Running News Daily

Alberto Salazar still holds one American Road Record which he set in 1981

DID YOU KNOW: The American Road Record for 8K is 22:04.  It was set over 37 years ago.  On January 4, 1981 Alberto Salazar ran that time in Los Altos, California at the Runner's World Five Mile Invitational (5 miles is 154 feet longer than 8K). 

It is a distance that is not run very often but that is a long time for the record to still be on the books.  That same year Alberto won the New York City Marathon in 2:08:13 as he did the following year and 1980 as well. 

He also won Boston in 1982 in 2:08:52.  A race that would be known later as the "Duel In The Sun." 

Dick Beardsley and Alberto (photo) battled right up to the end.  Alberto was born in Cuba in 1958 and immigrated to the United States as a child with his family.  Salazar currently is the head coach of the Nike Oregon Project in Portland, Oregon.