3:53.43. 25 Years Later. Still Unbroken. Alan Webb on the Pre Classic Mile That Outlasted a Generation and Why It's Still the Hardest Record in High School Sports
THE RUNNING EFFECT PODCAST
Dominic Schlueter
4.9 • 821 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2026
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alan Webb still has the record. Twenty-four years later, nobody's touched it.
The American high school mile record (3:53.43, set at the 2001 Prefontaine Classic) has outlasted every shoe revolution, every bicarb protocol, and every perfectly concocted running shoe PR storm. In this conversation, Webb sits down with Dominic to talk about why that mark still stands, what it actually felt like to run it, and what the sport's fastest generation of teenagers is still missing.
Webb is disarmingly honest about his own race.
Going into Pre that day, he wasn't chasing Ryun's record—he was chasing a decimal-second PR over 3:59. He was, in his words, playing with house money. The result was a 55-flat last lap with gas still in the tank, a closing kick he nearly stumbled into because he didn't realize how far ahead of his goal he was. That psychological accident, he argues, is exactly what most high school milers can't replicate on command.
The conversation moves from race mechanics to coaching philosophy to the weight room sins of his own career—including a period where Webb, by his own admission, went full Arnold Schwarzenegger while training for the mile. He's candid about what he got wrong, what Coach Raczko got right, and how much of that South Lakes framework he's carried directly into his program at Ave Maria University.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, Webb lands on the thing that seems to have kept him in the sport long after the records and the contracts and the Nike deals: running, he says, teaches virtue.
That's not nothing.
Tap into the Alan Webb Special.
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S H O W N O T E S
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ladies and gentlemen, today on the podcast, I get to speak with one of the greatest American |
| 0:04.7 | milers of all time, Mr. Alan Webb, who still holds the American record in the high school mile. |
| 0:10.6 | He ran 353 back in 2001. |
| 0:13.4 | I believe the date was May 27th at the 2001 Prefontein Classic in Eugene, Oregon. |
| 0:18.7 | And he beat a bunch of professional runners in that race, set that American record in high school for the high school mile. |
| 0:24.8 | And that record still stands 25 years later. |
| 0:28.3 | So today's conversation, we sit down with the man 25 years after this record. |
| 0:32.5 | We break down what went into the race, what he'd say to those chasing after that record, |
| 0:37.1 | why he thinks that |
| 0:37.9 | record has still stood amidst bicarb, super shoes, new training techniques. |
| 0:42.3 | We also talk a little bit about his professional career and what went well, what didn't, |
| 0:46.7 | what he'd change, why he thinks he could have run faster when it's all said and done, |
| 0:50.5 | and also his faith, why that plays such a pivotal role in his running, in his life, |
| 0:55.4 | and lessons that the sport of running taught him as well as what he's now doing as a coach |
| 1:00.3 | at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida, and the different lessons and coaching styles |
| 1:05.8 | that he instills in his athletes today. So if you enjoy this conversation, consider giving |
| 1:10.1 | us a five-star review. |
| 1:11.0 | It takes next to no time. |
| 1:28.6 | Share the podcast with a friend and make sure you are following the podcast so you never miss another episode in the future. We are getting on the biggest names in the sport of running, including an absolute legend like Alan himself. And so the easiest thing you can do to help us out completely free of charge is one of those three things. five-star review, share the podcast, hit the follow button. |
| 1:29.6 | I appreciate you all. |
| 1:31.0 | Thank you to Alan for this wonderful conversation i hope you guys all enjoy the wisdom the insights and the stories from the man the myth |
| 1:36.0 | the legend truly he is all of those things alan webb allen web we will start out hot, man. |
... |
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