Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Sure, It's Easy for You!

Nolan Shaheed recently set the world record for men age 55-59 in the indoor mile. Now, before you tune out and discount his accomplishment as "so what? He beat some other old guys" listen to the rest of the story. His time was 4:42:89. Think about it a minute. Can you run a mile in 8 minutes? 6 minutes? I will be surprised if I have any readers of any age who can run a mile in under 5 minutes. Nolan is 57. How does he do it? Was he just born fast? Maybe, but listen to his regimen; he runs 12 miles a day, six days a week, and eats only one meal a day after he trains, fasting three to four days out of the week in the summertime. What is the result of this single-minded obsession? He weighs 127 pounds--the same as when he was in High School.

Yes, but that is probably all he does, right? Nope. Nolan is very accomplished at jazz trumpet. He has played with Diana Ross and Stevie Wonder and at one time was the lead trumpet player for the Count Basie Orchestra.

I do not know much else about him, but he makes my efforts seem pretty small. I am not going down the road he has chosen, but may take some inspiration to move in that direction just a little.

4 comments:

Kenny Simpson said...

Roxy: I doubt many of your readers could run a 10 minute mile :) Including me.

You ready to run. We have an 8th grade girl that is supposed to run around a 6 minute mile.

Roxy Wishum said...

I have found many ways to embarras myself. Getting toasted by an 8th grade girl should fit right in.
What little running I have done in recent months has been long SLOW distance. A fast mile now would probably make me loose my donuts.

Lerra said...

I think my mile is probably around 17 minutes. :-)

Jamey said...

I can't imagine only eating one meal a day. Doesn't seem healthy.