these type posts are annoying. you don't give an age, which matters. you don't really mean average, as in off the street with native ability off whatever natural athletic work they get now, you mean -- and eventually say -- oh, they'll be running 70 miles a week. and then there's probably an asterix on that for how those miles are run, ie, not just long slow.
so this isn't really an argument about can the kid walking by in PE run 14 minutes, it's an ad for a training regime or something.
even taken on its face the argument is silly and self-refuting. how many schoolkids, collegians, adults in the whole country manage this barrier trying hard as they can, working their butt off. you can win HS XC meets with times in the 15s sometimes. ditto D3 meets.
nah, this is a rare thing that's a mix of talent meeting work meeting coaching. you could take a talented kid off the street, who would set school records most places, and he's probably low 16 or 15s off the shelf.
it's kind of like you aren't going to find some unfit guy in street clothes who can challenge you to a race then run under, i dunno, maybe 11 in the 100m. to achieve top speed. to not tie up. to not pull a hammy. to get out of the blocks right. to work the phases. that's work. a gifted passerby might beat the worst JV kids. the rest is work and details.
but to be clear, and this is where i beef about "average," no, sorry, your average passerby is slooooooooow. they could tap into their inner athlete, work their tookus off, and my guess is like 20-25 min. you have maybe been around tracks too long. you don't know joe schmo from shop class anymore. and in reality i had some talented hard working teammates nowhere near 14.
nope.