If someone is trying to race you on your daily runs, do you take the Challenge?

Also I trained like a long distance runner even though I'm not built for it.

Didn't Seb Coe run 70 miles a week too? That was his peak mileage.

I've been doing the same. Mileage wise.

I feel like it's true: runners are very elitist with their times.

It makes me remember how much I like putting snobby people down. I guess if some college age runner does challenge me, I'll take it because I hate the kind of personality it's tied to.

Also, this thread isn't about my PRs. I was talking about daily runs!

So I was tempted to chalk this up as another 0/10. But this guy is such an obvious troll and is still getting bites (including research!), so I thought that's pretty impressive. But then the last like 5 posts are the OP again, so maybe it's back to 0.

Though I do think this guy is pretty tuned in to what the typical LR poster (not reader) wants to read. He's a volume scorer, sure, but still scoring.

Do you wanna go?

Do you wanna race me?

I'm confident in my abilities. That's why I post. That's why I also have running stories because I'm always running outside - not on some track field with a smooth surface. I run exclusively on bitumen and pavement. I wonder what'll happen when that translates onto track. I will be faster.

Also you know about marginal gains and running, right? Most of the people on LR already reached their peak except the occasional rising high schooler.

I've just started running - relatively. And I guess my best PR in running is 1:27 for a half marathon. I was actually training for a BQ since last November. But I always had ITB injuries.

So call me what you want. But thanks for giving me determination.

Determination to put you down to the ground. I don't need motivation.

Name in Hiding wrote:

Do you wanna go?

Do you wanna race me?

I'm confident in my abilities. That's why I post. That's why I also have running stories because I'm always running outside - not on some track field with a smooth surface. I run exclusively on bitumen and pavement. I wonder what'll happen when that translates onto track. I will be faster.

Also you know about marginal gains and running, right? Most of the people on LR already reached their peak except the occasional rising high schooler.

I've just started running - relatively. And I guess my best PR in running is 1:27 for a half marathon. I was actually training for a BQ since last November. But I always had ITB injuries.

So call me what you want. But thanks for giving me determination.

Determination to put you down to the ground. I don't need motivation.

Sub 1:50 shape for sure!

If high schoolers manage sub 2 minutes for the 800m. What kind of weekly mileage did they have? 30? 40 miles a week?

I jumped into the 60s and 70s in the summer when I started last year. I ran with cramps and Achilles tendinitis and I still did it. I did take a lot of Motrin though.

I don't think it's a stretch to be sub 1:50 for a college student. Especially since, you know, I've done 8 years of an endurance/strength sport.

For long distance, it is difficult to make significant progress. It takes years.

But this is middle-distance that I am built for. So while you're all proud and protective of your times for your mile, 5k or 10k, unless you're a middle distance runner too, then I think you'd be able to relate in saying that running the 800m is a combination of speed endurance and strength. I already have the strength, I'm just working on the aerobic stuff.

Most of the hobby joggers I see I bet are the 5k types. So they do beat me as time goes on. But we're racing two different events. We're similar in that we're sharing the same road. That's all.

Name in Hiding/Fast Ass seems like a mentally ill moron.

Motrim, huh? I revise it to a 1:45 then, lol.

Anyway, I am a mid-D runner and I know what it takes to run the 800 fast. Doing 8 years of karate is not on the list of what it takes. Sorry, pal. Just an fyi, you do need endurance to run a fast 800. Not only for the race itself, but so you can do the actual race specific training. You can break 2 with something as slow as 18 or 19m 5k ability if you are fast enough. I personally don't know any sub 1:50 guys who couldn't easily run 16m 5k. Like I said, I think you should be pleased with a 2:30 in your first 2 months of trying. Good luck.

Anyway, come back with a link to FAT results of your 800 within 2 months. What are the odds that you do it vs. don't do it? 99.99% vs 0.01%?

Not 8 years of karate.

Judo, jiu jitsu, tai chi, kung fu, hapkido, all wooden weapons, akido, and something similar to acrobatics (I forgot the name). Basically, my instructors taught me how to develop my entire body.

