Write about the time you first broke XX:00 minutes for ____distance.

This is probably my proudest one. Started junior year with a 3200 PR of 10:32. Had a goal of sub 10 as we had a team goal of trying to have 5 non seniors under 10 for next XC season. Had a couple good races going out in 4:57-5:02 before dying the last 800. Only managed 10:15. Senior year we had a 3200 time trial in XC season. Our 4:12/9:1x guy took off on his own after the first 400 but I went out with the chase pack feeling good. About 750 in I broke away from the chase pack. Split 4:53 feeling better than I ever had in track. Started to die around 600 and got caught by our number 2 guy but still finished in 9:58. It felt great finishing 3rd when I was the number 8 guy on our team, and sub 10 meant I was a decent HS runner.

Sub 20 for XC 5k.

It was at the old Carrolton xc course for all those GA runners out there.

I got in a bit of trouble with my coach so I was running the open race, which was at 12:00 pm. If anyone knows anything about Georgia weather, they know that Carrolton is hotter than Satan\'s a**hole, and running your first xc 5k in that heat spells disaster.

I went through the first mile in about 6:00, 2 mile in 12:20, and from there I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other. I somehow managed to make it up and down the final hill at the end, and when I crossed the finish line I was completely out of it. I thought I had won a medal, and I was holding onto the ropes in the chute so tight after the race that I had rope burn on my hands for a couple of days. I eventually blacked out, my teammates carried me back to the tent, and I puked my guts out for a good 10-15 minutes.

Final time was 19:37.

4 miles in under xxx. My final mile split was almost a minute faster than my first mile split.

Spent the better part of my senior year running between 2:04 and 2:05 in the 800 before running 2:02 in early May. Missed out running in our conference meet after running a 600 time trial in 1:27 and losing by a second to our 7th best 800 runner (we ended up having 10 guys run sub 2:02 that year). The guy that beat me out for a spot in conference ended up running 2:03 in the open 800 in the conference meet and our 4x800 team ran 8:05. The underperformance so infuriated our coach that he scheduled an “all team” time trial for the Tuesday before sectionals. 15 guys were entered in the race, with PRs ranging from 1:56 to 2:07. Top four would run on the 4x800 team at sectionals and the fifth would run in the open 800 at sectionals. As an aside, the only 800 runners on our team that were not in the time trial were our top guy who ended up having a PR of 1:50 and our second miler who ended up having a PR of 4:15.

The day of the time trial I felt like crap all day in classes and pretty much convinced myself I had no chance of making the top five. Once the time for the race arrived, we were lined up with an 8-lane Olympic 800 start with two guys in lanes 1 through 7 and one guy in lane 8. I ran on the outside of lane 5 next to one of my teammates that had run 1:58 on a relay leg. I came to the starting line feeling sluggish, but surprisingly relaxed.

My lane mate and I both liked to go out fast and he led through the first 200 in 28 with me on his shoulder. Between 300 and 400, I let three of my faster teammates pass me and cruised through the 400 in fifth place with a split of 58. On the turn between 400 and 500 our second best 800 runner began to pass me. I momentarily held him off, but then (a mistake I rue to this day) let him by because he had a faster PR and I was worried about kicking too early. I hit 600 in 1:28 in sixth place, two seconds back on the leaders and just trying to hang on. On the turn between 600 and 700 I got encouragement from our sprints and throws coaches, both of whom were my favorite teachers. In addition, the rest of the team had stopped practice to clear the track and watch the spectacle. It’s a rare moment that sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers and throwers drop everything for an 800 time trial, so the atmosphere was unique and motivating.

Coming off the turn with 100 to go I looked ahead. The four guys in the time trial that had already broken 2:00 for the year were comfortably ahead and I wrote them off. The fifth guy was our number two 2-miler, who had a PR of 9:20, but was running the time trial under the assumption that he was too slow to place in the 2-mile at state but in the hope that he might provide a boost to the 4x800 relay. I held on as I could to maintain form and slowly kicked him down, passing him with 750 to go.

Ahead of me, the top two reached the line in a dead heat at 1:56, third was 1:57 and fourth was 1:58. I cruised in hearing my coach shout “1:56, 156.9, 157, 157.9, 158…” and with the call of “158.9” I hit the line. I had improved my PR by 3 seconds and gotten the final spot at sectionals. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel that tired. Ten guys rolled in after me, with the slowest at around 2:05 or 2:06. In hindsight, I wish I had held on during the turn from 400 to 500. I still think the adrenaline boost you get when someone tries to pass you would have pushed me closer to the leaders. All in all, however, I was elated to have broken 2-flat.

