Take the CLEARY Challenge at BU on Dec. 23

For most of us running track is akin to a walk down memory lane...no we're not as fast as we used to be and our PRs are a distant memory, but we still like to compete and challenge ourselves.

With that in mind, Rick Cleary and I have developed a new contest called the Cleary Challenge Mile which we'll test out at the BU Indoor Meet on December 23.

Here's how it works:

Rick, a mathematics professor with a sense of humor, has developed a formula that takes into effect your mile PR, your age when it was set, your current mile time and age and produces a number indicating how many seconds your mile time has slipped per year. Here's Rick's description of it:

Score = (Current mile time (in seconds) - PR(seconds))/ (current age - age at PR)

So this measures "seconds per year" that one is slowing down in the mile. For example, At the moment I'd guess I could run 6:00, my PR is 4:32, I'm 50, and I ran the PR when I was 23. Hence:

Score =(360 - 272)/(50 - 23) = 88/27 = 3.259

So, I'm slowing down about 3.26 seconds per year in the mile. (Unfortunately much more than that lately!)


There will be TWO awards given in this contest--one to the person with the LOWEST number (indicating their PR has slowed the least over the years) and the person with the HIGHEST number (because I'm pretty sure that will be me or Rick!).

If you want to participate, let me know. If you can't make the Dec. 23 meet, results from this week or Dec. 30 will be accepted. If you're not sure of your PR or have never run the mile but still want to participate, the accounting firm of Hannon, Cleary and O'Shannon will assign you a mile PR and estimate the age you SHOULD have set that PR.