Steve Jones on Sorting it Out on the Run

I got to talk a bit with former marathon world record holder Steve Jones at the Boston Marathon Expo this year. He was just sitting at a booth alone, so I went over to talk with him. There were lines all over the Expo for the current running stars: Ryan Hall, Shalane Flanagan, and Kara Goucher and I couldn't believe that people were walking right by Mr. Steve Jones. I got to hear about the runners he is coaching in Boulder, the Torres twins (now both retired), and the Falmouth Road Race's Tommy Leonard. He is one of the gutsiest runners of all time and hails from Wales. Speaking of being a gutsy runner, The Guardian just did a feature on How Steve Jones Pitstopped his way to Victory in the 1985 London Marathon. Let's just say that Steve "sorted things out." It's a good read and don't pass by Steve next time! I did forget to ask him if he was a fan of my favorite band, The Alarm, also from Wales.

Thinking about trying to regain your youth. What happens with us aging runners is also happening in the music business. The Alarm's lead singer Mike Peters is my age and has a new soundtrack out for a new movie called "Vinyl" a fictionalized account of the time about 10 years ago when he made a point to the recording industry by having some teenagers lip sync and pretend to be the Artists behind his newest single. The song went to the top of the British charts before he revealed that it was really an Alarm song. He wanted to point out that old guys can still rock and that there is a type of age discrimination in the music industry. Here is a bit on the soundtrack, which I have been listening to a lot lately. I don't know if I am being transported back in time to the 70s or if this is the sound of what music could and should sound like today.



An excellent book to read about a similar British champion from the same time period (and the guy Steve Jones beat in that race in 1985) is Charlie Spedding's From Last to First: How I Became a Marathon Champion.

And if you really wanted to know when the running boom ended or at least jumped the shark, check out  the video produced for the 1985 London Marathon as seen at the bottom of the Steve Jones article. Here it is if you can make it through the entire sappy 42 seconds.