...weight grading is bull..I give you that! But age grading does make some sense. It's just a way to keep "older guys" like myself still jacked up about the sport.
And in my case the math works fairly well:
3:49 1500 at age 25; 4:31 mile at age 42
14:50 5000 at age 25; 16:03 at age 42
It's by all means not a perfect system but it has some merrit. The improvements to be made w/ age grading are towards the higher age grades...65 and up where participation level is pretty weak and just showing up will give you pretty high scores...and w/ more equality between shorter and longer distances.
For example a 16:20 5K gives me a 86% score (age 44) but I would have to run a marathon in about 2:33 to get the same score,...and I think a 2:33 marathon is a bunch better...!
For me it's kind of fun to see if I can get to the high 80% mark.
About you sitting on your ass taking tough classes in high school..wait till your 40 and you really have some weight on your shoulders plus a family to feed plus this plus that...I think you might be surprised how that will zap you out...and lack of sleep...yeah right..enjoy your youth..that's all I'm saying...
out..