Being a well-rounded athlete is what it takes to be a middle distance runner. I really did train to be a long-distance runner. But I didn't like what it did to my body. I also can't stand long runs sometimes. I need to sprint.

I think I can understand your perspective that you think I'm talking from my ass. If it was just any random person on LR that wanted to do a sub 150, I wouldn't believe them to.

But for someone to just "become a runner" with no running background or coach, that reason for me to train like this prevents me from ever relaxing. And I'll use that to be fast. And I've been doing that since late June of last year.

Thanks for your concern, but I don't want 2:30. Perhaps sub 2 is likely, but I want sub 150. And I'm not just gonna let any person who was probably trained in hs and college to say what's not possible. I'm still a college student, bruh

I'll just do a little brag right now:

In my martial arts system, I was always #1 in the region for my age group.

That meant: #1 in sparring, #1 in freestyle, and #1 in kata (performing choreographed self-defense forms - it's hard to explain).

Then when I was old enough, I started practicing with adults in their late 20s, 30s, 40s. I didn't like the environment - I didn't fit in and I was still an awkward teenager. Yes, my instructors moved me into the adult section because I was the top ranking student in my class (the teenage section).

I don't know why I quit. But I think that when it got to the point that martial arts started to be something about wellness for the mind and body, I lost interest.

Besides, how many people do you know are black belts? Perhaps the title associated with being a black belt means nothing nowadays since it's all for entertainment. But it was 8 years of something that I hated, yet now I have it in me.

And by god, if that doesn't translate to other sports, then I am damned.

Name in Hiding wrote:

The Charles River.

The one where you see MIT sail boats on both sides. And then there are kayaks and canoes. Ok ok I wasn't descriptive enough.

The Mass Ave bridge (aka Harvard Bridge)? MIT sailing pavilion is on one side. BU sailing pavilion and Community Boating are on the other. Is this what you're talking about? You run down Mass Ave to Harvard, but can't name the effing bridge? WTF?

Do you live in Boston too?

I'm not a tourist of Boston. I live 5 miles in a suburb from it. Why would I randomly explore more of Boston? You know what it's like: Unless you have lots of spending money, there's really no point to be around that area. Unless you're on dates, and it's been a while.

I run all the way to the Adidas shoe store, then the Marathon Sports, and then the New Balance shoe store, make a restroom stop at the Prudential, make some right angles past The Pour House, and then I run to the Mass Ave Bridge.

I see some pretty serious runners running around the bridge, like on the bike path - it's like a rectangle and seems kind of boring. There is goose poop everywhere.

So I run on the bridge, and sometimes I speed up when I see the Duck Tour Bus. Then I run past the MIT Science Museum, then past that Bike shop, and then keep going straight until I pass those convenience store shops on the right, keep going straight until I run past that Church lawn?! And then I run to the CVS in Harvard Square.

I don't have enough time to "take it all in." Most of my energy is spent breathing and running and keeping pace.

Though when I do see BU runners, I trail behind them until I see them turn their head back and they notice me. Then I leave them alone. It's pretty fun if they have earphones so I can trail them for like 3 minutes at least.

Name in Hiding wrote:

Do you wanna go?

Do you wanna race me?

I'm confident in my abilities. That's why I post. That's why I also have running stories because I'm always running outside - not on some track field with a smooth surface. I run exclusively on bitumen and pavement. I wonder what'll happen when that translates onto track. I will be faster.

Also you know about marginal gains and running, right? Most of the people on LR already reached their peak except the occasional rising high schooler.

I've just started running - relatively. And I guess my best PR in running is 1:27 for a half marathon. I was actually training for a BQ since last November. But I always had ITB injuries.

So call me what you want. But thanks for giving me determination.

Determination to put you down to the ground. I don't need motivation.

From the CVS in Harvard Square run west to McLean Hospital. Explore that.

I know the bridge you were talking about. I jog there all the time. It's 8 miles into one of my favorite loops. In fact, just this morning I was jogging that loop and I passed some dude in red split shorts on that bridge and he tried to keep up with me. I slowed down a little thinking maybe he wanted to run with me but then he just stopped and started walking, so I just finished my morning 15-mile jog.

