Jim Sorensen, Alisa Harvey and Nolan Shaheed — men’s and women’s elite winners at last weekend’s Hartshorne masters miles plus the age-graded champ — have replied to my quickie queries on their New York minutes. They expand on the issue of rabbits. Some helped and some couldn’t keep up the pace. But it’s all a credit to meet management for thinking of offering their services. All-masters races rarely get this privilege. Also, Alisa confides that she’ll be shooting for a W40 record in the indoor 3000 on Feb. 12 (not Sunday as I mistakenly said earlier) at the Naval Academy. The American record is 9:56.24 by Jody Hawkins, set at Boston in 2007. The listed W40 world record is outtasight: 9:02.83 by Russia’s Lyubov Kremlyova in 2002. Go Alisa!

Here’s my quickie Q&A with Jim:

Masterstrack.com: How was your trip to Ithaca? Any adventures or difficulties in getting to the meet?

 Sorensen: I definitely had some adventures getting back to California as my flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems.
I got home very late and had to get to work early the next morning. I wanted to arrive on Thursday, but I had a commitment to my coaches launch of Focus ‘N Fly 2.0, an automated online program that creates an individualized training plan that preps you for a goal date/performance.

Jack Daniels was a guest speaker and I was part of an athlete panel. As I drove Dr Daniels back to my coaches house that night, he told me that he ran the Hartshorne Mile several years ago. Anyhow, all of that lasted late into the night, and I ended up getting only 4 hours of sleep.

My flight was at 5:40 a.m. Friday morning. The flights to Rochester were on time, but each one had bumpy landings. I was a bit queasy after each flight. I am fairly sensitive to motion. After that was about an 1hr, 45 min drive to Ithaca.

Once I arrived at my accommodations, I was too tired to go for a shakeout run. I figured it would be counter productive. So I ended up not running both Thursday (too busy) and Friday (travel). And the race on Saturday was at 12:45 p.m. EST (which is 9:45 a.m. time for me).

So it was a long trip with little time to recover. Normally, I wouldn’t schedule it that way.

 You seem to be in excellent shape. But it’s never as easy as you make it look. What challenges did you overcome to compete so well at Cornell?

 I knew the jet lag and the fact that my Thursday would be tiring and busy would be an issue. But knowing this, I wanted to go anyway. The Hartshorne Mile is a historical race. Many masters greats have run in this meet. I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go.
Plus, I had confidence in my fitness. I know I am in good shape.

I may not be very sharp, but my strength and consistency since October have been good. So why not go? And it ended up well. I met all of my goals, which was to win and break John Bermingham’s record of 4:17.84. I didn’t smash or exceed my goals, which was a slight disappointment, but at least I fulfilled them.

 How much help did you get from the rabbits? Did they do their jobs in your case?
I didn’t even realize that there was a rabbit until I arrived at the Barton Hall track. John Hinton approached me and asked what I wanted the rabbit to do. He later brought him (Scott Weaks) over and we talked. I asked him to run 64 pace even if I fall off the pace, and that is what he did.
Scott hit 32, 64, 1:36, 2:08, etc. I fell off as we approached a half-mile.

Scott was at 2:08, but I hit 2:10. I think Scott intentionally fell off the 64s a tad on laps 5 and 6, hoping that would get back on target. It was good thinking on his part, but I was still off. I came through the three-quarter mark in 3:16.

 Scott pulled off the track as I began my kick for the final quarter-mile. I am very glad he was there, because I would have probably been slower at the half and three-quarter marks if not for him.
He did a great job, and his reputation for being a good rabbit is well-deserved.


Describe your own race, giving splits and as much detail as possible.

The first two laps felt really good. In fact, I thought Scott was be a bit slow. But he was right on pace. I wanted to stay relaxed through the first 5 laps, but I guess my body didn’t like 32-second 200s. After 3 laps, I fell of to 33-second 200s. Hence, my midway split was 2:10.

 Not wanting to leave everything for a last quarter-mile kick, I picked it up on laps 5 and 6, but to my surprise, I was still hitting 33s. I came through in 3:16 after quarter-mile splits of 64-66-66. I bore down the last two laps.
My last quarter-mile was 60.5, according to one observer. The final time was 4:17.08.

 It would have been nice to hear a 4:16 reading, but it was still a record.

After the race, how did you celebrate? Any interesting chats with other masters milers?

Oh yes, really too many to mention! Everyone in masters running is very supportive and gracious. I had chats — some lengthy, some brief — with the likes of Kevin Forde, Kevin McMahon, Nolan Shaheed, John Hinton, Steve Chantry, Mark Rybinski, Casey Carlstrom, Alisa Harvey, Kim Certain, Neal Fitzgerald and many others.

