Posted on 01/22/2019 6:10:53 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I‘ve always been a slow runner, you’ve probably heard me say that before. I’ve been slow at my skinniest, I’ve been slow at my fittest. In fact I don’t think I’ll ever get to a sub 10 minute mile unless I quit my job, divorce my husband and never see my friends again. I’d have to put in some serious woman power and fortunately I have a life to live and other goals I want to achieve. But do you know what, that’s ok. It’s ok to not hit a sub 10 minute mile and still call yourself a runner.
I think that quick runners have something about them that makes it easier for them. Now, now, stop your eye rolling and hear me out before you say I’m making excuses. My thinking is, it’s the same way that some people can sing, and some are tone deaf, some people can dance and some have two left feet, some people can write and some can’t string a sentence together. I think we can all run, it’s in our DNA to do it, but some of us can run quicker than others more easily. I mean, I’m not the only one to be thinking along these lines, there have been countless scientific studies on people’s athletic ability and whether you’re born with it and it’s natural selection or it’s just all down to hard work. So in that respect us slow runners deserve some respect.
Slow runners who put in the miles. Who put in the training and still sit at 12 minute miles yet stick it out, have grit.
Slow runners who run races with all their heart and cheer on others (even those who lap them) and come back of the pack, show determination.
(Excerpt) Read more at catstorey.com ...
Over 10 minutes since forever?
Yer not slow, you are retarded.../S
I ran 5:54 in high school
She may be on to something. I have been running since high school, more so during my time in the Corps, but have never been a good runner. Both knees have had surgery and I have only run a sub 6-minute mile once. Others I have known smoke just before and right after running and are sub 5-minute milers.
Maybe I should take up smoking...
Take comfort in the fact that slow runners are faster than 99 percent of the adult population; the fact that you are doing it is the important thing, time matters only to you. I ran marathons for years and was usually sub-4 hours, whatever significance that has. I remember one loudmouth after at a race talking about 4 hour+ runners that he called “recreational runners” (about 85 percent of marathoners) and that he ran 3:40 as a “competitive runner”. I responded that while this is a great time, that marathons are won more in the low 2 hour range so that when the winner comes in, a 3:40 runner like him is about at Mile 16 or 10 miles in back of the finish line and would need the world’s best binoculars to see the truly competitive runners. That shut him up.
Back in my running days, I would do road races frequently, usually 10K, sometimes 5K. I was not known for ever leading the pack. About 20 years ago, did one in Lincoln, NE, and I was so slow, they were moving the barricades back out of the closed streets. Someone asked my boss (runner at that time, as well), if they should go looking for me, and he said, “...no, she’ll finish.. just wait.” And I did. Seems that event was attended mainly by much more serious runners.
“Slow runner” strikes me the same as jumbo shrimp, icy hot, natural additives, and modern history.
I’ve done a 9:30 mile. Hoping to progress from there.
I am more than happy with my 12 min mile. As my kids remind me I am lapping all those who are still sitting on the couch. At over 55 I’ll take that
That is NOT competitive. (Not that I am; my only race, a 5-miler, I came in 120 out of 240 people.)
Hey, I have always made up for my lack of size and strength by my lack of speed and quickness. You are what God gave you. Training may enhance, but your genes act as a governer.
Actually, I think I was 121 out of 240.
I’m a jogger, not a runner. I jog. Have for 45 years. I can push for speed, but then my knees start to hurt. I jog at around 8 minutes a mile. 9 minutes when it is hot (90+). But I’m still going 45 years later.
I go on the maxim that you, unless you are in competition, are only racing against yourself! Improvement of your own personal bests indicates improvement. Worrying about someone overtaking you, should only be, at worst, an incentive to try harder if you have the ability. If you know you are at max, let it go!
I’m a bicyclist, a SENIOR bicyclist. I get passed at speed by the younger lycra-clad of both (wry grin) sexes and I cheer their ability without any loss of worth. I still get in good exercise and it is a joy when my physicians smile at my results. Leaving now for a 20+ mile ride before work!
At over 10 minutes, it sounds more like you don’t know how to actually make a running motion. Technique, more than effort if you are reasonable size and have been working at it.
But I was not fast. 8:00 to 8:30 minute miles tops. Suited me just fine.
My goal in any race was always the same. Knowing that I was not fast enough to win them, my goal was not to be last.
To finish anywhere in the pack between 2nd place and next to last, didn't put too high of expectations on my efforts. No pressure to run so hard I ran out of gas or injured myself.
I remember more than a few races where the leaders dropped out because they went out too fast and couldn't sustain it.
I, on the other hand, plodded along at my own pace and always finished and never was last.
I don't run anymore at 71. Had both my knees replaced at age 62 and then a quadruple bypass and valve repair open heart surgery at age 63.
Now I am fit again and walk for 45 minutes everyday to stay active. Being the fastest or the slowest is no matter to me as long as I go out and do it.
My son was a hurdler who was forced to do an 800M to get a PR. Afterwards, he said “I just wanted to be ahead of the pity clap”.
I was a 8-min mile runner...so I was always really slow. But I reached some point in the 1990s where I could run eight to ten miles without a break.
My doctor told me “Don’t run long distances with a torn MCL. Run about 400m, walk 400m, run 400m, etc”. The key is to avoid the relentless pounding on the knee.
I don’t know what I ran. By the time I got in, the coach, assuming nobody could still be out there, had invariably stopped the timer.
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