| College Runner Man Guy |
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If so, how did you go about it? Did you really believe you had a chance? Did you actually train for it? |
| flagtastic |
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Yes, on the day I finally broke 5:00 for the mile. Figured it was a long shot, and eventually I got down to 4:47. Only missed it by 3/4 of a lap. |
| 4min pace for 1/4 the distance |
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I started running track in 8th grade. I was a 400m guy in those days and I distinctly remember my first race. I ran just under 60 flat and thought I was going to die. The last 100m of that race made me hurt in a way that I'd never experienced before. When I finished, my eyes were so blurry from exhaustion that I couldn't even read the timer's watch when she showed me my time. As I walked off the track, I remember thinking "some people run that pace for 4 laps!? F#ck that!" So it occurred to me pretty early on that a sub 4 mile probably wasn't in the cards for me. |
| MagnumRunner |
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I remember in 7th grade running like a 63 or something like that for my fastest 400. I only ran half a track season my senior year because I played baseball all 4 years, but off less than 20 miles a week I ran 1:59. I'm not boasting, but to decide in middle school that you can't break 4 in the mile is a bit early. As a college runner, I don't know if I'll be able to break 4 or not, but I'm going to give it a shot. I have never ran all year round before (due to other sports or in the past couple years, injuries) and have only ran 50 miles/week consistently for about 2 months. Maybe I don't have enough ability to do it, but if I can get 2 years of consistent training and get my mileage up near 70 for a long while, then who knows, maybe I have a shot. Obviously its a fictional work, but I remember in Once a Runner Quenton Cassidy, on his way to breaking 4 minutes in the mile, at the half mile split, remembered in high school that going sub-2:00 for the half would have taken all he had. So maybe I can be like Quenton. |
| Rick Wright |
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Live your dreams, bro, live your dreams! |
| Queton C. |
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Maybe man but you will never know unless you give it all you got. Paul Tergat once said "Ask yourself: Can I give more? The answer is usually: Yes" You will have either live by this or die by this if you ever want to be truly great. There are no secrets just hard relentless work. |
| waitwut |
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Ever since my freshman year of track I've wanted to run under four minutes. Of course with my ignorance back then, I thought I was a hotshot with my 4:43 and pretty much assured myself I would be there in no time. Fast forward four years and my personal best of 4:21 still stands due to lots of injury setbacks. I have plenty of time from my perspective, so I'm still gunning for it. |
| Dog treats. |
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I've run 4:05. Dont really focus on the 4 minute mile. If it happens it happens. Sure there is something cool about breaking 4 and acomplishing that. But its just a time... 4:01, 4:00, 3:59. all times of people around the same skill level. |
| Junk Master |
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While you're totally correct about the talent level being the same between 4:01 and 3:59, the whole point is to say you broke 4. No one cares about a 4:01 runner but everyone, even non runners, respects a sub-4 miler. I'd rather be a 4:21 guy then a 4:05 guy who never broke 4. At 4:21 no one blames you for not breaking 4, at 4:05 don't you think you have to man up and actually get-r-done? I mean, you've got the talent. It's only heart and mind holding you back. |
| No Way |
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I decided I was going to break 4 when I came through the 3rd lap in 3:02. In college I had a PR of 4:08, sorta close, but no cigar. After graduating I trained for and ran a marathon. After that I decided to run a few track meets unattached. I took a little time off after my November marathon and then started training for track. I ran one indoor meet without much speed work and ran 4:19. My next race was outdoors and one of my former teammates who had always sort of bothered me was in the race and ran the first 2 laps in around 2:02, I passed him on the 3rd lap, and just realized that this was it. I'm not going to pretend like it wasn't hard and that it didn't hurt, but for some reason I just knew I was going to do it and I think because of that, it wasn't that bad. I ran 3:58.3, which was a 10 second PR. Haven't broken it since and really don't train at that level, so I probably never will. |
| No Way |
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And to be honest, I had absolutely no expectations of breaking 4 until that bell lap. I was expecting a little faster than the 4:19, but really just wanted to beat that guy! |
| No Way |
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Sorry for the triple post, but I have one more thing to add. Even though my pr had only been 4:08 in the mile, there was only one meet per year that ran it outdoors. I had run 3:43.13 in the 1500, which I always enjoyed because it's actually the same time as the mile wr. It amazes me that a time that made me a pretty good college runner would have had me over 100 meters behind El G. |
| Junk Master |
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Good posts. 100 meters behind El G ain't too shabby. |
| Conspiracy Theorist |
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Why is it that you get ridiculed here if you can't match the best of all time? |
| No Way |
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Why is it that you get ridiculed here if you can't match the best of all time?[/quote] I think it was a compliment..Or at least consolation. |
| kartelite |
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Why is it that you get ridiculed here if you can't match the best of all time?[/quote] I think it was a compliment..Or at least consolation.[/quote] Conspiracy Theorist was just being an asshat. |
| Junk Master |
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Dude, you we're 100 meters behind a doped to the gills genetic FREAK who spent his whole life focused on being the best with Jihadist intensity-- it was a compliment! Plus, you've gone sub-4. If I had ever gone sub-4, I'd still be wearing a sub-4 t-shirt to parties and I'm closing in on 45. I didn't even think that was ambiguous. |
| No Way |
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Oh don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have done it. It doesn't quite give me the "now I can die happy" feeling that you would hope for. No matter what you do, you'll always play the "what if" game. I wasn't at all prepared to run that time or to do anything about it. I wound up getting some free stuff for it, but I had already started my career and was working full time. I wasn't prepared to give that up to chase pro running. I'm 100% positive I made the smart responsible choice, but there are always days when my mind wanders. Not that I'm anywhere near the same level as Geb, but I will never knock the guy even if he keeps chasing WRs into his 60s. I have no doubt that when he finally retires it is because there is no way he can do it, and he won't give up until he knows that. It's even the same with Webb. There's probably a big part of him full of doubt, but if he retired in 2008, or even this year, don't you think he'd live the rest of his life wondering what could have been? How can you ridicule someone for not wanting that? All I meant by the El G comment is that it's pretty humbling. It's like when you're in high school and your think running 4:50 is good, then you realize someone can do that for 26 straight miles and probably not even make the Kenyan Olympic team. I'm very glad I did it. It doesn't mean a lot to most people, it rarely gets talked about. I'm lucky enough that the majority of my college friends still get together a few times a year even though we're pushing 30. Even with them, it's not like a common conversation. We'll generally go for a run or do a race when we get together. I ran a 5k on New Year's Day in 20:21. I could have run at least 3 minutes faster, or at the very least destroyed all the 20 minute runners with my furious kick, but I have nothing to prove and that's a good feeling. |