Come on, Jack Lemmon's 4:10 mile is a perfect illustration to "The Older I
get, the Faster I was" rule.
However, here's the quote from his biography published in People's magazine:
"Perhaps because this star learned early in life not to confuse privilege
with happiness. John Uhler Lemmon III grew up in posh Brookline, Mass., the
only child of a top executive with the Doughnut Corporation of America and
his homemaker wife, Mildred. By the time Jack was 10, his parents' marriage
was falling apart and the sickly boy had undergone three painful ear
surgeries, causing him to miss nearly a year of school. To keep from
"withering away," he says, Lemmon began a vigorous exercise program that
included lots of running; by age 12 he was robustly healthy and by 15 he had
broken the New England record for two miles. He went on to become a
cross-country star at Massachusetts' elite Phillips Academy in Andover."
Of course it could be that the biographical facts were taken from an
interview with Lemmon himself.
Maybe Phillips Academy still has the records of how fast he ran for two
miles.
Oleg.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Tom Fleming
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 5:42 PM
To: The Barretts; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: t-and-f: Re: Liars Club
on 7/6/01 1:14 PM, The Barretts at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> Yeah, right. First, he's contradicting BR, who said "everyone
> ran 4:30 in high school". Second, he was baiting you. Top 10
> possible responses:
>
> 10) Barefoot, uphill, into the wind?
> 9) You coulda made a good living as a marathoner...
> 8) I suppose this was drug aided? Perhaps Lemon-aided?
> 7) We'll, I ran 4:09 you loser...
> 6) If that was run in the spring in New England, you could
> ask for a 11 second deduction now, making you sub-4.
> :
> :
> 1) Was that for 1600m? Oh, right, you're _way_ too old for that one...
>
> Ok, I'll keep the day job...
>
> Richard
>
>> Kurt, I had occasion to meet Jack Lemon about 10 years ago and having
>> heard
>> that he was a top New England h. s. miler I asked what he ran for
>> time....He
>> paused for a second, looked away from me, turned back to me and said "Oh
>> about 4.10 "....I smiled and said "that's terrific" thanked him for his
>> time
>> and left....Larry Rawson
>
>
>
>
Hey,
Do you think Jack lemmon meant 5:10 for the mile ... you know that "honest
mistake" runners often make when talking about their pace per mile ... what
the heck, its only a minute!!
Anyway, Jack's dead, so cut him a break ... and give him his 4:10 New
England HS mile ... and let him be honorary president of the Liars Club,
good PR for T&F!
TF
ps BR was right, everyone in HS did run 4:30 for the mile in the 60's and
70's
