to be everything I was told it would be and then some.  Tom Hartshorne and Rick Hoebeke put on a first-class event, and it shows in the field they are able to bring to Ithaca from all over the world.  It was an easy 3-hour drive for me, so I came up the night before in order to go out to dinner with the group and get a good night’s rest at the race hotel.  The next day my family and a couple local collegiate runners I had coached showed up – always nice to have your own cheering section.  I warmed up with ex-Cumberland Valley HS and current Syracuse XC runner Curtis Bixler, who helped tweak my race plan and gave me some last minute advice — teacher becoming student. But I’m certainly not too proud to admit when I don’t know what I am doing.

After the race my wife and I attended the banquet and met more wonderful folks who all recounted the history and tradition of the meet.  The entire weekend was obviously made extra special because of the results. But even if things had not gone my way, I still would have gone home with a huge smile on my face.  I hope to do it all again next year with this same great group of folks.

All this being said, it may be a while before I lace up my miler shoes again.  I was glad I was able to test myself at a little longer distance, but I still love the 800.  I felt comfortable throughout the beginning of this race, but by lap 5 or 6 I was no longer having much fun.  Hats off to milers everywhere — this is a tough event.

I think, looking forward, what I need to do next is summon the courage to maybe start doubling every now and then.  I have been hesitant to do it thus far because meets are sometime hard to come by for me, so when I get an opportunity to go to one I like to run an event hard without having to worry about doubling back.  This weekend’s results proved to me that I can be competitive in the 1500/mile event, but we’ll have to see where it ultimately leads.  I don’t think that I will adjust my training very much to prepare for it in the future – if it happens it’ll just happen.  I look forward to running the half in Kamloops and Boston, then maybe I will expand my horizons a little bit outdoors.

Still to come: The ladies’ perspective.