Beginners and Beyond

12

WOW...there's a BA runner in my area (Read 193 times)

Awood_Runner


Smaller By The Day

    Thanks LTH.  Now I look like a stalker.  Here are some results that I've found.

     

    2008 1 mile: 4:27

    2009 (Senior Year) 5K: 15:47

    2009 NCAA Cross Country National Championships (8K): 26:38

    2010: Nothing that I can find

    2011 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon: 2:35:30

    2012 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon: 2:33:38

    2013 Boston Marathon: 2:28:29

     

    So, it looks like he either took a year off, or started gearing up in 2010.  He's been knocking time off of the marathon ever since.  I'm not saying that I'll be looking for him in the 2016 Olympics or anything, but I'd be surprised if he's reached his full potential already at 25.

    Improvements

    Weight 100 pounds lost

    5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)

    10K 48:59 April 2013

    HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013

    MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013

    Awood_Runner


    Smaller By The Day

      This is the same thing that blew my mind when I was in powerlifting.  We could have taken a 12 person van to Nationals every year, and returned with a lot of hardware.  This area sent several to the World Championships when I was still active, and we even had a world record holder on bench with another guy that locked out a world record but unfortunately broke his arm.  I'm impressed by hard work and talent.  Maybe it's the blue collar mentality that this are has.

       

      Awood, you would be surprised how many speeders we have in our area.  LOTS of sub 3 marathoners.  We also have MickeyD (from RWOL) in the area who is a 3 hour female marathoner.  She was the 2007 RRCA Female Open Runner of the Year.  We have many others as well.  We have 1 that I know of that runs masters elite level as well.

      Improvements

      Weight 100 pounds lost

      5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)

      10K 48:59 April 2013

      HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013

      MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013

        While 2:33 is way faster than I'll ever run, it's fairly pedestrian. 

         

        To further illustrate this, by my quick look it appears 101 male runners finished between 2:25:00 and 2:35:00 last Monday in Boston.The fastest of those guys finished in 41st place.

         

        The 2016 Olympic Trials standard is 2:18, down from 2:19 for 2012. I know a couple guys who ran the 2012 Trials and you would need to follow road racing pretty closely to recognize their names.

         

        My point being is that are a lot of guys who can go sub 2:30 across the U.S. Who knows though...maybe this dude has another 7-10 minutes to shave off. That's a pretty big step though.

         

         

         

          Yeah, a 25 year old guy who barely cracked top 70 at Boston in his third marathon and who’s training / coaching / injury history we know nothing about should probably just pack it in and stick to Color Runs and Relay for Life walks if he’s just gonna post pedestrian times like a 2:28. BA? More like, PedestrianA if you ask me.

           

          I mean, people come on here all the time and we cheer the hell out of ‘em for running sub 2 hour halfs and are all “OMG you are so super speedy!”, and this guy busts his hump (probably) to run a 2:28 and the reaction is “meh, that’s ooookay I guess”.  I know he’s not “here”, so there’s no connection to him or whatever, but give me a break. That’s one BA runner.

           

          No, he is not world-class elite. How many world-class elite are there of anything? Jeebus.

           

          Not sure why I am so fired up about this, you probably didn’t mean it as a dig, I don’t know, but “pedestrian” struck a nerve. Carry on.

           

          p.s. Awood is right. He is BA.

          Come all you no-hopers, you jokers and rogues
          We're on the road to nowhere, let's find out where it goes
          fourouta5


          Healed Hammy

            Kevin is absolutely right.  A 2:28:00 marathoner obviously does not respect the distance.

             

            Step back you folks and drink some of the kool aid and get real.Smile

              I think this might be an example of trying to read into something and/or twisting a single word around just a bit and with maybe a touch of overreaction.

               

              2:28 IS bad ass.

               

              It is not that uncommon.

               

              It is also Friday and I'm minutes away from having a beer. Cheers everyone!

               

               

               

              Goorun


                Yeah, a 25 year old guy who barely cracked top 70 at Boston in his third marathon and who’s training / coaching / injury history we know nothing about should probably just pack it in and stick to Color Runs and Relay for Life walks if he’s just gonna post pedestrian times like a 2:28. BA? More like, PedestrianA if you ask me.

                 

                I mean, people come on here all the time and we cheer the hell out of ‘em for running sub 2 hour halfs and are all “OMG you are so super speedy!”, and this guy busts his hump (probably) to run a 2:28 and the reaction is “meh, that’s ooookay I guess”.  I know he’s not “here”, so there’s no connection to him or whatever, but give me a break. That’s one BA runner.

