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

I tell em not really

then if they dig I tell them yes that I’ve won marathons , been top .001% at the NYC marathon and Boston . Statistically this sounds insane but really just sub elite

Sub 70 for 10 miles, soooooooooooo what do you think?

*shakes head sarcastically

Devils advocate. I would say if someone asks if you are fast it is implied that they mean like were you better than the majority of actual runners, not couch potatoes. Like were you good at baseball? Meaning were you all league, or played in college? So no my 10k date pace of 10 min miles is not fast, even though 90% of the adult US population can't run that far. You know if you are fast, you don't compare yourself to Hobbs Hocker.

Am I fast compared to similar people to me in terms of running? I'm not sure. I never ran in school, I picked it up at 22 since I wanted to try a marathon, and my 1:22 is off of 40-45 mpw. I think my results are about what would be expected given my effort.

Considering that would make you top 1/100k in races with fewer than 100k runners, yes it does sound insane, statistically.

It means he has won those races. I guarantee this is a 2:18 guy who is bad at math.

Usually I say, "I used to be pretty fast."

If they pry/know about running, I'll list some PRs. 99% of the time the much more impressive, shorter distance track PRs are glossed over. But, when I tell them my relatively mediocre 5k or half marathon times, they are very impressed.

I don't recall ever being asked "are you fast?" in my 5 decades of running.

If I ever got that question, I'd share my bonafides from my running history.

The most common question I've gotten as a runner from non-runners is "are you running the marathon?" (meaning the upcoming annual marathon in our city.)

This question is really only asked by non competitive people. In which case the answer is yes. More serious or competitive people will ask a more specific question. Like what is your pr, did you run in college, or do you win races.

About a decade ago, when I was a 35 minute 10k runner, I would answer with “faster than most who run but far from elite” or “could maybe win a local 5k but would get crushed in the NCAA.”

Nowadays, I run more casually with the occasional race here and there, so I just say “I used to be.” I still feel weird saying that since I was over a minute per mile slower than the elites, but “fast” is always relative.
Case in point: Last fall, I ran a local 10k Turkey Trot in 43 minutes. During the race, I overheard a couple of the course marshalls saying “now these are the REAL runners” as me and the pack chugged by at 7 minute pace. Aside from being a fleeting ego boost, that comment has stuck with me because it really put into perspective what is “fast” to the average person.

Once I was visiting a parkrun and some middle-aged woman asked what time I would get. I said maybe about 19 minutes. She said "Oh, I thought you looked fast." I mean, I wouldn't call myself fast but I did not expect that.

Simply say "no."

"Yes, but not easy."