Bloomsday elites outrun ages

Go ahead Bloomsday athletes. Brag a little.

Your time last year was less than your HDL cholesterol level.

Your IQ is higher than the time it took you to walk the course.

Or, how about this? You ran Bloomsday faster than your age.

Not so fast on that last one.

Of the 39,941 people who finished last year, only 131 fell into that final category. Some of their times were downright freaky.

John Keston, who was 80 last year, finished in 56 minutes, 33 seconds. To mention that Keston of McMinnville, Ore., is a world-class, age-group runner is like saying Dr. Laura likes to tell people what to do. His 2005 Bloomsday time was a world record in 12K (7.46-mile) races for 80- to 84-year-olds. Earlier in 2005, Keston became the oldest sub-7-miler in history by running the mile in 6:48.2 at the Fountain of Youth Masters Mile in Canby, Ore.

June Machala, a Spokane runner also in a class by herself, was 74 during last year’s Bloomsday and finished in 63:18. She was one of six female runners who ran faster than their ages. Three of the women, Sylvia Quinn, 68; Gunhild Swanson, 60; and Ann B. Bell, 54, ran faster than their husbands.

June’s husband, Joe Machala, a retired police officer who works as a security officer at the U.S. Courthouse, plans to run his 28th Bloomsday on May 7. He’s been running since the early ‘80s and said he remembers running faster than his age when he clocked a 40-minute time at age 45.

“I never thought about beating my age,” Joe Machala said, a comment made by many on the “faster than age” list. “I try to stay close to the top of my age group.”

For the past two Bloomsdays, Joe Machala came in second to Spokane’s Jeff Corkill in the 60-to-64-year-old division. In 2005, Corkill was 61 and finished in 45:38. Machala was 63 and ran 47:05.

Machala’s Japanese-born wife is a retired waitress who took up running about 20 years ago at age 55. June Machala runs five to six days a week. Her routine also involves weightlifting and swimming.

“Doctors are amazed when they look at her,” said Joe Machala. Jeff Kawaguchi, clinical coordinator for the athletic training education program at Eastern Washington University, said there are several factors that create these anatomic anomalies.

“It’s probably a combination of things,” he said, including a strong cardiovascular system and healthy muscles. But, he said, it also has a lot to do with genetics. “The old adage is if you want to be an Olympic sprinter, pick your parents carefully,” Kawaguchi said.

No matter how blessed, however, most runners hit a plateau after reaching a certain age, Kawaguchi said.

Gunhild Swanson, who has raced in 28 Bloomsdays, hasn’t discovered her limits yet. When she was 53 in 1998, she ran 52:41 and beat her age for the first time. Last year, at age 60, she ran 55:06, which was more than one minute faster than at age 59 and more than two minutes faster than at age 58.

Her training involves running five to six days a week, amounting to about 50 miles.

“I think it’s just a gift,” said Swanson, who lives in the Spokane Valley. “There is nothing that I can tell you that I do any differently than anybody else training. I was just lucky to always have had a certain amount of speed.”

And good health, until recently. Swanson developed bunions and a hammer toe. Her foot began flaring up in December, although it didn’t stop her from running a marathon. On Feb. 5, Super Bowl Sunday, she fell and hit a rock, injuring her shoulder.

On Wednesday, Swanson had shoulder surgery. Forty-eight hours later, she went in for foot surgery. If she participates in Bloomsday, she’ll do it walking – with her foot in a boot.

“Right now I don’t know,” she said. “But I have my money sent in.”

She said she’s sure to return in 2007 and already is planning to compete in a 100-mile race in November.

Eighty-one-year-old Keston, meanwhile, the runner on the “faster than age” group with the largest difference between age and race time, will be back this year. He said his secret to success is simple.

“Anyone can be a very good runner,” Keston said. “You can reach a peak and sustain that peak providing you train hard.”

Keston, a British-born actor and singer, began running at age 55 and enjoyed steady improvement for 18 years after that. His current training regimen involves running long (eight to 18 miles), walking the next two days, and running long again.

Becoming a successful runner, Keston said, boils down to two things: commitment and application.

“Unless you keep on doing it, you can’t get better,” he said.