How old is too old to race in a collegiate/open 5,000m

I agree with other posters that it is more about where you'll finish. You shouldn't win it or lose it.

However if I had to pick an age, I'd go with 32.

10 years after college, it is time to be a spectator at a collegiate meet.

I disagree. They have "their time" at the championship meets, conference, nationals, etc. Any race that accepts open athletes is either an early season rust buster, or an event where the main priority is running fast and getting PR's or qualifiers for the big meets.

I say go for it.

Op Rah wrote:

dude what wrote:

Don't be this guy.

+1 - Do NOT enter if you are going to be last by 2 minutes. Actually do not enter if you are going to be last at all, or even second to last. If you can probably beat 2 guys, go ahead.

JeezusHKrist! What the hell? There are untold numbers of road 5K and all-comers meets where you could have plenty of competition to get a 19 minute time. Why subject yourself to that humiliation?

Right? And he didn't even beat his lame Masters PR time. In just about every road race of any decent size he would have had people to run with for 19:30 yet he thinks he has a better chance of running fast at a track meet in which every other competitor lapped him. And then he comes on here and brags about it! People like him are the reason that some meet directors won't allow open runners. Thanks for nothing, grandpa.

Guys did this at our college meets once in a while...nothing unusual, as long as they could hang. Every once in a while you would get an older guy who took it WAY too seriously, and tried to chat all the college kids up about his 100mpw training schedule, upcoming marathon, etc., and then got absolutely destroyed. Don't be that guy. But if you're quick enough, no one minds you being in a race.

I still coach a couple of my old high school teammates who jump in college meets now and then when there isn't a good local road race. They are both fairly quick--15:20ish and 15:30ish for 5k--but hardly elites. You just need to find a meet that accepts unattached entries. Emailing the coach often helps.

And I always had a ton of respect for the older local guys who were still quick. I even remember running a mile once where Charlie Kern broke 4:20 (in his early forties) and slaughtered me. Fast is fast.

I go to a bunch of open collegiate meets every year (I'm still in college) and see dudes like this all the time.

Frankly, they scare me because if they're still training at that age they're good. Sometimes I can beat them sometimes not.

There just another man on the line. May the best win.

Inspiring.

I live in portland oregon. Who would i contact? Coach for the portland pilots? Or would their meets be way too fast?

Thanks for all the responses.

Seems like the general theme is - just find a race where I would at least finish mid-pack and then go for it.

Yeah agreed - as a once NCAA athlete, it was actually fun to see local masters runners hop in the low key indoor/outdoor meets and chase times with us. One guy was in his 40s and ran 1:54 in the 800. Definitely wasn't stealing the limelight from us, and once the race wen't off he was just another competitor.

Agreed with what other people said - NCAA athletes have their "own" races when it matters - eg Conference Meets, meets like IC4As, Penn Relays, etc. If some masters runner who is competitive wants to hop in a random open race, more power to them.

I saw a handful do it when I was in college. I can't lie I thought it was pretty weird at the time for an older guy to race a college meet. But, I also assumed they must be fast if they are willing to step into even a low key d1 meet, so there was definitely a certain level of respect there.

The stuff about "college is the kids' time" is nonsense. If you are fighting for the lead with 2 laps to go, race to win. If the race is so uncompetitive you know you will win beforehand, then that defeats the purpose and you shouldn't race it at all.

Flagpole gives Hillary voters a bad name. "Don't hurt the wittle snowflakes' fe-e-wwings, mmmkay?!"

When I was in college in the 70s/80s I would get beat on the roads, and occasionally on the track by some of our very fast gray hairs of the era. I thought it was cool, and I aspired to emulate them. 20 years later I realized that particular dream (though no gray hair), running 400-5000 in D2-type meets almost every weekend in the spring, even incorporating them into road trips. Most of the kids seemed psyched that I was still fit at twice their age. I did trade elbows a few times but that is part of middle distance racing. My girlfriend who I coached also competed and won the fast heats about half the time, so that was very cool.

did this several years ago when i was 30 in the steeplechase. Finished 3rd in two steeples within 6 days, off of 6 weeks of training. I had barely run in the previous 5 years, but was decently fit. I ran 9:50 and 9:59 in both races and was just as competitive as the collegian kids (community college to D1). I think the winning times were only in the 9:40's.

