Henry ran a 5:32 mile in a time trial last week at Albuquerque (5000'). From 220 pounds to 165 since last May.
malmo -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jorma Kurry Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 7:42 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Track List Subject: Re: t-and-f: Henry Rono Great article. I know Malmo was posting info at one point about his attempt for an age-group mile record, or something of that sort. Is there an update? He's among the many greats I'd love to meet (Rono, that is :) ). ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Track List" <t-and-f@lists.uoregon.edu> Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 7:00 PM Subject: t-and-f: Henry Rono > From the Los Angeles Times > > http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-crowe26mar26,1,1452093.story?coll=la-hea dlines-sports&ctrack=1&cset=true > > CROWE'S NEST > > Rono tries to distance himself from troubled past > The runner, who broke world records in four events in short period in > 1978, says his life is on the upswing after alcoholism and homelessness. > > By Jerry Crowe, Times Staff Writer > March 26, 2007 > > Henry Rono, once the world's preeminent distance runner and some say the > greatest of all time, probably is best known for his mind-boggling assault > on the record books in the spring and summer of 1978, when he broke world > records in four events over an 81-day period. > > "I was ahead of everybody," he says. "I wasn't competing with people. I > was competing with time. It was me and the clock." > > The clock he could handle. > > The bottle, he couldn't. > > The Nandi tribesman from Kenya, who in 1978 was a Washington State student > unprepared for the sudden fame and blinding spotlight, has battled > alcoholism for nearly half his 55 years. > > His country's boycotts of the 1976 and 1980 Olympics denied him an > international showcase, and he says unscrupulous managers and corrupt > Kenyan track and field officials, combined with his own erratic behavior, > left him penniless. > > Rono notes in his soon-to-be-published autobiography that he was so down > on his luck in the mid-1990s - homeless and out of prospects - that he > showed up at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., and pleaded for a job > cleaning floors. > > His former sponsor, the great runner says, turned him away. > > If that was a low point for Rono, it was one of many. > > He says that he was intermittently homeless through much of the 1980s and > '90s, was arrested more than once for driving while drunk, and drifted in > and out of rehabilitation centers more times than he cares to remember. > Friends took him in, then threw him out when his drinking got out of > control. In steadier times, he worked as an airport skycap. He parked and > washed cars. > > But all that is past, Rono says. His life is on the upswing. After > shuttling from town to town for years, he says, he finally settled 11 > years ago in Albuquerque. He says he has been sober for the last five. > > A full-time teacher pursuing a graduate degree in special education, he > has taken a year off from work to write his recently completed memoirs and > train for the Masters World Track & Field Championships in September in > Italy. > > On Sunday, he will compete in the Carlsbad 5K, and before the year is out > he hopes to establish an age-group world record in the mile. > > "I want to alert the public that I am back into running," he told race > organizers in Carlsbad after signing on for their event. "I want to teach > people that you can come back from the streets and being homeless and > recover your life again." > > The 5-foot-8 Rono, whose weight once ballooned to 220 pounds, says he is > down to 165, 20 less than he weighed in December, when he ran in a 5K in > Cincinnati and said, after spying a photo of himself, "I look like a > heavyweight boxer." > > His goal, he says, is to slim down to about 140. That's what he weighed as > a 26-year-old sophomore in April 1978, when in a dual meet at Berkeley he > set a world record of 13 minutes 8.4 seconds in the 5,000 meters. A month > later, in Seattle, he established a steeplechase mark of 8:05:4, and a > month after that, in Vienna, he set a record of 27:22:47 in the 10,000 > meters. Sixteen days later, in Oslo, he set his fourth world record: > 7:32.1 in the 3,000 meters. > > "It was amazing," he says, "but the way the media was handling my success > was intimidating. I was not prepared for that. It was very stressful." > > Don Franken, a longtime track promoter and president of a sports celebrity > talent agency, says Rono was "a fish out of water," struggling to find his > way. > > "It was such a culture shock coming here from Kenya," Franken says. "He > was lost - and he had an addiction. You could call him a tragedy, but how > many people set four world records in such a short span of time?" > > Rono's records in the 3,000 and the steeplechase stood for years, but by > the early 1980s, he was drinking heavily. He started showing up drunk at > races, or not showing up at all. But his talent was so immense that, in > September 1981, he reportedly got drunk the night before a race in Oslo, > ran for an hour early the next morning to sweat out the alcohol, then set > a world record in the 5,000 that night. > > Those days are long past, but Rono says his life has changed for the > better. No longer homeless, he bought a house a few years ago. > > "I feel happy with what I'm doing now," says the gap-toothed Kenyan, > noting that he runs two hours every morning and another hour in the > evening. "I'm enjoying running. I'm doing more running now than even when > I was young." > > He is reclaiming his identity, he says, "controlling my life." > > Franken is rooting for him. > > "He's gone through a hell of a lot of struggles," the promoter says, "but > he's come out a survivor. Yeah, it's a tragedy that his career wasn't > longer because he could have achieved so much more. He could have put > every record out of sight. > > "But you talk to him now and he has a very good attitude. I think in the > long run he's going to contribute a lot more in other ways, so his talent > will not be wasted. I think he'll be able to still inspire and motivate > people, and that's going to be his legacy. I think he's still got a lot > more to give." > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
