Larry Bird: 33:40 for 5 Mile race in 1985, claims last mile was "under 5 minutes"

Who?

thedldo wrote:

Who?

Looking at the picture, he got to wear his basketball uniform number: 33.

6:45/mile seems real. I don't know if I believe the under 5:00 for the last mile. Maybe it was in the 5's, like 5:55 or something.

I meet people like that all the time. When I coached high school, every kid thought once around their block was a mile. Seriously, no matter how short, these idiots thought that any suburban clock was one mile. (It was 1180 meters)

I met a garbage man who told me he ran 3 miles everyday in 15 minutes. I laughed and he demanded it was true. I was 32 at the time and around 15:10 5k, and made a bet with him that I would run thirteen laps around the high school track before he could run 12. And, to double the bet, that he could not break 6 minutes in his first mile. We made a time and day, and he never showed. He somehow was never around again. One of his buddies said he transferred. LOL. Moron.

I took a job at a high school as an assistant coach. I was 29. I was pretty fit. I was running about 14:50 5k, and ran with the distance kids everyday. the head coach became exposed as to be a total BS'r who really didn't know much. Anyway, he kept telling me about "The Horse Run", how it was this daunting long run that the kids did once every season. He went on to tell me the record was 65 minutes, and then casually said it was "a half marathon.."

I was like "whaaat?" So, I had a cyclometer on my bike. I ride the course; 9.48 miles.

So the OP's story is more common than you think

Bird didn't say he ran the last mile in under 5 minutes, his buddy who was running with him but didn't stay with him for the final sprint is the one that said that.

"WEDMAN: So the last mile, Larry’s noticing this, and he says, ‘Nobody’s passing me anymore. Let’s go.’ And he took off. Remembering what K.C. said, I didn’t try to beat him. Don’t know if I could have. He did the last mile in under five minutes."

So true, IcallBS.

Very few people (even some runners) have a clear understanding of the relationship between time and distance. For instance, even a small amount of distance can greatly effect/change one's overall pace and/or performance. An "insignificant" .1 added to or deducted from a 5k makes a huge difference. Running a 3.2-mile "5k" will give one a noticeably different result than running a true 5k. If one really runs 3.2 miles instead of 3.1, one's pace will be faster--and not by a mere second or two.

This happened at one of our local races recently, and one of the runners said: "Yeah, that extra .1 could add 25 seconds to my time." Actually, 25 seconds over .1 miles is a 4:10 pace. So, no, the extra .1 you ran added more like 40-50 seconds to your time (in the case of an average local 5k participant). People see .1 and think it small, but it really is not small.

While I will agree with skeptics in this thread who have the sensible understanding of our sport, it should also be said that basketball players in the late 70s and early/mid 80s were culturally and fashion-wise/technologically in a position facilitating long distance running and giving an honest effort--which requires minimal clothing for the long effort of opening up the legs. With the transition to a contemporary hip-hop/grunge influenced culture of the 90s, popular mainstream sports and fashion have adopted loose baggy clothing, or clothing at any rate, not presenting an automatic open rode to running split shorts and singlets. Those familiar with the star athletes of the late 70s and early/mid 80s--white and black man alike--dunkers, shooters, runners, team basketball--notice tall, lanky athletes, well on their feet, moving with ease and finesse and ridiculous short shorts and singlet-like jerseys. There were an abundance of prolific scorers in this time, whose names are unfamiliar even to most diehard basketball fans--the inconspicuous names of the late 70s and early 80s of guys on non-legacy teams who put up solid high 20 point per game numbers. They played a style of basketball slightly different from today and, perhaps, statistically outmoded (they didn't have the benefit of advanced computer-aided statistical analysis), that called for such athleticism and running.

ckfitz wrote:

This was two days before his career high 60 point game in New Orleans.

Here's the full story from Boston.com:

http://www.boston.com/sports/touching_all_the_bases/2015/03/it_was_like_living_in_a_video_game_an_oral_history_of_larry.html?p1=Must_Reads_hp

Recently I met a 20 something guy that was 5'5" and 270 pounds that said that he ran 1830 for the 5k in HS and that some guys on his team ran the 5k in the "13s and 14s."

He maintained this assertation even when I informed him and showed hin the winning 5k time for our state D1 cross country meet: barely sub 15. Mind you all that this is in a certain midwest state that is comfortably above average at running.

Another guy on his team also always ran the mile in sub 4 every race.

I was there that day. Bird ran surprisingly well, I thought, given his size and all.

He hung around and posed for pictures with other runners.

I bet he could have run under 5:00 with no problem back in his playing days, maybe even at the end of a 33:xx 5 miler.

IcallBS wrote:

I met a garbage man who told me he ran 3 miles everyday in 15 minutes.

When I first got truly serious about running (age 15), I was looking for a training partner and there was some kid a couple of blocks over who said he ran 5 miles in "about 15 minutes." I thought "Ooooo-kaaaaay" but decided to do a run with the guy anyway. He dropped off the back after about 2 minutes of the warmup (about 7:30 pace). For some reason, the guy never wanted to do another run (make that a couple of minutes of a run) with me after that. Go figure.

And I've heard ex-military guys talk about how they'd run "marathons" all the time in training. One said he did a 2:07. I informed him that would be the American record (at the time it would have been). He then said "Oh. Uhhh, 2:17." I thought "Nope. Keep going up." Now don't get me wrong - I completely respect what guys go through in military training. It can be as tough in its own way as running several all-out 5ks in a day's work. But they do get an over-inflated view of what they're able to accomplish vis-a-vis world class athletes in any given sport.

So what, Wilt ran a 13:44 5k then slept with 13 women while benching 500lbs

XY wrote:

Wilt ran a 13:44 5k then slept with 13 women while benching 500lbs

Think that's impressive? Hah! At the age of 4 months, Chuck Norris created a hole in the ozone layer when he had his first erection.

Change @ Park wrote:

thedldo wrote:

Who?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rto2_oYVs0I

I remember the celtics back in the day. Best part of this link is at the 5 minute mark -- watch the Hawk's bench when Bird nails a 3 pointer.

Bird was an awesome basketball player. Who cares about his running. Or his running lies. His shot was true.

Ok, I read the full story. Your title is misleading.

Bird did NOT claim his last mile was under 5minutes. His buddy said that.

Who knows? Maybe the course and last mile was short. They always put the signs in the wrong place.

I'm impressed with the 33:40. Solid time. I'm sure they ran the last mile 5:xx or the course was improperly marked.

Thanks for that link. Great memories.

If Larry legend could drop 49 on the Trailblazers in 1992 (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woAK1i-o2wI for highlights) post achilles/back/knee injuries, I don't doubt that he could have run a sub-5 minute mile at the end of a race in 1985.