BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It’s not very often that the student has the opportunity to surpass the teacher, but one Alabama runner did just that when he set the longest-known streak of consecutive sub-five minute miles last week.
Patrick McGregor, an assistant track coach at Samford University, ran his 105th sub-five miles on April 16. He began his streak back on January 2, and his latest run was also his fastest. His former High School coach, Devon Hind, clocked him at 4:12.99.
Hind, now the Cross Country coach at Hoover High School, set the record himself back in 1979 with 104 sub-five minute miles. He and his wife Mary were the only spectators of McGregor’s record-breaking feat that Sunday at Samford’s track.
The record of 105 is already in the rear-view mirror, as McGregor has since increased his number of consecutive miles under five minutes to 108. He told Runner’s World that he does not plan to stop anytime soon, either. “I’ll keep doing it,” McGregor said. “Until the juice is no longer worth the squeeze.”
Although his physical accomplishment is incredible, McGregor also noted that this goal was about more than running for the sake of speed. “I actually don’t care that much about running fast, but I do care about what running can do in terms of making me a better person,” he told Runner’s World. “Anybody can get in shape and run pretty fast. But I wanted to do something different that would challenge me.”
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