M55 Rich Burns ‘very surprised’ by his masterpiece mile in Portland

Rich Burns

Rich Burns is a late bloomer. Kicked off his high school cross country team as a junior, he won league as a senior — but broke his foot before track season. So his first real splash as a trackster came at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, a suburb of Los Angeles. In October 1973, at age 18, he ran a mile in 4:31. “We had a XC meet on a Friday evening, and then the next morning our coach had us run a mile at the county police and fireman’s annual track meet,” Rich writes. “The leader came through in 3:32, and I ran just hard enough to finish ahead of him at the wire and found out that I’d run 4:31. I’m still not sure if my coach or I was more shocked at the time.” Thirty-seven years later, he ran another sub-4:40 mile. But this one shocked the globe. It was an M55 world record. Has anyone else run sub-4:40s thirty-seven years apart?

Rich Burns is an artist of note as well. He painted these tigers.

When I began quizzing Rich about his career, I learned he has a mile PR of 4:06 — run as a college sophomore. But I was equally impressed with his artistic ability. His wife, Heather, shared some samples of his paintings. He’s a superstar at that as well. (See this online gallery.)

“I had been doing illustrations such as the cottages that are licensed out for cards, prints, puzzles and about anything else that uses pictures, mostly using acrylics,” Rich says. “I am now trying to learn oils to take the art in a different direction, painting landscapes the way I want to, instead of as illustrations. Did a set of Angels for my wife. As far as galleries, I am going to probably work with a few new ones as I change things up.”

Rich with coach Team Runners High coach Steve Moreno at Azusa Pacific after breaking the M55 AR in the 5,000 with his 16:21.12

Here’s a quickie Q&A I conducted with Rich in the weeks after his WR stunner — clocking 4:36.94 at the June 12 Portland Track Festival:

Masterstrack.com: Tell me more about your freshman 4:31.

Rich Burns: We weren’t happy that the coach was having a track race the day after a 4-mile race, so surprisingly, finding myself still in contention on the last lap, I was trying to run just hard enough to win, and what turned out to be a 59 last lap had felt easy, and the big PR was a total surprise. Up till then I’d had no clue I could even run 65 for a last lap.

Tell me about your high school running career.

I ran a couple 2-milers for the early part of my junior year in high school, but was kicked off the team as my workouts were pretty bad, and I finally decided I wasn’t going to run extra laps because I couldn’t make the workout times the coach thought I should. He was a football coach that had never coached track. Funny thing was, I was one of the few runners there that wasn’t cheating in the workouts. I did win league my senior year in XC (2 miles), but broke my foot right before track season.

So my miling started my first year of community college, during the XC season, and I was just a bit better than middle of the pack at 4 miles.

What happened after that 4:06?

That 4:06 ended up being my best time, as I was injured my last years of college. I did run a bit again in my early 30s, running 3:48 in the 1500 just as the good part of the season was starting, but was rear-ended a week later on the way to work and didn’t run again until I was 40.

What was your race plan at Portland?  What time were you shooting for?

Plan: To take a shot at the world record of 4:40.4 and yet not blow a chance at the national one, held by our friend Nolan (Shaheed) at 4:42.7.

Tell me about the race.

Hoped to run 69 pace for two or three laps if it felt OK. Instead I was struggling at 70, but managed to hold it, coming through the 3/4 mark at 3:30, though by then, I figured I had no shot at the world record, as I wasn’t feeling very strong. With about  200 to go, someone yelled that we were on 4:41 pace, and I thought that if I ran hard I might still have a chance to get 4:41. Was very surprised to hear 36 . . . . 37 as I was finishing.

Was this the best effort of the four record races this season (including American records at 1500, 3000 and 5000)?

They all were hard efforts, but this one was the nicest, of course. Also I am really thrilled to have done this at Dave’s baby! As far as effects go, I was really tanked for over two weeks from the 5000.

What challenges (aches, pains, life situations) did you overcome to set the WR up in Portland?

Most runners are dealing with pains at this age. For the race, I knew that Jim Sorensen, Kevin Paulk and Dave Cannon were all dealing with foot problems. Dave Clingan can hardly run at all now, because of his knees. . . . I have had a weird sensation in my metatarsal area between the big toe and next one since last fall. I kept thinking it might stress-fracture at some point, but it made it through the season. Also have a slight hamstring issue lately, but it didn’t bother me in the race. Now it’s all getting rest.

How did you celebrate afterward?

Had a nice evening out with some of the other runners, and making some new friends. Congrats to Carmen Troncoso for her record.

Does running inspire your artwork?  

Running doesn’t inspire my art work, though I always am looking at cloud formations and different things that apply to my art work, when out running.

What are your track plans the rest of the year? Going to Sacramento masters nationals?

My plans are to continue my vacation from running until at least the Fourth of July. Made the decision to start my track season early and not run Sacramento this year. I’d actually planned to be done by mid-May, but I’m glad Dave had other plans as to when I should start my break. I’d like to run the Syracuse 5K this October. Had hoped to do it last year, but I was slowly coming back. I am hoping to run Sacramento (worlds) in 2011.

Four paintings by Rich Burns show his mastery of the medium.

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June 23, 2010

7 Responses

  1. Rich Burns - June 23, 2010

    Ken,
    thanks for the really nice article! Th responses from the other ones you had done had such nice, that I’d like to thank you and them as well. I have even made some new friends including one from Australia!

    Rich

  2. Ron Smith - June 23, 2010

    Some old friends in AZ are pretty psyched for Rich. He has always had an interesting perspective on running and especially training. Conversations with him through the years are very refreshing because what I hear him say most often amounts to “less is more”. Rich has always been very humble about his accomplishments and never a bore like some who want to talk a steady stream of consciousness about their training and racing. He almost seems to not take it serious enough for a guy who can step up the way he does.He probably would have made a fine coach for young people like age group or middle and high school. Rich would have never scared any beginners away with overtraining and they would have loved his sense of humor. Cheers and respect to my old friend. Ron Smith

  3. Simon Martin - June 23, 2010

    Great stuff! Thanks Ken.

    Would love to hear more about the “less is more” approach…

    whenever I try it, translating it to “quality is more important than quantity”, I end up injured.

  4. James Harrison - June 23, 2010

    Great article Ken, great running Rich!

  5. Kevin Paulk - June 23, 2010

    It was a priveldge to be on the same track with you Rich. Can I get a rain-check for the post race beers? My daughters birthday cake was waiting to be be cut and gone in no time after that “why do we do this to ourseelves” mile.

    KP

  6. Matt B. - June 24, 2010

    Beautiful painting.

  7. Lisa Borden - June 24, 2010

    Congradulations on your accomplishments. Glad to see you continuing with the running and the painting. Hope to see many more years of this.

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