Relationship between beginning running later in life and potential (Read 1232 times)

It seems like former runners re-start with much faster times. So many of the first-time late-starters I see begin running to lose weight (myself included) and end up starting in the high 20's or even low 30's while former runners seem to re-start in the lower 20's.

This is an interesting observation that, from reading these boards, seems to be true and from personal experience, applies even to crap former runners with a 20 year gap. I ran in high school but was never any good (this is honesty not false modesty), I ran x-country mainly and the courses weren't any set distance so I have no times. I then ran a little in college for recreation (nowhere near good enough to run for a college team). I worked for a year during college and ran a lot that year, longer distances, and have a few times from this era - a 32 minute 5 mile, a 1:26 half marathon. Then nothing much for 20 years. I started again at the age of 42, my first race after very little training was a 21:30 5k. It was really hard, probably the hardest 5k I have run, but I think it was almost entirely the mental knowledge of how hard running can feel and how hard you can push yourself that helped me run 21 rather than 28, - not any lingering muscle memory! I have that 1:26 half marathon time in my sights now and am confident I'll get it. This year or next. I've got the ability to take a long term view now. I never had that in my youth. I train much more sensibly and enjoy racing a lot more than I ever did. I can calculate an age-equivalence of my current 5k PR (I think it would now be high 16's or low 17's) and have to laugh. There's no way I could have done that when I was younger - I didn't have the long term perspective or the discipline.