I never ran faster that year. Our 4x800 went on to run 7:42 with the four guys that finished ahead of me running PRs. Not often that you can run 1:58.9 and be the seventh best guy on your team.

The first time I broke 15:00 for 5000 was my senior year of high school. I was in a race with only high school runners and I almost got lapped. Coming in to the race I thought I could break 15:00 if I ran even splits. I stuck to the plan despite being in dead last through 800 meters (2:24). I ended up passing people the whole way and ended up in the top 5. My splits were dead even. I came through 1600 in 4:48, 3200 in 9:36, and 4800 in 14:24 before running a 33 for the last 200 to finish in 14:57. The crowd noise during that race was unlike anything else I have ever experienced in Track and Field (at least as a competitor). It really carried me through the last couple of laps (even though everyone was cheering for Chris Derrick, not me). It was a really incredible experience being in that race. Being a part of a truly special race was awesome even though I was over a minute back of the person turning in the noteworthy performance of the meet, and hey, he didn't quite lap me.

blah, blah, blah

The first time I broke 3:00 for the marathon was epic. I started 10 minutes behind the main pack, ran a couple of miles then pulled off the course for lunch and a costume change. Then, I drove the middle section and rejoined the race about 2 miles from the finish. I won my age group and took the prize money away from the chumps who actually ran the whole thing. Kerching!

This was a great story. you have a knack for these things.

Probably the best 7 days of my racing life........hoping to improve on this but seems unlikely now.Had a great training block on the run up to Berlin Marathon '09. At the time I was training with a bunch of "old school" club runners.Sought their opinion on racing an all-out 10k 1 week before the marathon.Was reassured by the fact that this was "common practice" back in the day.Ran the Trafford 10k a week before the marathon, clocked 32:46, which remains my lifetime PB.7 days later ran 2:31:08 in Berlin, which remains my lifetime PB.Both of these performances were done at age 40.If I never improve on either of these marks, I'll die a happy man.It was a good week in my book, and I knew it at the time.

neverbroke2sadly wrote:

This was a great story. you have a knack for these things.

My sophmore year.. 5:25

Jr Year 5:16, 5:10, 5:07, 5:05, 5:01 Meanwhile a freshman broke it going 4:58 on my team.

The next year it just clicked for me. My 5k dropped from an 18 into the 16's. My two mile from an 11 into the 9's by the end of the season.

But after XC was over I went out to the track the Tuesday after Regionals where my team got 7th so we didn't advance to state. I set my Garmin Watch to a 5minute mile and just made sure to stay ahead of the little running guy.

I ended up running 4:48 and it felt pretty easy. by the end of the year I ran a 4:28 at my district meet in order to make region and that was my peak. Regional was like 4:35 or something like that.

Its amazing what happens when it just clicks and the mileage turns itself over, you understand what running a pace is and all of that.

not bogus do your homework wrote:

Connecticut does the 5,000 and 3,200 at every outdoor meet.

Not anymore. Still do the 3,200 but they stopped doing the 5,000 after the 1999-2000 school year

The first time I broke 4 hours for a marathon. I was an incredibly talented athlete, a superb runner, and I just knew that with all my talent and hard work I could break 4. It was awesome, in fact I broke 3 hours too. In the same marathon. Isn't that awesome? I am such a great runner that I should be president someday.

16:00 5k going into my senior year of HS. There was a road race in the area that was typically the finale of the summer before HS season started and college guys were back to school. The race was me hanging with a HS teammate who just graduated and two college guys in town for the weekend. Hanging with them through the race and managing to kick in for 15:50-something showed me the work through the summer and back into track that spring was going to pay off that season. It felt like validation to race with a guy I'd been chasing the past couple years and two collegiate guys. That race also cemented I was going to run in college.

26:00 8K in college. Ran a 26:00-something freshman year. My sophomore year did not go well and ran like crap all year. Junior year it started to come back around and finally had a decent race again at Pre-Nats, just getting under 26:00. Another teammate & I were in the open race and wound up getting ourselves onto the roster for conference. Two weeks later we were our 4 & 5 and conference champions.

First - and only - time I broke 14:20 for a track 5K.

Home college meet. Went out with a buddy the night before, thinking I'd have a couple brews to relax and then call it an early night. Long story short, we closed the bar and earned "Around the World" beer steins by drinking one of every import on tap.

The race was at 3:00pm. I woke up at 11:30am, threw up and then forced down a PB&J sandwich just to get something in my stomach. My head was killing me but I had to see the trainers because I'd been battling some fairly significant ankle soreness and wanted to dunk my foot in an ice bath prior to the race.

