Can You Dunk?

Only weak ones, but have thrown down on the occasion.

Age: 20

PR: 15:40, 26:30 (CC 8k)

No, I can't. I would imagine very, VERY few Letsrunners can dunk. Most of those who say they can are probably lying. Why? 1. They are white. 2. They have predominantly slow twitch muscle fibers.

i last dunked on my 18th birthday, nearly 6 years ago. can't do it anymore.

1:53, 3:52, 15:34

Basketball was my first sport. Spent thousands of hours playing as a kid.

First dunked as a 6-1, 145 lb. high school sophomore.

Ran track for the first time that spring, never played organized basketball again.

Ran D-1 XC and track at 6-2, 165; 3:53 1500m, 25 min 8k. During this time I could hang on the rim pretty easily, but not dunk. I think it has less to do with the mileage than the fact that I was never jumping/playing bball.

Now 26, jog a few times a week, slowest and heaviest I have ever been at 185 lbs.

I play pickup hoops once a week, and can dunk easier now than ever before.

p.s. I am a honky

Ummm...Hell, no? Maybe I could reach the bottom of the net...

yourdad wrote:

No, I can't. I would imagine very, VERY few Letsrunners can dunk. Most of those who say they can are probably lying. Why? 1. They are white. 2. They have predominantly slow twitch muscle fibers.

Okay. First dunked at I think 18, 24 now, PR's 8:37 3k, 14:59 5k. It's not hard if you have a bit of athleticism. Also 230 bench press fwiw.

I could dunk a volleyball (couldn't palm a basketball) in high school at 6 foot1 inch and 148 pounds (1:59/4:21).

In college, I could still grab the rim but couldn't dunk (3:35 1500, 14:52).

In my early 30s, I realized I could not hit the rim any more (14:42, 1:09 half).

At age 39, I can still get some net!

No, but if I could I would try for the Renaissance Beer Mile record.

At age 20, 5'9" and 130 lbs, I could grab the rim (and palm the ball), but not dunk - 1:59, 4:14, 14:45, 30:52.

Now I'm 47, I can still palm the ball, but I can't even jump over my shadow.

i'm 30 now, can still dunk. can't remember when i was first able to, probably around 18. jumping definitely got worse with high-ish mileage running, although part of that was simply that i didn't play much basketball or otherwise jump much while running competitively.

prs - 1:46, 3:46, 8:24, around 25 minutes even for 8k

High jumper in high school (74-76) so I could dunk a volleyball but my hands weren't big enough to palm a basketball. I did get called for goaltending a few times. I was 5'11" and about 165 at the time. I could touch the rim until my first knee surgery in my 20's, now I doubt my vertical jump is in the double digits since I about a month away from 49.

I was mid 50's in the 440 (yes, 440). Long ago. Was mainly a swimmer then. Rest of the PR's are 30's or later, 18:32 5K, 38:38 10K, 1:29:32 half (41), 3:10:12 Marathon.

Back in the day......I could dunk a volleyball, much like a previous poster mentioned, I couldn't palm a basketball. Now 44, and out of fear I don't even try anymore, I crushed some cartilage a few years ago trying so now I just play down low. 52 min 10 mile p.r., 5'11" and I too am a honky.

could dunk like crazy coming out of high school, won a dunk contest in australia the summer after my senior year.

6' 2" 155 lbs.

38" vertical back then

can still dunk despite 5 years of college cc and track.

48, 1:50, 3:00 1200 prs

one of my best stories from indoor track was when the basketball players were shooting around before practice and I knew one and he didn't believe I could dunk so I went and dunked it in front of the basketball team, just as the coach walked in....

I could dunk a little over 20 years ago as a high school senior. Of course my height (6'3") didn't hurt. 10k PR - 29:36. Couldn't come anywhere close to touching the rim now, but I haven't played basketball in probably 10 years.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the majority of the people here are full of shit. Sure lots of people can run sub 15 5k, and sure lots of people can dunk, but do both, I think very few can and I bet most on here are full of shit. That said I can dunk, at 6'4" however it is quite easy. My Prs are horrible for the typical letsrun crowd though, and I will probably be told to quite running. I could frist dunk at 18, with prs of 17:11 and 2:01. Now at 23 I can still dunk, actually easier than i could before and prs that are recent are 9:07 3k, 1:59, 26:31 8k.

I could dunk two handed around the ages of 17-18. That's when, along with running the 400m, I did the long and high jump. My jump PR's are not impressive and I could only run a 52 400. Once I got to college and put in some miles, I could still grab the rim but could no longer dunk. College PR's are 15:21, 25:29 XC.

BTW, I hated playing basketball.

When I was a 5'10" junior in high school I could almost dunk. I threw down an ally oop once and was very, very close to dunking on my own. Now I'm a 6' freshman in college and can barely touch rim. When I was a Junior I played a lot of basketball and didn't run that much. Now I run a lot and never play basketball, I've lost almost all of my explosions.

My pr's are

800: 2:08

1600: 4:56

5k: 18:09

blahblahblah wrote:

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say the majority of the people here are full of shit. Sure lots of people can run sub 15 5k, and sure lots of people can dunk, but do both, I think very few can and I bet most on here are full of shit. That said I can dunk, at 6'4" however it is quite easy. My Prs are horrible for the typical letsrun crowd though, and I will probably be told to quite running. I could frist dunk at 18, with prs of 17:11 and 2:01. Now at 23 I can still dunk, actually easier than i could before and prs that are recent are 9:07 3k, 1:59, 26:31 8k.

Not sure if that was aimed at me since you replied to me in particular, but obviously my 10k PR was from after high school, since that's what most people tend to be listing here. Maybe that's true of all of us. AT THE TIME I could dunk, I was a 9:33 3200 runner in high school (~9:15-9:20 at sea level??) and wahtever that converts to for the 5k. I'm pretty sure I could still dunk in college, but I have a long wingspan and long fingers. Now, the real question is, what were people bench pressing when they ran their PRs?

By the way, I've got a brother who's an inch taller (@6'4")and he could easily dunk in high school. he could pratically touch the top of the backboard. He was a lot more fast-twitch than myself. But he though the process of working on the jump really HELPED his running. Our 3200 PRs were almost identical, but he ran about ten seconds faster than I did in the 1600. He also ran a 15:32 5k in high school on the road at 5300' above sea level.