by Ujena Fit Club Coach Barry Anderson  My college coach gave me the simplest, and perhaps most important, concept about running form. He seldom gave advice about running form and likely understood that each of us were built a little different and that a one-way-fits all approach to form is not realistic. A perfect example of what could be called “unorthodox form” was competing just down the road from our school. For those who had the opportunity to see Jim Ryun run, it is surely the side-to-side, rotating, head motion that is remembered—along with his many world middle distance records.

Classic photos with this article. I believe the one with the rather excited official is his finish at the state meet which is still the fastest mile ever run in high school competition...47 years ago this month.
Barry Anderson 5/22/12 10:43 am

We had a runner on the West Coast named Mitch Kingery. He ran with his head tilted to one side. At fifteen he ran in he low 2:20's for the marathon. 2:23 if I remember correctly.
Richard Stiller 5/24/12 8:13 am

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One day prior to one of our long training runs he simply stated that to be most efficient when running you need to eliminate up-and-down movement—keep a level head. His method to evaluate and work on this key to running efficiency was equally as simple. Just look ahead and pick out a stationary object (like a stop sign) to focus on as you run. If that object appears to be bouncing up and down, you are wasting energy. Work on modifying your running motion during your training runs to make the object appear stationary. You will be surprised at how easily this can be accomplished without any drastic changes to your form.

By the way, Jim Ryun actually had a relatively level head while running when you look past his rolling head action.

Photos: Jim Ryun was the first high school student to break four minutes for the mile.