If you're competent enough and fit enough to be in the median of the field at least, i say go for it! shame the youngsters!

If you can run a competitive time, then go for it. A couple rules for us masters guys, though, because we do stand out at these races and it's important that we continue being welcomed:

1) Don't lie about your seed time. It should be what you're currently capable of running. Nothing makes one of us old guys/gals look worse than putting down a faster time than we can run and then sputtering in a minute slower. Yes, younger guys will use unrealistic seed times, but they're young, their coaches probably entered the times, and they don't stand out like a sore thumb when they're plodding 200 meters behind the 2nd-to-last-place finisher.

2) Be respectful of the competition. Yes, some younger runners will sprint past you in the straights and then slow down through the curves. Don't take it personally and do not push and shove (or call names). Often, their coach is yelling at them to pass the "old guy," and there's also this: They're doing the same thing to younger runners, too. They're still learning how to race.

3) Shake hands after the race and congratulate the younger guys on their performances. Let them know how much you appreciated racing against them--and make them feel like they're part of a lifestyle (competitive running) that goes beyond one race and one season.

Just last spring, I ran a 5000 in a local college/open meet. I got put in a mid-level heat, had a lot of fun duking it out with mostly college kids, and finished 7th or 8th in the race. Afterward, the coach of a team that had 3 or 4 runners in my race called me over. He introduced me to his kids, and told them we'd run against each other in high school 40 years earlier. I told his kids all about the great duels I'd had with his coach back in the day. It was fun. And it made my night.

Bottom line: Do it, but do it well (and I'm not just talking about your race performance).

I found a meet i want to do. Im hoping to break 16 in the spring but it may be unrealistic and i might do like 16:20. This meet looks perfect

https://m.tfrrs.org/results/47230.html#event_3075536

How do i go about getting in to it?

Email the coach of the host school.

Well said. The key is to balance being just another competitor with recognizing that this is ultimately someone else's turf, whether they accept open athletes or not.I have a pretty long stride, so it is not uncommon for me to get clipped from behind pretty often. If someone did that to me in a road race, I would probably let them here about it after the 2nd time. When it happened in a college track meet, I ignored it and eventually moved off of the rail some.Even though I knew I had a high likelihood of a top 5 finish, I didn't try to get out hard and establish position. Part of it was that I knew that the younger athletes in the race would be just like most racers and take it out harder than they should. So again, I stayed on the outside some and let the young kids shoulder for position on the rail. The few extra feet of running was offset by the reduction in mental stress and it avoided me being the old guy that was pushing and shoving for position and maybe ended up tripping someone.I never experienced the "let me show the old guy" routine that one poster mentioned, but I certainly had some guys surge to keep me from passing them. While I was simply maintaining my own pace and, honestly, trying to carry the pacing burden a little, once it became clear to me that the other runner was speeding up to a pace that I would be satisfied running, I tucked right back in.None of these are particularly insightful, they are simply good reminders to run your own race, but to be aware that what you are doing is just unusual enough to put a little bit of a spotlight on you and how you carry yourself may impact whether or not others will get the same chance in the future.

I won a fairly non-competitive D3 collegiate 5000m when I was 27. I felt ridiculous, but to each their own. Didn't do it again.

Jimmy21 wrote:

I found a meet i want to do. Im hoping to break 16 in the spring but it may be unrealistic and i might do like 16:20. This meet looks perfect

https://m.tfrrs.org/results/47230.html#event_3075536

How do i go about getting in to it?

Wait until registration opens and then register. There's nothing tricky about it. Some meets will have qualifying times, some won't.

The host school typically has a home meet info page on their website, but you probably won't find it 6 months before the meet.

Lewis & Clark, Pacific, Linfield, WOU and Willamette all have outdoor home meets, and at least some of them will allow open athletes.