Elite runner Dallas Smith is in no hurry to slow down in life.
He has run over 2,500 miles so far this year. Dallas has also run 26 races in 2010, including 2 ultra marathons and 7 of the ’26.2′ mile variety, regular (full) marathons.
Smith also holds dozens of Tennessee state running records for his age at numerous distances (and ages).
Which, naturally, brings up the question of his age.
Dallas according to himself, his birth certificate, and a handful of pre-World War II witnesses is 70-years old fast.
Now let’s put that in perspective. Alight, so maybe there is truly no logical way to put that in perspective but think about this:
Dallas’ best marathon, in 2010, was the Country Music Marathon in a time of 3:21:11. If you use complicated age-graded calculations that time translates into a 2:28:15 for a male in his prime. The thing is though, Dallas is in his prime…at 70!
More of Dallas Smith’s Accomplishments at Age 70 (Age grade in parenthesis):
- Shelby Bottoms Boogie 15K, Nashville, Oct. 2, 1:05:07 (47:34), State Record
- Fall Fun Fest 10K, Cookeville, TN, Sept. 11, 44:21 (32:23), 5th o.a., State Record
- Mule Kick 5K, Columbia, TN, Apr. 3, 20:57 (15:23), State Record
- Nashville Ultra 50K, Oct. 16, 4:37:49 (3:23:35)
- Strolling Jim 41.2 ultra marathon, May 1, 6:59:38.2, (5:09:04)
Read More About Dallas’ ‘Winning Year’ at Run It Fast
Dallas also is a regular contributer to the site with some of his running stories (Read Those Stories Here).
PS: Dallas has written a book called Falling Forward: Tales from an Endurance Saga
that can be found on Amazon.com. The book is centered around Smith’s running a 100 mile race one weekend in Kansas, a second 100 mile race the following weekend in Arkansas, followed by a 50 mile race the third consecutive weekend in Texas. On the fourth weekend? He went out and set the 5K state record for his age in Tennessee.
I first met Dallas at the Blister In The Sun Marathon in Cookeville. I’ve had the pleasure of running several marathons with him since then. I can truly say he is an even better human being than he is a runner, and there is no age-graded calculation needed for that!
[images: top-Jeff Matlock, bottom-Joshua Holmes]
