Thirded wrote:
This was the exact conclusion I came to at the end of my career and really comforted me. When you have to answer the obligatory “oh you were a runner?? What was your fastest mile?” question from non-runners later in life, they really can’t comprehend the magnitude of difference between a 4:15 and a 4:30. Obviously the impressiveness of your PR’s to others isn’t what running is about but that’s all the more reason to get the enjoyment out of it for yourself. Don’t force yourself to run for a team that you don’t fit in with just because you think you’ll be fast (like I tried to do).
There's a guy in our 70's group, that I know for a fact ran 4:39 in high school, and then stopped running in college. Later he told me he'd run 4:29 at the college, apparently in a "practice," because he never competed in track.
The 70's group met recently, and he was telling everyone that he ran in the 4:20's in high school, and that his best time was 4:13 at the college.
I personally think that he's senile, and perhaps he's always been a bit senile.