RANKINGS

The other day I had a link to the top U.S. marathon times in 2005. I just had a few more comments. Kevin Beck (#121) and Ryan Hill (#615) also appear on the list. For a second I thought I made the list. Check out #753 – Zeke Austin with a 2:42. I’ll take it. Actually, my Grandma’s time would have put me at 602 – on the women’s list. That’s sad.

Speaking of sad, here are the USATF Minnesota rankings by age-group. To score points you have to at least meet a qualifying standard that’s unique to each age group and each distance (5k through 50K). After that your points are based on what every one else does in your age-group. If you meet the standard but don’t have one of the top-10 performances at a distance, you don’t get any points. Anyway, look at the Men’s 35-39 age-group compared to all the rest. Only 12 guys in the whole state scored points. It’s not like the standards are way “out there;” 16:30, 34:00, 1:17:45 and 2:48 for 5K, 10K, half and marathon, respectively. The easiest standard is the 30K, which is 2:00:30 or 6:28 pace. Last May I was 4 minutes away or about 13 seconds per mile. Hmm…

Eric sent me this link of the top 2005 Road Runners in U.S. Alison wrote about them too and describes how results have to be “claimed” in order to appear on the list. Anyway, if you look at #6 - #8 you’ll see a strong contingent of 60 year olds, including the infamous Jim that I talk about occasionally. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Jim is going to sell his house and move to California to track down Len Goldman.

As for running, I ran an easy 6 miles this morning. I plan on jumping on the treadmill tonight for another 5-6 miles too.