Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Suzi MacLeod, 75, sets a world record

New mile mark at Eugene


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Former Sun Valley Resort assistant publicity director Suzi MacLeod was one of many locals who got involved with marathon running in the late 1970s. The former Suzi Gillis started running 31 years ago.

And she's still running, just shorter distances. Magical world-record distances.

MacLeod, 75, of Bend, Ore. has found the magic in running track the last 15 years, specifically the mile.

On Thursday, Aug. 6 during an All-Comers meet at the University of Oregon's famed Hayward Field, MacLeod set a new world mile record in the Women's 75-79 class with a time of 8:16.3. The daughter of longtime Sun Valley residents Walt and Wynne Harmon was gratified with her accomplishment.

"The mile is a magical distance," she told a Bend television crew that filmed her effort. "I started running track when I was 60, and here I am at 75 and finally have a world record."

MacLeod, on the previous Thursday at Hayward Field during another All-Comers meet that didn't have enough officials, had clocked an unsanctioned 8:10 time in the mile. "I nearly burst into tears at that," she said. After that July 29 effort, she celebrated her husband Norm MacLeod's 80th birthday with a quick but tiring trip to Lake Tahoe.

Then she returned Aug. 6 to establish the new world record.

It was quite a feat for a determined woman who had established the Women's 75 American outdoor record of 8:54.80 April 4 during the University of Oregon's Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward Field.

She has learned to love running short distances. After leaving Sun Valley, MacLeod moved to San Diego as a divorcee and ran marathons. She married longtime close friend Norm MacLeod and moved to Bend nearly 20 years ago.

"The weather wasn't nearly so friendly to marathon training in Bend. Having turned 60, I tried Eugene's famous Hayward Field when the Masters National Track and Field championships were held there in 1994. I never thought I'd like running around in circles!

"But the intensity and up-close competitiveness hooked me. Until my 70s I could still run other races during the track season, but at age 70, I began to focus only on Masters track during summer season. I still run cross country and love it best, but I am a glutton for the challenge of American records—and one wins only a national XC championship or gets a course record in XC."

MacLeod has competed indoors, but the lack of a training facility complicates things. She said, "We have no indoor facilities and Bend isn't the best place to be doing speed work outdoors in the winter."

She had the new experience of "starting from zero," in the 2009 training season because she suffered a fractured collarbone last year slipping on ice in a parking lot. Starting in February she began intervals with coach Jim McLatchie. And she's been training ever since.

MacLeod has even entertained thoughts of competing in the 2010 World Masters Indoor Championships next winter at Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. In the past she has set American indoor records in the Women's 70-74 400-meter dash and 800-meter runs.

In 2004 she won the "Most Outstanding Female Track Athlete," award in the Women's 70-74 class.

Her best distance is 800 meters, but she has focused on the mile in 2009. MacLeod said, "I haven't really trained for the 800m, which I love. However, I was within less than a second of the American record during nationals at Oshkosh, Wisc. July 11. My time there was 3:37.9. I'll be working on breaking the Women's 70-74 American 800m record of 3:37.1 next year as well as the world record at that distance of 3:26.00."

Talking about her training regimen, MacLeod said, "Two times a week I do light weight training and a one-hour yoga class—and I walk with my dogs about an hour daily. I run only on the track and trails.

"Leading up to the recent All-Comers meets in Eugene I was getting out for a four-mile jog on the trails only one day a week. Two other days I did interval training on the track with my coach. I would run almost a mile of speed, a mile to warm up and a mile walking and running to cool down.

"We progressed to Tuesday and Thursday workouts on the track during the Masters season of June, July and August. That means I was running nine to 15 miles a week."




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