Unlike most people here, I'm a bad distance runner. In high school, I've never even seen the front of the pack after the first mile of a cross country race, and I didn't run in college. I don't remember what my best time was, but it was in the mid 18's, and that was for a flat 3 mile course, not a hilly 5K.
I was fairly good on the track, but nowhere near great. I'd usually run around a 55 for the 400 and a 2:10 for the 800, and my PRs are only a bit faster than that.
It's been 10 years since my last high school race, and a former Arcadia teammate told me that there was an alumni meet on Wednesday, August 6, at 7 PM. He said it would be interesting if I go out with the leaders and enjoy the experience of being at the front of the pack, if only for a couple of minutes (or seconds!), which I never had the chance to do in high school. I haven't seriously run since graduation, but this is just too good of an opportunity to pass up. I honestly don't remember the last time I ran more than 10 MPW (maybe in 2009?) but I haven't put on much weight either, and I'm still somewhat decent at the shorter distances.
My most recent results were a 6:24 mile a couple weeks ago and some 100 meter strides in the high 12's and low 13's. The 6:24 mile was a solo run on the Mammoth track at 7,012 feet (not acclimated), and the strides were done in trainers with running starts and tailwinds at ~85% effort. I think I can break 60 for the 400, but it won't be by much.
With that said, how long do you think I can keep up with the top runners of one of the best high school teams in the country? I'll start the stopwatch at the start of the race, and I'll stop it and get off the course when I'm no longer within 2 seconds of the top 2 runners.
Any guesses? I'll keep everyone posted.