tu45u wrote:
orbitboy wrote:There is no way, literally NO WAY the average American could run an entire lap on a 400 meter track without stopping to walk along the way.
If you don't believe me, just ask them. Ask 20 people you know, and half of them will say, "Shoot, I couldn't run halfway to the end of the street if I had to..."
This. I'd say the median time for 1000 randomly-selected American males in their 20s would be between two and three minutes--and closer to the latter.
This is my story and I'm sticking to it.
Remember, the median time is the one exactly in the middle of the group: half of the others are faster, half slower. And remember that the average American guy in his 20s is about 5-10 and 185+, which means a BMI close to 27 (well into the "overweight" range). And that's not a muscular weight, for most.
LRCers' estimates are probably skewed by their a) being runners, and not understanding how difficult even a 2:00 400 is for most nonrunners; and b) attending or having attended a four-year college, which about half of American men in their 20s don't/haven't done, and so not grasping how unfit most Americans are. (On average, the guys who don't go to college are in even worse shape than the guys who do.)
If anything, I erred by listing two minutes as even a possibility for the median time. Well over half of a random sample wouldn't be able to run around the entire track, at any speed.