Can you make decent money running 14 minute flat 5ks?

There have been a lot of threads started by OPs with lofty goals. If a short term goal of getting under 16:00 doesn’t get this OP out the door for a run, and it takes dreaming of 14:00 to do so, that’s what he should do.

Running is a poor way to earn money. What’s “decent” to you now will be insignificant to most of your peers 10-15 years from now when you’d no longer be able to earn money using your body.

15.58 5k today delusional will come true wait till I come back with the sub 15

Sure you can, you'll be making bank

You are a woman? Just checking

not a woman

No. There's lots of men in the UK who can run 14, probably well over 1000 given the depth here.

What career?

As others have mentioned, there really aren’t that many 5k races with prize money. If you can run 1:05-1:07 for a half marathon (a bit slower than the equivalent of 14 flat for 5k) then you can definitely make some money if you chose your races well. But we’re talking smaller races where $500 or if you’re lucky $1,000 is first prize. But even if you find one, get comped entry, and win every other weekend, that’s not enough to live off. In fact, you barely break even after travel expenses are considered. I know because I tried “living the dream” for a year or so before I realized I’d rather have a job that actually paid me real money, and even working that full time job I still ran faster by actually training for 3-4 goal races per year instead of trying to race as often as possible.

You forgot to mention your super model wife. Your PR is a bit on the slow side, but otherwise, you are pretty close to being an average LRC poster. Congrats.

I’m 16:22, made $300k last year, but mid 40’s. In addition I have a sweet 2and place trophy and pair of shokx I got for finishing second at a Disney race.

I am pretty sure the OP is referring to making decent money from running earning, not your regular job/hustle/career. With 14:30, not in the male's category.

Unless you’re going to have a huge contract right outta college/hs, don’t make a hobby a jobby…

No, but you could get a nice college scholarship with it.

Congratulations. If you can keep up that pace for a whole marathon you'll run 2:15 and might make enough to be right around the poverty line.

Back in the day....

Elly Rono could pop a 2:20 marathon every month and bring home the bacon. He never broke 14:00 in the 5000m.

Alan

The real question you should be asking is can you run 4:10 mile. That is probably the minimum mile speed you need to run 14 5K.

I'm getting around 80% of my tuition paid in athletics scholarships, so that's something. I did a few road races and got some $, but nothing crazy (500$ max I think). Once I graduate I doubt I will get any real money (in the sense that I won't have to work a real job) from running unless I can get down to something really fast like ~13:15.

I would definitely not count on a high 13 min 5k to consider running as a career ... unfortunately keep studying! Read the zane Robertson thread / interview if you want to understand how difficult it is to make running your career.

Btw - I was running high 16 mins in the 5k at 18 and broke 14 mins at 21 - so don't believe all the people here saying that it's impossible.

all i know is that several of my local marathon events used to pay cash prizes to the top 5 finishers (like 1st - $500, 2nd - $400, [...], 5th - $100) and the winners of these events only ran no faster than 2hr30min. if you were a "sub elite" who could do 2:20s, you definitely could've made some nice weekend cash without pushing yourself to the limits. unfortunately, these days are over. the local competition are stiffer now and they don't even pay out cash prizes.

Yes, but in the longer distances like half marathon and the marathons. If can (and when you do) run 5K in 14 minutes, you could become a factor in the marathons if you work on your endurance. Brazilian Daniel Do Nascimento is yet to break 14 minutes but is currently a 2:03 marathoner and very dangerous at races. Watch 2022 New York City marathon.