I vividly remember my first mile...a practice my freshman year in HS. I ran 5:35 by myself. I ended up running 5:08 that year. NOt mindboggling, but not untalented.
I vividly remember my first mile...a practice my freshman year in HS. I ran 5:35 by myself. I ended up running 5:08 that year. NOt mindboggling, but not untalented.
I ran 2:06 for 800m when I was 13. Didn't do any training, just used to run in meets each weekend and do a host of events. Later that year I ran a 53s 4x400m split and I decided it was time to start training
Worked two full years on running my best 800 meters in college. Ended up running 1:58, found out there wasn't a whole lot of talent there and it was time to move on.
remember my first ever 400 72 or 73, then my first 800 2:45 and my first mile 7:05 and that was off of some training (about 20 miles per week)
My first Invitational X-C meet when on a 4K golf course circuit of three loops of 12K in Duluth Minn. Our entire team was lapped by the lead Africaan import from Wisconsin. For the most part, the majority of the field was lapped. Now that is when I realized I had no talent even as a paltry 33 minute 10K runner.
i remember freshmen year in spring track at the state meet i ran a 4:37 mile late at night and came back the next morning to run 9:55 for 2 miles. i led the field thru a 4:47 mile and held on to miss qualifying for the NJ meet of champions by a half stride. i was 7th and the top 6 go! i did not run xc and did some running in the winter and got serious after i won our conference 2 mile in 10:22, my first run over 8 laps. the conference was only 4 weeks before the state meet.
i have very little talent, but i worked hard in HS and college and ran 4:01 for a mile and was a 2 time xc all american.
Breaking News Call Dan Rather wrote:
Now that is when I realized I had no talent even as a paltry 33 minute 10K runner.
See I have a problem with this thinking, that a 33 min 10k is just no talent and a shitty time. You ccan run faster and longer than 99.9% of the people on this earth. You can run 2 5k's at a faster pace than most 5k road ruaces are won in. Don't kid youreslf you have talent, even though you are no Olympian.
My own realization came during grade school when I used to play football, and for warm up we ran around the entire perimiter of the park and i would be so far ahead the other would get pissed at me.
It also happened at my first track meet. It was a lowkeoy weekday meet and I ran the 1500, and my coach told me to just run with my older teammate whom i had been training with in practice. Long story short, I tookk 4th place and ran 5:11 after 2 months of running.
I had been told my entire running career that I had very little talent and that I would have to work harder than everyone else in order to beat them. I was told this in junior high, high school and college and I did work harder than any of my teammates at all three levels.
It is funny because looking back I realize I did have a lot of talent and now I think I have plenty of talent to go along with a good work ethic. I mean when you ran 4:55 and 10:19 as a sophomore in h.s. you aren't talentless. I am glad my coaches told me I had very little talent, it got me to work harder.
I can remember running my first race ever in 9th grade. I ran a 2:10 800 only running like 5 or 6 LAPS during school practice 4 times a week. Shit thats only like 6 miles a week. I also ran a 55 quarter that year too. Damn the good old days of just running off of talent and speed.
I know, I agree completely. I ran no more than 10 miles a week my freshmen year and ran a 2:13 800 and a 54 quarter. I'm not really sure if talent kicked into play. Hard work is definetly one of them. But I was born with some pretty good speed for a white guy (12.2 in the 100 in 8th grade but never improved it further), I just figured to move up in distance I guess. Now XC Freshmen year was completely different. I ran a 21:45 5K as my PR for the entire season. Now that's talent!
Man I wish my high school would have had a cross country team but it didn't. Because when I was in ninth grade I ran a 18:30 5K on the road. I think I could have broken 19:00 in a XC meet that year. But can't dwell on the past just run fast in the future.
Junior year in high school: thought I was a great 800 runner in the making with a 1:55.3 in my first year in the event. Then went to a Junior Olympic event. Ran right on the leaders the first 600, knowing that my kick was my secret weapon. Started to move with 200 to go ... and the two leaders took off like they were an entirely different species from me--like they were cheetahs and I was some waddling duck ... or a chair ... or a big sack of cement. They put 4 or 5 seconds on me in that 200. And I learned that I was a distance runner, and the leaders--Johnny Gray and Jeff West--were the future of the 800.
I didn't want to run in highschool b/c i was scared. The coach came to my house to get me to run. My freshman year i was the first girl to break 13 on my team in years (which i know isn't awesome at all, but at our school it was, ya know). I never thought that i would be one of the top runners for my school. It was pretty neat.
High School
Funny I did a lot better on the road in later years, at least I was no longer in the back
won my first eace ever(1500) in 4:36 made me think something was there
I have no talent but love this sport as much as everyone else. Hard work has taken me to as much as my body will give me.
Would you guys consider running a 5K at 16:40 off of 30 mpw talent.
CBrunner wrote:Would you guys consider running a 5K at 16:40 off of 30 mpw talent.
For a 15 year old girl, YES.
For a 38 year old man (like me a couple of years ago) definitely NO.
Ran a 6:52 mile in 3rd grade at the tender age of 8...
Junior year of high school, WI state xc meet. We had a great team, I was third man. Gun goes off and we are up with the leaders for the first 800. I'm red-lining it, but holding my own on a tough, wet hilly course. Funny thing is, this guy is chatting it up with a teammate right next to me. I thought, what a couple of rookies! Then, these guys simply take off, and two others go with. Turns out it was Tim Hacker and Joe Stinzi from Menominee Falls North. Hacker goes on to outkick Chris Peske in 14:53. I ran a great race and finished in 15:53. That day I was a good runner who worked hard, but saw first hand what world class talent and hard work could do. Decided to go to college and concentrate on academics, and have never regretted it, even though I still work hard and compete. Hacker of course, continued to be Hacker, and had a great career which I followed as a true fan.