Average 5K pr of letsrunners

I love how everyone who gives their PR and a guess of the average almost always has themselves faster than the average. Everyone on here is better than everyone else!

den bosch wrote:

No chance in hell the median time is anywhere near 14:17.

You need to have an understanding of nuance. statman's lists are probably fairly accurate, but that's only of those who reported. There are lot of unreported times and a lot of those very fast runners on the 5000 m/5K lists hardly post.

All that said,

5K PR, about half way between Flagpole and Nikeman (15:13*); 5000m somewhat slower, low-mid 15:34 but that was under horrific heat/humidity/wet bulb index on an asphalt track.

*interesting number of prolific, famous, infamous posters who have just dipped under 15 and they will never give you the time of day as a runner even though you may have run as fast or faster at other distances. 5K and marathon PRs those seem to be the ones that matter.

ahead of the curve wrote:

I love how everyone who gives their PR and a guess of the average almost always has themselves faster than the average. Everyone on here is better than everyone else!

I think I´m faster with my 15.43.

Average LR 5k probably about 18.00.

I find it hard to believe that people spend time reading this site or consider themselves 'runners' if they haven't run AT LEAST under 18:30 (guys) and 21:00 (girls)

that being said... 19:30 for guys, 22:00 for girls

AK-54 wrote:

5K and marathon PRs those seem to be the ones that matter.

What about the mile? That's definitely an important one.

averager of 5ks wrote:

I find it hard to believe that people spend time reading this site or consider themselves 'runners' if they haven't run AT LEAST under 18:30 (guys) and 21:00 (girls)

You're obviously under 40 years-old.

I'm not sure if I'd be able to even run 19:30 with an extra 45 lbs. After gaining 15 to 20 lbs of both muscle and fat last year I would've struggled to crack 19 for a 5k. Once I got back down to 135, I ran 16:30 on the roads without much training.

As for the average 5k pr of letsruners, I think it really depends on whether or not someone ran in college. Most college distance runners focus on the 5k in track, so it wouldn't surprise me if most males who ran competitively in college were able to crack 16 or run low 16s at least once in their career. Most road racers who didn't run in college are more focused on longer races and are less likely to have run that fast in a 5k.

My PR: 15:03

Average PR: I feel like that 15:45 estimate sounds kind of fast. If you're just talking about LetsRun visitors who are under 30 then ya, then even mid to low 15 doesn't sound crazy. But when you think of how many 40+ people visit the site and sub 16 is moving for a 40+ year old.

Just Guessing wrote:

My PR: 15:03

Average PR: I feel like that 15:45 estimate sounds kind of fast. If you're just talking about LetsRun visitors who are under 30 then ya, then even mid to low 15 doesn't sound crazy. But when you think of how many 40+ people visit the site and sub 16 is moving for a 40+ year old.

But we're not asking about the fastest they could run right now, we're asking about what the fastest they've ever run is. I'm sure there are people who post here who didn't start running until they were past their prime, but I assume most people ran in high school, college, or both. I'm guessing the average is slower than my PR (mid-15s) and probably something like 16:15 or so, but I wouldn't swear by it.

Ice wrote:

But we're not asking about the fastest they could run right now, we're asking about what the fastest they've ever run is. I'm sure there are people who post here who didn't start running until they were past their prime, but I assume most people ran in high school, college, or both. I'm guessing the average is slower than my PR (mid-15s) and probably something like 16:15 or so, but I wouldn't swear by it.

Good point. I wasn't thinking of it like that. Then ya, 15:45-16:15 sounds pretty reasonable.

Just a thought, someone commented on how everyone here posts that their time is faster than the average so everyone thinks they're faster than the average person. However, also I feel like most people think that they aren't a ton faster than the average person. Someone who thinks 15 flat thinks it is perfectly reasonable for an average talent level to run 15:45. However, as a first year D3 coach, I've been surprised to see how hard some college runners can work and how dedicated they are and still not break 16 minutes. I used to think everyone who was running at that level just wasn't working very hard or getting very good coaching. But now I've realized that you can work very hard and still not be all that good if you don't have some talent at least.

Anyway, that's getting a little off topic, but my point is the faster people are the faster they think the average person should be able to run.

i'd say around 17:50.

think about it. in terms of raw numbers, there just aren't that many guys that crack into the 14's. even if the largest amount of people PR at somewhere between, say, 15:50 and 16:30, there are way more people slower than that range than faster than that range.

just because you ran d1 and everyone on your team ran under 16:00, doesn't mean that everyone who posts on letsrun is anywhere near that.

I would logically guess around 18:00-19:00 range take into consideration the majority of the posters are not the elite runners but the typical 5k road warrior who is happy cracking into the top 10 or 20 at a local solid road race...

Mine: 14:17.05 (Probably never going to happen again)

Guaranteed that whatever someone posts it is, that same person will claim they are faster.

Seems like I'm already proven correct.

I'd guess the average, male/female combined is under 20:00. My open PR, both road and track is 14:49. I'm now 45 and last year ran a Masters PR of 15:31. 5k is my favorite distance and by far the one I've run the most in 30+ years as a competitive runner. Cool list posted earlier. Recognized quite a few names from back in the day.

So with the comments about everyone posting faster PRs than they think the average is wouldn't it make sense that the average is faster than most people think? If everyone so far(no where near all LRC posters)says they are faster than the average then the reality is that the average is faster than half of these people. With that consideration I revise my guess of 15:45 down to 15:01 which is faster than my 15:12 PR. I am slower than the average LR poster.

So the average letsrunner would place in the top 2 in every road 5k ive ever seen? Seriously I know of 2 guys in my town of 100,000 that can run sub 15. Actually one was a kenyan guy who I havent seen racing in awhile so make that 1.

me: 14:08

avg: 17:45

The average letsrunner's fastest ever time on the track? Yes, that's reasonable. Most people have no idea how to train and don't take running very seriously anyway. It makes sense that people who care enough to visit a running website would be pretty good.

My PR is 15:33, 15:30 if I can use an 8k split.

I think at least half the people on here lie. My PR is 19:34 so I'm sure I'm bringing the average down (or I guess up). I could see the average being realistically somewhere between 17:30 and 18:00. Some of the people on here have to be fast the way they pick everyone else apart.