Today’s episode is a bit different from all the prior shows. A couple weeks ago, Todd Straka, who was a guest on an earlier episode of the show, reached out to me and told me that the great Steve Scott was going to be in Boulder for a corporate running event and Todd might have the opportunity to interview Steve for the show. For any of my listeners who don’t know Steve Scott, he is arguably the greatest American miler of all time. Back in 1982, he won a race on June 26, 1982 in 3:48.53, becoming history's third-fastest miler behind Seb Coe and Steve Ovett; then 11 days later he ran 3:47.69, the second-fastest mile in history. That time would stand as the American record for a quarter century until Alan Webb ran 3:46.91 in 2007. Scott was one of the top milers/1500m runners in the world for a very long time, which is exemplified by the fact that he broke 4 minutes for the mile more than anyone else in history: an incredible 137 times (a figure that Todd and Steve discuss during the interview). Steve wasn’t just a great open runner. In his late 30s, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, which essentially ended his career as an elite athlete. Remarkably, however, he beat cancer and returned to running with the goal of becoming the first master to break 4 minutes in the outdoor mile (Eahmon Coghlan had already broken 4 minutes as a master in the indoor mile). Although his attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, his comeback and attempt to break 4 as a master was very impressive and inspiring.

Todd did a great job in a relatively short interview of getting some interesting thoughts from Steve. The two things that stood out to me the most from the interview were 1) For someone who accomplished as much as he did and is clearly one of the all-time-greats, Scott is very self-critical. In discussing his career and some of his records, his main emphasis seems to be on what he could have done differently to be even better (which basically boils down to not racing as often and allowing his body to recover more). I also found it fascinating when he said that none of the younger generations of runners ever really reached out to him to get insight on his training and what made him so successful.

Show Links:

Boulder Corporate Relays (event at which Steve Spoke): https://www.corporatetrackandfield.com/

Sports Illustrated Article About Steve chasing a sub-4 minute outdoor mile at age 40: https://www.si.com/vault/1996/10/28/218274/master-of-the-mile-steve-scott-now-40-and-a-cancer-survivor-plans-to-break-four-minutes-again

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