We spoke of injuries, training, past races, our jobs, all sorts of stuff. One neat thing about this race was the Awards Dinner later in the day. There was a very nice buffet meal, and we mingled, exchanged stories, and contact info as we ate.

Cash awards, medals, and mugs were presented and each recipient had to give a “speech” after receiving the award.
It was fun hearing everyone’s perspectives and stories. The comments ranged from humorous to the serious side of life.

What’s up next? What meets are you planning to attend? What major outdoor meets do you plan to compete in?

My focus right now is to recover and get back into a training rhythm. I have no concrete plans at this point. One great thing is that there are many opportunities and possibilities. Lord willing, I will find myself in the right races at the right times. I am thankful for my health and I am looking forward to training and racing in 2009!

Here is Alisa’s account:

 How was your trip to Ithaca? Any adventures or difficulties in getting to the meet?

Harvey: The trip went uneventful. Good weather, albeit quite cold!

You seem to be in excellent shape. But it’s never as easy as you make it look. What challenges did you overcome to compete so well at Cornell?

 I have been tackling a virus for a couple of weeks. I have had to back off training. Though I had a solid race a week ago at the PG Complex against the college girls. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get competition. I have led from start to finish in all of my races.

How much help did you get from the rabbits? Did they do their jobs in your case?

 My rabbit was too inexperienced and admittedly unfit to get the job done. I spoke with my 17-year-old rabbit after the race. She had to drop out at 625m because “she did not want to get in our way.”
Her first 200m was right on (35 seconds), so I just tucked in and focused on keeping up with her.

 As her pace began to slow, I did not catch on soon enough. I explained to her that pacesetting is tough. She was supposed to take me through at 72-second splits.
We were to be 2:24 at the 800m. I came through the 800 at 2:30.

When I saw the clock, I just put on the hammer. It is tough to change a gear during a race. I had gotten myself into this rhythm for four laps. Even though it was too slow it was my rhythm.

Describe your own race, giving splits and as much detail as possible.

 I was 35-36 sec. for the first lap. The second lap was 37 sec. The third lap was 38 sec. I was 2:30 for the half. I put in a 35-second lap for the fifth lap. The second half was about 2:25 for a final time of 4:55.
I certainly feel that I could have run faster if my first half was just a few seconds quicker, but I was very pleased with my negative splits.



After the race, how did you celebrate? Any interesting chats with other masters milers?

The race banquet was fabulous as always. I had a good time with my husband and 6-year-old. We were entertained by the speeches from Nolan, Jim, John Hinton and others. Masters runners are generally gifted intellectually and have great sense of humor.

 What’s up next? What meets are you planning to attend? What major outdoor meets do you plan to compete in?

I may head down the road this Sunday to the PG Complex All-Comers. I want to try an 800 race. I have not run one yet this season. On the 12th of February I am racing at the Naval Academy’s brand new indoor banked 200m track in a 3000-meter race.

They have a talented runner who needs some help qualifying for the Conference Champs. I will try to break the masters 3K record!

And Nolan wrote me from sunny Pasadena:

Again the Hartshorne mile was the highlight of my running year. It, along with Dave Clingan’s mile race in the spring, are the classiest masters races in the country as they both provide wonderful hospitality and respect for all the runners.

 It was a pleasure watching Jim run. His last lap was 60 seconds, but it seemed faster. He had a cough and was jet-lagged but when the gun went, he went.

Alisa was as smooth as always and inspirational to see and John is the most consistent of all the masters runners.

But in the 40s race the excitement was for third place, which was won at the line.

The Hartshorne being in January is my first serious race of the year so I don’t know what kind of shape I’m in or what kind of time to expect. We had a good rabbit in the 50s race who took us through the 800 at 2:16 and I stayed right on him like stink on a turd.

He started gradually slowing after that but I didn’t realize that until I saw the video of the race later but when he went to step off the track at 5 laps, I asked him if he would give me another lap and he graciously did.

In my race the excitement was for second place where it was almost a three-way tie.

Pete Taylor kept things exciting and we had a wonderful banquet that evening.

I also asked Nolan for his reaction to the Scottish M55 runner, Alastair Dunlop, beating Nolan’s world indoor record in the 1500.

Nolan replied:

Dunlop is a fantastic runner, and I’m glad he ran well. I wish I was in that race.

Since turning 55, I’ve run five indoor miles in 4:55 or faster in which I’ve run faster than Dunlop’s time en route.
Since there are no indoor tracks in Southern California, the only time I run indoors is at the nationals, and they don’t have a 1500.

However, two years ago the officials were kind enough to provide me with three timers at the 1500 mark in my mile race and that’s when I set the record. It was the day after I set the national record in the 3000.

This year at nationals I will ask for the timers again, and if they grant me this, I shall have another go of it — but this time without following the 3000.