How would you answer the question "are you fast?"

I used to be.

This. Once out for dinner with a group where a friend wanted to 'show me off' was like "tell them what you ran today - it really doesn't matter just whatever you did"

It was a boring daily run or recovery run i dont remember but like "I ran 8 miles at like an 8:00 average pace"

The people in question were genuinely "woah wtf!!!! what's amazing". "I could never run that fast"

That definitely puts it into perspective. Similarly with co-workers. When someone let it slip I'm a runner and they wanted examples of my races we got to "what do you run easy on the treadmill" and same kind of reactions.

If you can win many half marathons with over 1000 entrants by over a minute, even the downhill ones, you actually are pretty fast.

I consider myself a respectable runner, but definitely not fast.

I started running on my own about 20 years ago (at 18). Never ran on a team, just gradually improved to the point where I could occasionally win local, low key races. It was around then that I did actually consider myself fast.

Around 10 years ago, I started taking training fairly seriously. Started running with a group, started running more competitive races. This is when I really learned how much better other runners were. Exposure to this level of running has helped me to improve as a runner, but I haven't considered myself fast since then (and honestly I'm 100 percent ok with that because I love training, running and racing even if I'll never be elite)..

There have been a couple times where people have introduced me as a fast runner and it makes me feel really uncomfortable.

Being an old fat bald guy I don’t get asked that very often. I reckon I’m well above average for an old fat bald guy. I’m not typically in contention to win races these days, but when I run 10 miles in ~65 minutes the shredded young studs young enough to be my children who finish behind me like ok at me all confused like “how’d that old fat bald guy just beat me?”

"I do alright"

I make luv fast

I've run 14:40 in the 5K but live in Boulder so I'm not even the fastest runner on my street.

Does the person asking the question actually care about your answer? “Pretty good” or “Decent” should suffice.

This is the most correct answer but it gets it backwards. Ask any high-level runner and they'll tell you they're pathetically slow. The closer you get to the top of the mountain the more you focus on the top and not how high you really are. The trials qualifiers are focused on how they aren't even good enough to make the team. The Olympians are focused on how they can't even make the finals. Those in the finals didn't come close to a medal. Everyone else one step below is wishing they were fast enough to get to that next level, but no one stops to look at the millions of people they can beat. They just focus on the handful that make them feel slow.

Jacob is slow with 152 800 at age 14.

so calculating from there only sprint geezer is fast on these boards.

The Age-Graded system is the only way to go...

marathonhandbook.com

Running Age-Graded Calculator: Analyse, Compare, & Predict

@marathonHB

With our age-grade calculator you can compare your running performance to other ages, view predicted race times, and set running goals!

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With the categories below, you can answer the question accurately. For example, If you're in the 60th%, you can answer, "yeah, I'm fast for this area, but nowhere near 'national' class". (for example). I'm upper 40s and grade in the lower 60s, so I'm really, really slow compared to any real runners out there, but can beat most people my age around here. So, "Heck yes, I'm fast!"

Typical percentages are as follows:
100% = Approximate World-Record Level
90+% = World Class
80+% = National Class
70+% = Regional Class
60+% = Local Class

I am fast. To give you a reference point I am somewhere between a snake and a mongoose.

It depends on his footwear and "nutrition".

Sure. This post is more about the fact that I'm interested in how other people would answer, and if I should agree with people telling me I'm fast after I tell them my average mile pace in a race.

I'm 67 now, but I would have been ludicrously slow relative to elite/sub-elite, but had a shot at 1-2-3 in most local 5ks, so I'd say relatively fast.

Fifties through sixties, I've worked on try to stay "relatively fast for age."

It did remind me of a funny anecdote though. Just turning 65, I was aiming for one of the bigger Masters track meets. All went well, I was first in age group, in a time at that point was in the top 10 on the World Rankings for age and distance. The runner-up, however, would almost certainly have beaten me had he not blown up going for a fast time (he had the fastest mile time in the U.S. the previous year for the age). The kicker - he lives in the same small town, so in reality I was probably not the fastest 65+ in a town of less than 10,000. It's all relative!

Some people are just clueless. They don’t mean anything by it, they just don’t know what they’re talking about. At a high school meet where the fastest boys were running over 5:00 in the 1600, I overheard a mom say that human progress is so crazy, because these high kids in the meet are running faster than Olympians were 30 years ago.

I've run 87%, but I've also been lapped by the winner in a 5000m, in the USATF Masters while running a similar number, which will stop you feeling fast.