Any Competitive Runners Who Didn't Run High School/College?

Wilson Kipsang was 25 I think

Working Stiff wrote:

I'm curious...

I never ran more than a mile until my late 20's. Now it's basically my life and I'm trying to work towards being sort of locally competitive in 5K's.

Anyone else with a similar story? Successes? Epic failures?

It seems like the faster runners I meet have been doing it competitively since high school.

So I guess the real question is... Is it possible to be a competitive runner without the high school/college background and base mileage/training already built in?

Don't know if this qualifies but I was a team sport guy in high school and college and not a star, playing baseball, football and rugby. I ran under three with a best of 2:57 in my late forties which was usually relatively high in the final order of finish in some regional marathons.

I never ran in high school or college, and I was sixth in my age group, M45-49, at the Richmond Marathon, running 3:02.

Overall, I am glad I never ran in hs or college, as it seems that many of those people get burned out or ending up hating the sport, even if they were quite good. At the D1 level especially, it is a survival of the fittest approach in most places, and it seems the coach does not care who he weeds out from the two or three top guys or gals on the team. I know a guy who ran just under 30:00 in the 10k (D1 college), and really never did anything after that. Hit a high note at 22, and never again. As a distance runner, your best years should be between the ages of 25 and 35.

Run for love. Run for respect. Run for life.

All the best...