Masters Milers Podcast Episode 2: Masters Champion and world record holder Nick Berra

Nick is a masters runner from Central Pennsylvania. Nick is currently on hiatus from masters competition, but he was one of the top masters middle distance runners in the world from 2009, when he turned 40 until 2016. Nick is a 1991 graduate of the Naval Academy and he competed on the track team while he was there, although like me, he wasn’t a standout runner in college. He went on serve as a pilot in the Navy for a number of years before ultimately becoming a pilot for FedEx. I personally became aware of Nick when I started competing in masters track in 2013 and stumbled onto his blog where he chronicled a lot of his training and racing, and I eventually ended up competing against Nick a few times in various masters events. Nick won a number of masters national championships in the 800/1500/mile during his heyday and in 2014 at age 45 he broke the 45-49 age group world record in the indoor 800m, running 1:56.06. This record has since been broken, but it still stands as the American record.

Show Links:

Nick’s blog (https://nickberra.wordpress.com/) no longer active, but has an extensive archive

Link within Nick’s blog to writeup of the 2014 Masters Invitational 800m race at the USATF Outdoor National Championships at Drake University in Iowa: https://nickberra.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/this-is-why-i-we-do-it/

(includes links to the race video and post-race interview)

Products mentioned:

Hydroworx: https://www.hydroworx.com/