Neil deGrasse Tyson ran a 4:25 mile in HS

Who?

Watch Cosmos num nuts

Not interested in watching shows that present "evidence" to support nonsensical theories.

Interesting... he talks about it ~3 minutes in.

I remember seeing a video of that race. He outkicked Michio Kaku, who finished in 4:27.

Incredible.

Interesting, slowest pitch to reach home plate is 30 MPH thrown at a 45 degree angle.

We need him to post on letsrun regarding some scientific facts he was throwing out in that interview applied to running.

Are we talking about a Paul Ryan 4:25?

SOS wrote:

Are we talking about a Paul Ryan 4:25?

I think this deserves another Letsrun.com investigation.

Tyson is a total nerd. He has that necessary qualification for being a fast runner. He is mid 50s so it is more likely that his memory is the one that actually ran a 4:25 mile.

It is unfortunate that your mommy never lets you out of the basement. It is for your own protection. The outside world is so big, and so very bad. It is best that you stay where mommy wants you to stay.

dril wrote:

Who?

dril wrote:

Not interested in watching shows that present "evidence" to support nonsensical theories.

You must not like Fox "News" then, right?

That guy is incredibly intelligent. Whether he ran that time, I don't know. But he sure as hell knows what he ran. In other words he could have BS' d on purpose.

Cosmic Nerd wrote:

Tyson is a total nerd. He has that necessary qualification for being a fast runner. He is mid 50s so it is more likely that his memory is the one that actually ran a 4:25 mile.

While Tyson doesn't strike me as the kind of dude to boast/lie about random things like that it's been a long time since he was in HS. While he was almost certainly a runner a 4:25 mile would've been exceptional in his time, the memory can exaggerate things. He did wrestle and row at Harvard so he definitely has an endurance background. I also think it would be nearly impossible to try to verify this result.

Realism wrote:

While Tyson doesn't strike me as the kind of dude to boast/lie about random things like that it's been a long time since he was in HS. While he was almost certainly a runner a 4:25 mile would've been exceptional in his time, the memory can exaggerate things. He did wrestle and row at Harvard so he definitely has an endurance background. I also think it would be nearly impossible to try to verify this result.

He's about my age. There are results of track meets for HS in my cities newspaper. There are probably microfilm of newspapers that show his results? 4:25 ability would probably have been good enough to compete in a state championship race. I bet there is evidence.

Realism wrote:

While he was almost certainly a runner

He doesn't say was a runner, though. He says he ran to get in shape for wrestling season. That's what makes me skeptical about his 4:25 mile claim. It's possible that he was indeed a naturally fast guy who, after running for the purpose of getting a good fitness base for wrestling season, ran 4 laps plus 9 extra meters and was correctly timed at 4 minutes and 25 seconds. Or ...

It could be that he regularly ran on a family trail that had iffy mile markers and one day he hand-timed himself going all-out between the Mile 3 and Mile 4 signs, which were in reality 0.92 miles apart and on a downhill grade.

It could be that he's one of those runners who very liberally "rounds down" on times. He timed himself running an all-out 1600M alone and was expecting to get 4:25, but when he got 4:48, he said to himself, "Oh, What's 23 seconds anyways? I basically ran 4:25 because I could've if I tried a little harder." Somehow it gets cemented in his memory that he ran a 4:25 mile that day. (I used to know someone like that. He would blatantly exaggerate things about himself and he seemed to genuinely believe the lies, almost like they'd

On the other hand, the fact that he says "4:25 wouldn't be competitive in college" and "I had a good kick" shows that he has much more knowledge of running than the general population. So maybe he really did run 4:25.

jamin wrote:

He doesn't say was a runner, though. He says he ran to get in shape for wrestling season. That's what makes me skeptical about his 4:25 mile claim. It's possible that he was indeed a naturally fast guy who, after running for the purpose of getting a good fitness base for wrestling season, ran 4 laps plus 9 extra meters and was correctly timed at 4 minutes and 25 seconds. Or ...

You don't think it's possible for a HS wrestler to, say, decide to run XC his senior season and win the state championship?

TISTF wrote:

You don't think it's possible for a HS wrestler to, say, decide to run XC his senior season and win the state championship?

No, it's very possible. But, given how many people this site has outed for their BS claims (e.g. Paul Ryan saying he ran a sub-3 marathon", Dean Karnazes calling himself a "2:30 marathoner" in an interview, numerous spectacular XC performances that were later found to have been on short XC courses, etc.), I've learned to go by "guilty until proven innocent."

The only thing that gives some credibility is he talked about having a great kick.

That to me tells me he raced people. So who knows.