                 

                No, he is not world-class elite. How many world-class elite are there of anything? Jeebus.

                 

                Not sure why I am so fired up about this, you probably didn’t mean it as a dig, I don’t know, but “pedestrian” struck a nerve. Carry on.

                 

                p.s. Awood is right. He is BA.

                I don't think it was meant with disrespect.

                I LOVE to watch people who do their best and just barely making cut off of 8 hours in a marathon, like the ones I watched in Maui marathon last year.  There are all kinds of levels in running (and in any other activities and fields). I could guarantee that there are world class marathon runners running sub 2:10 marathons who think that they are not good enough. Those guys could literary jog 2:30 marathon, so somebody running barely sub 2:30 is not that good compare to the top elite level, but he is obviously a very good, talented runner compare to the most people who run marathons. Put this even more in perspective, the world record in my AG (55-59) in marathon is 2:25:56 . That is a mind blowing 5:34 mpm pace for 26.2 miles by 55 year old guy.

                Slow and steady never wins anything.

                Awood_Runner


                Smaller By The Day

                  Pedestrian:

                  Noun

                  A person walking along a road or in a developed area.

                   

                  Adjective

                  Lacking inspiration or excitement; dull.

                   

                  I'd say he was definitely running; not walking.  I find his accomplishments to be inspirational and exciting; not dull.  Just be clear, I think of a lot of the people here as bad ass.  The truth is that it is all relative, and opinion.  You hear people on Sunday morning say that an NFL quarterback sucks, yet he gets paid to play football and he's one of only 32 people who start for an NFL team.  One could say that a .270 batting average was pedestrian, and among major league baseball players it might be.  Still, that guy is doing something that only a small percentage of the general population could ever hope to do.

                   

                  Let me state this differently.  There is a small percentage of the population that will ever finish a marathon.  An even smaller percentage will ever qualify for Boston.  No, LTH, you're not pedestrian.  Then, there are 27,000 runners at Boston.  That's a fraction of a percentage of the US population, and we've imported a good number of the runners.  This guy is from a town that has a population of 3,420.  He teaches a health class at the high school.  He placed 68th overall at Boston, and 62nd among men.  There were plenty of times in the 2012 Olympics that were slower than his.

                   

                  I think it's kind of a big deal.  He may never represent our country of over 300 million people, but he represents a town of 3,420 (mostly Amish) pretty darn well.  My guess is that he isn't coached by some elite coach, or have access to fancy facilities.  He's just a bad ass, and I'm a fan.

                  Improvements

                  Weight 100 pounds lost

                  5K 31:02 Sept. 2012 / 23:36 Sept. 2013 (Same Course)

                  10K 48:59 April 2013

                  HM 2:03:56 Nov. 2012 / 1:46:50 March 2013

                  MARATHON 3:57:33 Nov. 2013

                  Love the Half


                    I'm not trying to show disrespect for the guy and I think I noted that 2:33 is way, way faster than I'll ever run.  However, the reality is that in the larger scheme of things, it's just about what good local runners can manage.  We have a couple of guys in my little area who are 2:30ish marathon runners and run low 15 5K's.  If I age grade that 2:33, I come up with a 2:50 for my AG (50-54 M).  That's fairly fast and it will win you an AG award at a lot of local marathons but it's not close to competitive national level.  From that perspective, a 2:50 for a 50 year old male is fairly pedestrian.  You need to get into the sub 2:40 range before you are talking about seriously competitive folks.

                     

                    It's all relative.  On a national level, a 2:20 is fairly pedestrian and, in fact, doesn't get you to the Olympic trials although it does make you one of the top 100 marathon runners in the United States.  On a world level, 2:10 is fairly pedestrian given that, in 2010, there were 189 sub 2:10 marathon performances worldwide (although sub 2:10 makes you a top American marathon runner).

                    Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                    Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                    Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                    tracilynn


                      Awood, there is an elite guy local here too. He did Boston last year and finished in the top 50. I've met and talk to him when I see him at local races. He usually wins most if not all the races around here. He's in his late 20's or early 30's and a really nice guy. He does the 5k in like 15:06, HM at 1:06ish, Full's are around 2:30. Amazing to watch him run too.

                      Josh whitehead is 34. He sounds like a train when he is running.