Well, damn near the entire baseball team was getting treated that day, so one of the female student athletic trainers set me up in a medical supply storage closet where I'd have room to sit down and have a little privacy in case I had to barf again. This particualr girl was someone whom I'd hooked up with couple times in the prior few weeks, and during that time I learned that she was up for just about anything short of S&M. In a nut (no pun intended), she joined me in the supply room, locked the door, then blew me while my foot was getting numb.

By this time it was nearly 2:15 so I limped out of the HPER building, skipped my warm-up and basically walked around until the feeling in my foot came back. I stepped on the line, jogged through the first 1600 in 4:47, negative-split the next 3200 and closed in 28 to finish in 14:18.

I expected to run like crap, so all the pressure was off. I fully expected to DNF after about 2400, but I felt good and just started rolling. Just goes to show the mental aspect of the sport.

i was a junior. conference outdoor meet. i had to run 3 races to help the team out with points. i had spent all day at school taking AP exams. my mind was a little mushy (ended up being great for my nerves) i ran a 4:29 mile, 4th place. i ran 159 high or something and was 3rd at the line (i passed 3 people in the last 50m which was great for our team) and it was late and i was tired and i had to anchor the 4x400 because we realized we had won the meet. i was talking to my mom, who happened to be working at the finish line writing down times etc. She was teasing me how it was going to be hard to wake up early the next day and go to school. We were just talking having a conversation about everything but running while the relay was happening. I was anchoring and hadn't raced a 400m since my freshman year. Plus, our rival team's anchor was a state champ who had split 47.8 that year. (he later ran the 800m at U of Wisconsin and was national champ ) Anyway, He killed me but I got us second place and ran a 49.8 split. my previous best was 53.8. That was a good feeling for a guy who had never really run much more than XC and 800's and miles . i was on the state 2nd place 4x400 that year because of it

7th in the 8

Damn, you guys had a deep middle distance team! With the 7:42, did you guys lead the nation?

Biggest breakthrough and memorable races for me all were associated with breaking a barrier in the 1600. First was sub 4:40 second year high school, then sub 4:30 junior year then sub 4:20 In junior year college. Most memorable was the 4:28 I ran at districts my junior year. I was never much of a closer but this particular day I just glided the last lap in 66. Ended up 5th but remember having a ton left .... Oh to someday break 4:10 and feel that feeling of breaking a big personal barrier!

In high school, I was slow as dirt. My 5K plateaued at a bit over 17, partly because the XC coach never trusted anyone on the guys' team and never let us do any kind of mileage or any hard workouts other than intervals, which we were doing as early as July, partly because the track coach trained all of us like sprinters (e.g. repeat 200s or 400s twice a week every week during the winter) which led to me getting injured over and over again, and partly because I never wanted to ease myself back into things when coming off an injury. I always had to go for the glory, which usually injured me even further.

So, I graduate with not a single offer, not even from some piddly little NAIA school. I rather stupidly set a goal that I would eventually walk on to the team at the school I got admitted to, a traditional D1 powerhouse.

Over the year, I worked my way up to around 70 miles every week and had no fear to take it really hard if I wanted to. I did crazy amounts of hills, a really long run (14+ miles) every Sunday without exception and a sizable amount of biking when I could. I ran in 90-degree weather and on top of three feet of snow. Simply put, now that I could schedule my own workouts, I went completely insane.

By summer break, I was completely astounded at how far I had progressed. In September, I considered anything under 7 minute pace a workout. In May, I was averaging 6:15 pace for my long runs. So, on a day too hot for even me, I decided to hit the gym. I stepped on a treadmill, set it to 11 MPH and ran for 3.11 miles. My final time was 16:58. I PRed for the 5K on a goddamn treadmill.

For me a sub-5:00 mile and a sub-17:00 5K stand out.

I ran a 5:00.1 mile as a freshman in HS. Didn't run track as a sophomore. Probably in the first meet junior year I ran 4:56 or something. Not even sure if I was wearing spikes. It was anticlimactic like Q. Cassidy breaking 4:00 in a workout.

I'd run a 17:01 5K when I was about 20 years old. Through my 20s I was fluctuating between running and not running. Suddenly at about 28 years old I got more serious about it. Ran a number of 5Ks over the summer seemingly ratcheting my time down by 5-10 seconds each time from a starting point around 18:00. I did a 17:10 time trial on the track where I'd gone out way too fast, but still didn't have great confidence in breaking 17:00 that season. The race I was in for my final 5K wasn't a flat course, so definitely didn't expect to break 17. But the uphills were early, and I used the downhills late and hit the line in about 16:54.