Runner just misses first sub-4 Mile
“This is my third year going after it, and I’m getting close. There’s no other pressures for qualifying or winning, so I can just have fun with it and go fast.”
By Andrew Dawson, Runner's World
As Charlie Marquardt did striders along the track before his Mile race at the Adrian Martinez Classic in Concord, Massachusetts, on Thursday evening, June 7, he liked the nice, hard feel of the track. It made for a great racing surface, though he imagined it would hurt to fall on. He was right.
When Marquardt, 23, of Haverford, Pennsylvania, heard the bell sound for the final lap, he was way out in front. Even better, he was on pace to break 4 minutes in the Mile for the first time in his life—and after three years of attempts. At the 1500 meter mark, the clock read 3:43 and he drove his arms as hard as he could down the homestretch.
“The clock ticked closer and closer, and I was having a hard time driving my arms and legs,” he told Runner’s World over the phone. “I started to lean over those last steps and one my legs just didn’t function right.”
That led to his foot catching the track and him somersaulting and slamming into the track surface as he broke the tape. He won the race but finished with a time of 4:00.38, which was just short of putting him on the list of U.S. runners who have broken the coveted 4 minute Mile.
His head over heels lean at the finish caught the attention of social media last week.
Continue reading at: runnersworld.com
