Would you rather win a race and run 14:30 or take dead last and run 13:30? This question was raised in a discussion a few friends and I had about foreigners and collegiate running. I figured this would make for a good thread and to see what everyone around the nation thought. I know there will be some absurd answers, but lets try to keep the ignorance to a minimum.
since this is entirely hypothetical, win in 13:30, of course.
Ok, well, I might be looking too much into this, but with those outcomes it all depends on what race it is. NCAA Championships, Olympic Trials, Olympics or any other race of that sort, I would rather win in 14:30. In any non-champioship meet I would much rather run the 13:30 and deal with dead last.
Easy enough, 13:30 in a heartbeat. What's left out is what my PR is before this hypo 5 km race. If it's like 13:15, I might not feel too good about either 14:30 or 13:30, but better about the latter.
No doubt about it, dead last in 13:30 (because that would be a huge PR for me, and well, pretty much world-class and then some for a 44 year old college prof). Heck, I'd take 14:30 and dead last right now...
Hey if you want to win, you can find lots of local road races that only require 17+, let alone 14:30. Winning against a weak field is like beating up on 3rd graders.