Nov 21, 2000

Marshall Spradling looks around at road races and feels a little out of place there. The faces he sees are more lined than his, the hair thinner and of a different shade. This West Virginian is 24 in a sport heavily populated by men old enough to be his father or grandfather.

Marshall completed the recent Charleston 15-mile race in his hometown. "Now my goal is, of course, to run a marathon," he says. "It seems to me that there aren't many people my age and younger who run marathons. Should I be trying?"

I told him there's no reason why he couldn't or shouldn't run a marathon. His run over the hills of Charleston in wicked humidity shows that he'll adapt well to the extra mileage under kinder conditions.

He's right that 24 is young for a U.S. marathoner today, where the median age is 10 to 15 years older. But he's old enough.

Ages of the last three Olympic-winning men have averaged 23. Frank Shorter was 24 when he won America's last gold medal.

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