South Pasadena’s Pete Magill, whose cross country season ended at San Diego nationals with an M45 victory and third-place overall masters finish, has made the switch to track quite nicely, thank you. At Saturday’s USC Trojan Relays in Los Angeles, Pistol Pete ran 3,000 meters in 8:36.86, as these results confirm. That lowers his own M45 American record of 8:37.52, which he set in June 2006 in Eugene, Oregon. (The listed M45 world outdoor record is 8:27.7 by Britain’s Nigel Gates in 1998.) Under his handle SoCalPete, Magill modestly (but hilariously) posted a recap of his race.

Reacting to news of other good weekend runs by masters (but not even mentioning the AR), Pete wrote on the letsrun.com message board:

Had a good week myself, with the legs feeling whole again, finally recovered from the X-Country race in San Diego.
Ran a 3000 myself yesterday at the USC Trojan Relays. Lined up with a group of 33 — and I think I was the only entrant over the age of 22 or 23.
One young runner on the line said, “I don’t mean to be rude, but can I ask you a question?” I smiled, because I was sure he was going to ask why I wasn’t sitting in the stands since I was obviously someone’s dad (or grandfather).
But instead he said, “Where is your club Fluffy Bunny located?” Ah, that was an easy one, but I actually felt a little disappointed when I didn’t get to say, “Hey, I’m 46! That’s right, you’ve got an old man in your midst!”
Anyway, the gun went off, and as you can imagine the first couple laps were just a mess. With that many youngsters, inexperience ruled the roost. Some runners sprinted to the front, then immediately died. Others didn’t know how to cut in or get out of a box, so there was a lot of applying the brakes and throwing-of-the-elbows.
One guy passed me at least 5 times in the first 3 laps. I spiked one poor fellow so badly that he cried out in pain; he probably went straight to the ER for stitches after the race. But hey, what are you gonna do? He stepped right in front of me mid-stride – no way I could avoid him. I finally just took up a safe spot in lane 3 and stayed out of the danger zone.
Long story short, the first mile ended up coming through pretty slow, so we all settled in for what promised to be a long kick. And it was. Not quite the 61 second last lap Mike ran, but I hit a 1:35 last 600 to snag second.
Honestly, it was a total rush – being out there with the kids dueling it out for the last couple laps! One of the funnest runs I’ve had as a master!!
Oh, and by the way, it was my first race in Nike’s Ventulus 2 track spikes. Man, those are the best track shoes I’ve ever raced in! Anyone looking to shave a precious few seconds off their track time (or tenths of a second in the shorter races) should consider getting a pair!
Okay, hope everyone has a great week!

How good is 8:36.86 for a 46-year-old? On the Age-Graded Tables, it corresponds to an Open (ages 20-30) performance of 7:46.62. Keep in mind that 3K is about a half-lap short of 2 miles. That’s 4:37 mile pace, ladies and gents.
My thanks to Bryan Burdo (Masters Mole #3421), who brought this amazing mark to our attention!
Nice run, Pete. Now go take a nap.