How Fast? wrote:
Say the serious runner guy in your office is talking about his half marathon at the water cooler -- what time would he have to report for you to think it was an impressive finish? Discuss.
It's all about expectations. If "serious runner guy" in my office is a former DI runner, which he happens to be, then I wouldn't be impressed with anything slower than probably a 1:10. But, before that guy showed up, everyone in my office was someone that picked up running post-collegiately, and were basically hobby joggers that just trained hard. And for those guys, I think sub-1:20 is impressive.
To be honest, I'm impressed with anyone that puts in hard work, and makes a big improvement. I have two co-workers that never ran, and they trained hard all this past year, lost a bunch of weight, and ran a trail race and they didn't place that well, but they exceeded my expectations, and I was impressed with their results.