                      ~~~~~~~

                      Traci

                       

                      wcrunner2


                      Are we there, yet?

                        I'm not trying to show disrespect for the guy and I think I noted that 2:33 is way, way faster than I'll ever run.  However, the reality is that in the larger scheme of things, it's just about what good local runners can manage.  We have a couple of guys in my little area who are 2:30ish marathon runners and run low 15 5K's.  If I age grade that 2:33, I come up with a 2:50 for my AG (50-54 M).  That's fairly fast and it will win you an AG award at a lot of local marathons but it's not close to competitive national level.  From that perspective, a 2:50 for a 50 year old male is fairly pedestrian.  You need to get into the sub 2:40 range before you are talking about seriously competitive folks.

                         

                        It's all relative.  On a national level, a 2:20 is fairly pedestrian and, in fact, doesn't get you to the Olympic trials although it does make you one of the top 100 marathon runners in the United States.  On a world level, 2:10 is fairly pedestrian given that, in 2010, there were 189 sub 2:10 marathon performances worldwide (although sub 2:10 makes you a top American marathon runner).

                        Brad, you're digging yourself a hole and are about ready to have it cave in on you. Taking the most recent major marathon, London, which is international in scope, not merely national, a 2:50 in the male 50-54 AG would place that runner in the top 1%. Sorry, but you may be the only person I know who would consider that pedestrian. Only 11 of 1733 runners in that division ran sub-2:50. When you also consider the number of marathoners worldwide (almost a half million in the US alone), calling the 190th fastest in the world pedestrian is ludicrous. When you consider that the vast majority of those running sub-2:10 came from two countries that's tantamount to calling the rest of the world's marathoners, including national champions, national record holders, and Olympians pedestrian.

                         2024 Races:

                              03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

                              05/11 - D3 50K
                              05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

                              06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

                         

                         

                             

                        Love the Half


                          Plugging a 2:49:59 marathon into an age grade calculator on the Rubbayou.com website reveals an 81.73% performance with a VDOT of 57.  The top standard for that particular AG is 2:18:55.  That's a huge difference.  That 2:49:59 might place you in the top 1% of a particular race but it's a huge way from the top standard and it's not at all competitive even on a national level.  Equivalent performances are 5:11 in the mile and 17:49 in the 5K.  Pete Magill has run 15:24 for the 5K at this age.  The difference between 17:49 and 15:24 is about the same as the difference between a 35:00 5K and a 19:59 5K.  So, I'll stand by my assertion.  A 2:50 for a 50 year old male or a 2:33 for an open male makes one a very good local runner but it's a fairly pedestrian pace on a larger scale.

                          Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                          Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                          Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                          wcrunner2


                          Are we there, yet?

                            Plugging a 2:49:59 marathon into an age grade calculator on the Rubbayou.com website reveals an 81.73% performance with a VDOT of 57.  The top standard for that particular AG is 2:18:55.  That's a huge difference.  That 2:49:59 might place you in the top 1% of a particular race but it's a huge way from the top standard and it's not at all competitive even on a national level.  Equivalent performances are 5:11 in the mile and 17:49 in the 5K.  Pete Magill has run 15:24 for the 5K at this age.  The difference between 17:49 and 15:24 is about the same as the difference between a 35:00 5K and a 19:59 5K.  So, I'll stand by my assertion.  A 2:50 for a 50 year old male or a 2:33 for an open male makes one a very good local runner but it's a fairly pedestrian pace on a larger scale.

                            You're putting too much trust in that AG calculator and those artificial percentages for national and world class performances. The calculator is biased toward the sprints. You'll find a lot more people running 90+ percent times in the 100m and 200m than you will at the HM and marathon. I would also point out that the single age records for the 50-54 AG are slower, in the case of all but 50 yo, much slower than the AG standard.

                            50 - 2:19:29

                            51 - 2:24:18

                            52 - 2:22:14

                            53 - 2:23:44

                            54 - 2:25:56

                            The records for 51-54 are all held by the same person and the most recent of those records is the 50 yo record set back in 1991. You might wonder why that record has stood so long when we've seen the open record fall multiple times in the same span. When you take into consideration outliers and the fewer numbers of 50-54 yo runners compared to open AG runners, a 2:50 is is pretty impressive.

                             2024 Races:

                                  03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

                                  05/11 - D3 50K
                                  05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

                                  06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

                             

                             

                                 

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