Jacob Thomson: America’s newest Sub-4 Club member
What I believe makes someone a successful runner is listening to their coach and trying to never miss a beat.
By Jeff Benjamin, RunBlogRun
Jacob Thomson recorded his first sub-4 minute Mile at the 5th Sir Walter Miler on Friday, August 3, 2018 at Meredith College. His 3:57.07 was a huge PR for him and fulfilled his sub-4 dream (#521 U.S.). Jeff Benjamin posed 8 questions for Jacob, covering a multiple topics.
RunBlogRun: How did you get into the Sport?
Jacob Thomson: Running was more or less something that I was forced into at a young age. My mom made me run for the grade school cross country team starting when I was in 4th grade. At the time I had much more interest in other sports and competed in baseball and basketball along with cross country and track until I got to high school. I had (or still have) quite the temper, growing up, so mom wouldn't let me play football, as she was afraid I wouldn't take too kindly to being tackled and that I'd pick a fight with someone. I didn't like running much until 8th grade. It was freshman year when I started to get pretty good and win some races. From there I haven't looked back.
RBR: Did you consider yourself a slow or fast developer?
JT: I would say I was a pretty quick developer. Like I said, I started in grade school but wasn't a full time runner until high school. Once I started to actually train and not just show up for races my times quickly dropped. Once I ran a 4:20 Mile as a freshman in high school and started to win races, I started to enjoy running a lot more and my times quickly started to drop.
RBR: Most memorable HS race?
JT: Looking back at high school I recall two of my most memorable races. The first one would be winning the Trinity Invite at Tom Sawyer Park. This race was special because it drew national competition and was right in my backyard. Jacob Burcham and I faced off here and I ended up breaking the course record and winning the race, which gave me a lot of confidence heading into Foot Locker Nationals that year.
The second race I recall is a race I actually didn't win. The Eastern Relays Mile my senior year of high school drew in Brock Baker, Burcham and several other sub-4:10 high school Milers. Brock ended up winning the race but we fought hard to the line and both ran 4:06. This race was also in my home city at the University of Louisville, so it was cool to break the state record (at the time) and do it close to home with a bunch of family and friends present.
Continue reading at: runblogrun.com
