Monday, September 22, 2008

Fun at the Fifth Avenue Mile

Back in the day (a galaxy long ago, far away, about the time of Return of the Jedi, give or take a year), I ran a 4:39 mile. Indoors, 8 laps, over at either Boston University or Harvard. I was coughing up a lung when I finished, but it was great being able to generate the leg speed and combine it with the endurance to simply blast a race.

These days -- I highly doubt my leg speed will allow me to even do a 70 second quarter. And if I could do a 5:39? Ecstasy. Someday I'll try the Fifth Avenue Mile. For now, however, I live vicariously through my friends and colleagues who took up the challenge on Sunday.

The best time for the borough? Fifteen-year-old Kieran Newcomb took time off from cross-country racing and blazed to a 4:41 (hah, could have taken him at my peak. Well, probably not.)

Rebecca Rosenberg-Beran, 26, was tops among women with a 5:41.

The New York Times article quotes Abe Weintraub, 98, from Brooklyn who walked the mile in 22:10.

“I had to walk,” he said. “Running gives me a headache, and you can’t run when you’re this old.”

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