Name in Hiding wrote:

I run exclusively on bitumen and pavement. I wonder what'll happen when that translates onto track. I will be faster.

I run on Macadam roads. You need to up your road surface game.

Ha, very funny. How tall did that guy seem? What hair color too?

You don't know because I remember the events of what I felt afterwards that guy out kicked me.

I felt distraught and finally disillusioned. I really feel like he decided to race me because I looked fast. Yes, I said "looked fast." That's why I mentioned the Soffe split shorts and compression gear. It makes me look like a serious athlete.

Anyways, when I couldn't keep up with him, I was thinking to myself:

"Should I reveal my kick?" I was also grasping my phone in my right hand, and the iPhone armband - I never wrap it around my arm, I grip it tightly - it's very old so my iPhone might slip off into the Charles River.

I let him go. Rather, he decided I was no longer and threat so he just took off. But I remember looking at the ramp for runners when I initially crossed the bridge. I didn't see him there. There was about 10 seconds when I was slowly gaining speed, (think, just like how a sprinter reaches max velocity at 30 meter mark) and then HE APPEARED from behind.

I watched him run away from me. He didn't look back and HE DIDN'T HAVE EARPHONES/MUSIC. He knew what he was doing. I had music though.

I remember then seeing an old couple in front of me about 40 meters away, and then there was a girl in a dull blouse about 60 meters away. I finally decided to do my kick to try to reach him, but I felt so demoralized I only ran halfway to the bridge.

I didn't see anyone else in front of me.

I've heard of McLean Hospital. Is that a psychiatry hospital?

Yup. I just checked it.

I've been called delusion, that I have BPD, or that I'm talking about my ass so many times on LR, I'm not scared of running past a place of crazy people. Runners are crazy anyways.

And since I also run on Pure Hate, and since I'm a runner which makes me crazy, it won't really phase me.

I have a friend who lives in Belmont and I plan on just running to his place unexpectedly to just "use the bathroom." I already did that with one of my friends who lives in Roslindale.

I spent 1.5 good years of my teenage life purely watching criminal documentaries and Forensic Files. It creeps me out but I do it because I like reading about science, but not really doing it.

When I first started running seriously, like to train for speed, I bought the Adidas Springblade. I did run on dirt/stone/gravel. I ended up on some weird local highways. It ended up ruining the outsole but I still have those shoes for the memories.

Are Macadam roads a real thing still?

I DID run about 1.7 miles barefoot when it was like 36 degrees fahrenheit around midnight. I had leather loafers and I didn't want to break them to get back to the dorm.

There's not really any fast people in my area so usually if someone blows past me its a bit of a surprise. If someone passes me who doesn't look fit I will just let em have it because I just feel bad for them if the get passed like 200m later. If someone who looks like an actual runner wdoes then I will usually speed up until we are moving at the same pace and then I check my watch to see how fast they are going (lol). Then I will follow them for 800 to a mile or so and if they slow down I will pass them but if they don't I will respect that they are probably trying to accomplish more than just besting me and back off.

You just reminded me another thing that happened to me today:

I was browsing around the Prudential (it's a big mall/tower in Boston) and I saw this young guy with his mom. THEY WERE TOURISTS.

He was wearing a mint North Face jacket: just like this

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/ac/1a/7d/ac1a7d473d0fd207114349f00f8a15c5--north-face-jacket-sale-north-face-rain-jacket.jpg

Anyways he could tell I was a runner because I was wearing split shorts. And I could tell he was a runner because of his somewhat shaved legs, 5 inch shorts (they weren't split - but they looked like athletic shorts). He definitely gave me the nod and I gave him the nod.

He was a tourist in a big city, and he acknowledged me and I did the same. It felt cool. I was gonna run past them but I decided to slowly jog and wait at the pedestrian light so that he and his mom could get a good look at me. I just wanted them to make sure that our inkling was recognized.

Basically, I slowed down to enjoy a sense of camaraderie. Sometimes, the feelings of competition and superiority aren't worth it compared to tender moments like this. I was also older than the guy. Even though he was a tourist in Boston, I gave him a sense of belonging.

Is this too weird? I don't know.