How fast were your parents?

A group of turtles is called a "bale." However, I prefer your description. It made me laugh out loud. Wasn't a "Herd of Turtles" a 1980's glam band?

...sorry, that was in response to: PEACE OUT's

--------------------------------------------------------

My parents were about as fast as a herd of turtles. I'm not very fast, but at least fast enough to get into Boston.

-------------------------------------------------------

A group of turtles is called a "bale." However, I prefer your description. It made me laugh out loud. Wasn't a "Herd of Turtles" a 1980's glam band?

I beat my dad's 5k by 1 second 14:57 to 14:58. My mom was a school record holder in high school in the 100, 200, and LJ then competed in mid-distances and xc in college. I got a bit of my mom's speed but not much.

My dad came to the US from Colombia, where he never ran track, and walked on at UGA. He went from running a 59 second 400 in his first time trial to 49.6 by the end of his first outdoor season. Split 47.7 his sophomore year, 48.6 open, then tore his ACL on an indoor track as a junior and had to give it up.

My mother was an all-state 400 meter runner in the mid-low 50s, my dad was a mediocre football player who discovered running late in life. My grandfather was a semi-professional cyclist.

My mom ran an 18:05 5k on a legitimate, hilly road course back in the late 70's. She was 19, not on a team, and basically just ran 5 miles every day, some days hard and some easy.

I ran consistently ran 14:30's 5k/30:30's 10k in college.

I think my mom would have been much better than me comparatively.

My dad ran a 4:18.2 in high school and 4:08 before he stopped running.

I was never able to outrun the belt, switch, board, hairbrush, etc... from either too much panic or too much laughter depending on what I did to have it coming to me.

My parents both didn't do any sports, though they both stayed in shape (My dad the military and my mom exercised with videos regularly). My Grandpa was an MLB prospect before the military draft and also played QB and PG in HS but never ran. So maybe some athletic lineage but not much. My PRs are: 3:49 (1500m), 4:07 (full mile), 8:17 (3k), 14:27, 24:46 (XC), 31:10(XC)...I work hard and have a bit of speed (52 quarter) but believe I am definitely limited by genetics... I mean I wasn't given a gift of 49 quarter speed...

my dad ran 9:09 for 2 miles and 4:17 for 1 mile in high school.

i don't think he did track in college but he ran 19s for the 4 mile at community college.

i am slowly getting closer to his times. im your standard 4:30s/15:40ish guy but improving a lot this year. hopefully sub 15 next year which would beat his 5k PR technically.

my mom is a hobby jogger who runs 1:50s/3:50s for half/full

Well I know of a family that is pretty fast they ran for the West Side Runners. The Roa family. Carlos Roa the father was a 2:15 marathoner 1:03 half, and his wife Ana Delia was a 2:38 marathoner with 1:15 half. Both runners were from Colombia. I haven't heard much of the family in years but their children are now in their early 20s and running well. Karen Roa was a star at UMAss Amherst where she ran 16:40s in the 5km and was very successful in the 3km steeplechase and Carlos Roa is a star at Stony Brook running 30:40s 10km and sub 15 min in the 5km. So I'm guessing genetics has to do with it. I am a 3:20 Marathoner but my parents were never runners.

Sure genetics play a role in any athletic endeavor, however the variation among any group is greater then that between groups (this is an accepted genetic principle). Secondly, subjective body type is not a good predictor of performance. A tall person is not necessarily a better basketball player than a shorter one, a person with longer legs is not automatically a better runner. All you have to do is look at the amazing runners that Japan is producing, they look nothing like Kenyans. Thirdly, The Jamaicans produce more top flight sprinters because (1)running is the national sport and virtually no one escapes participating, (2) they have excellent coaching and facilities, (3)they have a centuries old tradition of running sprints and mid distance, (4) Jamaica is a relatively poor country and running is an established route to an education, notoriety and wealth. The bottom line is, there are gifted and hard working individuals in any population and using the excuse of genetic propensity to explain your inability to succeed is cowardly.

Neither of my parents ran. My father was a third generation dairy farmer. He was a tall, skinny tough sob so I know he could have been a good runner.

My mother is from Manlius, NY and I'm sure that area has some people with a good genetic makeup for distance running.

Order of best genetics for running

1) African

2) Aborigine - either Americans or Australian

3) Asians (currently Japanese marathoners and sprinters are best in world - no tradition of using PEDs in Japan. Rupp, Hall, Kennedy all the best latest Western runners were on thyroid meds. Mennea was on HGH. Borzov was on steroids I'm sure)

4) Euro- Americans (have the highest number of athletes in running events, invest the most resources into producing Olympic runners yet produce the least per capita)

Fun thread.

Dad was active throughout his life and picked up running in the very first Kenneth Cooper-Bowerman running boom of the 1960s. He ran a little bit of track in high school, but was built more as a lineman. 6' 190 lb as an adult. I heard stories, never saw his times, but thinking mid 5:30s. He ran almost religiously for 15 years, 3X a week. Most of his runs were tempo level. He did about 35-36 min for 5 miles when he was about 50.

Mom claimed to be a star athlete as a youth. I'd say probably better than average. More of a gymnast's build, 5'2" and 110 as an adult.

Grandpa had a lean wiry build, which I seemed to inherit, somewhat. He 5'8" or 5'9" and in all the pictures he looked fairly slim, 130s - 140s. He was something of a gymnast in college. Other grandparents, I don't know, but that was a long time ago and they didn't do organized sports as far as I know.

My sibs were never that athletic. On is tall (6'4") tends to put on a lot of weight, and was never coordinated. The other is inherently lazy, dabbled a bit in swimming and little league and never liked running.

I ran 15s for 5K, my wife was a fast college mid-distance (4:30 1500) runner and our kids have got some mojo.

I was a good 800m runner in college. I had excellent speed for an 800m runner but wasn't blazing fast enough to be a sprinter. My dad was a great all around athlete...played football, was on the state championship basketball team, and ran the long hurdles. He went to a small school where everyone participated in as many sports as possible. He found his best athletic talent out of college as he became a Golden Gloves regional champion. My mom wasn't fast but was strong and had good balance and coordination. She was a figure skater and won several local championships. So although my parents weren't outstanding runners, both of them were good all-around athletes.

So basically, the only reason Usain Bolt and David Rudisha are (virtually) unbeatable in their respective events, is because no one works as hard as them?

Genetics play a huge role in athletics.

Theres a reason why no matter how hard/long/efficient you train, a majority of you guys will break 11.0 in the 100.

Interesting. My little brother didn't run in school and came out and ran a 2:49 marathon when he was 19 just because he thought it would be fun. This was after a 5 week build-up to the distance (9 mi, 13 mi, 16 mi, 19 mi, 22 mi).

After he finished, solidly winning his AG, my dad commented that he'd been an NCAA distance runner in college at the CG academy, a fact that I've verified but hadn't heard before.

This sounds like genetics plays a role to me, because my parents never encouraged us to run or even talked about it, negating the possibility of a nurture effect.

i'm a mid distance guy (52/1:59/4:25/15:57 for 400/800/mile/xc5k) and my dad was a long sprints guy. his 4x100 team made CIF state finals while in high school, and while at Cal he ran 48.xx from the 400. he can't run a 5k under a half hour though. so i don't know where my aerobic endurance genetics came from, but i like to think that i inherited a little bit of speed.