The new Running Times magazine arrived today -- much better than Runner's World, IMHO -- and I was not at all surprised to see our own octogenarian runner Helen Klein listed among the top World Masters Association runners.
But I was really impressed by a mathematical chart converting the times of masters runners to the equivalent "open" time and juxtaposed to the world's best. In this age-graded calculation, the 85-year-old Klein had the second best performance of 2008.
Klein's 5 hour 36 minute 18 second performance in the Napa Marathon was adjusted to a 2:11:29 marathon -- nearly four minutes faster than the women's record.
She's an amazing athlete. When I'm 85, I just hope I'm still running. Heck, walking. Still breathing, actually.
