The average person is far more athletic than you think and might be able to outrun some of the slower guys on here

Who?

0/10

I remember a man ran the NY Marathon in work boots and pants.

He was about 50lbs overweight for a marathon.

His friend bet he could not do the marathon.

He passed me with 400 to go. I only passed him because he exhausted himself too early with the kick. I said, "Too soon, Junior," as I outsprinted him with 50m to go.

He finished in 2:14:03.

That’s not a hobby jogger that just someone who has never joined a track programme. Remember track is not the be all of running, most people do not care about track and prefer the roads.

You someone quote’s a race time, 1, unless they run track they would think it’s a road time and 2, have no idea if it’s good or bad.

True hobby jogger would say they ran a marathon 5k as to them marathon means a run

calculass wrote:

I remember a man ran the NY Marathon in work boots and pants.

He was about 50lbs overweight for a marathon.

His friend bet he could not do the marathon.

He passed me with 400 to go. I only passed him because he exhausted himself too early with the kick. I said, "Too soon, Junior," as I outsprinted him with 50m to go.

He finished in 2:14:03.

OK so we know this story is not true.

I remember watching Hobby jogger W run an 800m in 2:17 in pants. Two years later he ran another 800m in 2:27, also in pants. Here is proof of the 2:27:

https://youtu.be/L-elXwZeB3s?t=104

Fat man is really more athletic than he looks:

https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/charles-barkley-zion-williamson-weight-shaq-01fkj6dehq7v

Hobby jogger X showed up for an 800 in pants, peed them in nervousness, was about to run in the opposite direction when the referee corrected him, and ended up finishing, surprise, in 1’40”.

What's the big deal about running 100-400 meters. Just about anybody could finish those without training lmao!

America's fury wrote:

What's the big deal about running 100-400 meters. Just about anybody could finish those without training lmao!

The big deal is that many, many LRCers here falsely believe the their 17 minute 5k in HS actually means they're "athletic".

Such stories, (these are a bit dubious!) DO actually happen and quickly reveal that the average Joe off the couch can, and typically does, have more "athleticism" than some or most distance dweebs.

The fact that that is actually surprising to the slow twitch crowd is hilarious.

When you get into the 20s + that off the couch ability deteriorates rapidly

cramister wrote:

When you get into the 20s + that off the couch ability deteriorates rapidly

Very true.

It all points to the strong probability that there are 100s if not 1000s of untapped Jim Ryun's, Tom Brady's, and even probably Michael Jordan's out there that never get off the couch long enough to discover their potential.

Same in music and arts.

Dangler wrote:

cramister wrote:

When you get into the 20s + that off the couch ability deteriorates rapidly

Very true.

It all points to the strong probability that there are 100s if not 1000s of untapped Jim Ryun's, Tom Brady's, and even probably Michael Jordan's out there that never get off the couch long enough to discover their potential.

Same in music and arts.

This is exactly right. I never once thought about running when I was younger. It wasn't until I was in my mid to late 30s, and at 284 pounds that I knew I had to get into shape. I started cycling to lose some weight and when I got to 220 pounds started "jogging." When I got to 200 pounds I ran a half maraton in 1:27, and to prove it wasn't a fluke, I also ran a 1:30:05, 1:28, then finally a 1:26 (this is of course over about 18 months, but all over 190 pounds).

That's not to say that I would have been elite or even sub elite had I started as a youngster, but I had no shortage of very athletic people finish behind me and comment that "they hadn't seen a big guy run like that" before. And I'm not tall, 5'11, not like 6'5 where 200 pounds would be pretty fit.

Buddy from work is 6'4 250 pounds of muscle, really into body building used to run 3:50 1500m in high school. Used to beat me all the time. He decided to come out for a fun run 5k with me and the wife and kids. He was wearing this ridiculous super man costume for Halloween for the race. I was thinking how funny it would be to see super man beet red sweating and jogging lol. Turns out he's actually pretty fast, blew right by me in 15:37. Could've gone faster if it wasn't for the cape and extra muscle. Wife was pretty turned on, kids wanted pictures with him after the race the way he demolished daddy. Moral of the story, all athletic endeavors should be left to only the genetic elite, because it's just embarrassing for us common folk to even bother.

its only 5k wrote:

That’s not a hobby jogger that just someone who has never joined a track programme.

Finally an explanation that makes sense. Those "hobby joggers" in the OP's post were probably guys on the college football, basketball, and soccer teams who ran in those meets out of curiosity or because of a bet or dare.

cramister wrote:

When you get into the 20s + that off the couch ability deteriorates rapidly

There's nothing in the OP's post that says how old they were. They're most likely in their late teens or early 20s.

Umm, parkrun says otherwise.

Lets have a look at the latest results from the original parkrun course, bushy. 77 runners went under 20 minutes and most of them are members of running clubs. The other 700 (again mostly from running clubs) posted rather more mediocre times.

https://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/results/latestresults/