Back in high-school, I could do the mile in under six.
…I’ve been going down since then.
At the end of high school:
800m-1:57
1500m-3:58
mile-4:18
5000m-15:26
Never ran on the track more than 5K, my distance work was cross country.
Mind you, all those times were on grass tracks.
I had a very handy runner in Pat Schammell (two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games) in my age group, so with those times I didn’t even win inter-school titles. 
Having only started running in my mid 40’s, I did manage a 6:00 minute mile (on a treadmill) a few months back. I then had an injury, and stopped pushing at that pace for a while. I can currently do 2 miles at 7:00’s, and will continue to focus on extending distance at that pace (aiming to get up to 10km by Easter next year if I can).
Si
As fast as a really slow horse. That probably wasn’t really trying.
Playing football. I swear I used to have extra speed when I had a football in my hands.
Mile 4:27 in grade 10.
The thing is, I started as a fat kid with my first mile in 14:56. 
I started road running in my late 40s, and ran almost every day for 20 years. I did ten marathons in my 50s and 60s, and did qualify twice for Boston (just barely). In the scores of 5K and 10k races, I usually went around a 7-minute pace. In marathons, I was able to keep under an 8-min pace.
Around age 56, I joined a local track club and started doing intervals to increase my speed. I ran a few one-mile races and could not break six minutes to save my life. So, one day a friend who was pretty fast said he’d pace me. I usually tended to lose speed in the 3rd lap, but following him at a steady pace, I finally did a 5:56 mile. Then I quit those shorter races. I think that was not too bad for a geezer.
100m in 11.2 seconds
I never had the wind to post decent times on anything longer, but I could burn up the 100m dash. It wasn’t enough to get me to state competitions, but I was the fastest guy in my high school.
Probably when that chick on acid was chasing me through a field with a hammer. I don’t know exactly how fast I was running, but I’d guesstimate somewhere between really fast and flying.
Just the opposite - faster than the assholes who tried to mug us.
My SO and I were walking home (we walk pretty fast) and two guys jumped out of the bushes and tried to push us to the ground, but as we were walking so fast, they pushed us into a run instead.
We turned around and chased their sorry asses a city block - I caught up with one, got in one good swing, hitting him in the back of the head and I bet it hurt, but the guy then took off and the two of them jumped into a waiting van.
Police never caught them but I am sure they were surprised to be running away as fast as they did after what probably seemed like an easy push and rob.
I think the adrenalin kick probably had both my SO and I doing the fastest run we had ever done, chasing two would-be muggers, half our age, down a street in West Hollywood.
~6 minute mile. 6:07 in 9th grade. I assume I was faster at some point before soccer season ended senior year, but never was timed again. I started running again a couple years ago and brought my mile time from ~8 minutes to about 6:20 in 2-3 months. I was going to try to get it under 6, but the year ended and I didn’t have access to those shiny tracks at the university any more.
It always bugged me when I’d play soccer with guys that had been out of it for a while, not running 6 days a week like I was, and they’d just blow by me like I was standing still.
These are after I started running at 32:
5K: 20:28
Half Marathon: 1:36:03
Marathon: 3:48:17
And a special mention to my absolutely slowest race, the Swiss Alpine K42 marathon in 6:37:44
I had no interest in sports at school. When we did athletics I just hung around the place near the discus field, hoping nobody would notice me. But one time I got caught by a teacher and made to do an 800m run.
I didn’t want to suffer the humiliation of being last, so decided just to follow one guy and try to keep up with him. So I marked this random guy and ran around close behind him for nearly two laps, then as we approached the line I wondered if I could give it a final push and overtake him. Turned out yes, I could! It then transpired that he was the school’s 800m champion, and I’d just beaten him and come first.
I was lauded by the teachers, who immediately put me in for a 100m sprint, in which I came last, then my legs stopped working completely and I fell over, and I hobbled about for the rest of the week.
I know what you mean, **Chessic Sense. **Although, when I went through Basic, we called it “Fat Boy Camp”.
I smoked a lot (of cigarettes ) before I joined the army, and couldn’t run too fast. So I had to go through remedial Physical Training during basic. Basically, more exercise after exercise to make sure I could pass Basic Training. I did.
Then, after AIT, I took it seriously. I think after Basic my 2-mile time was around 15 minutes. During AIT, my best time was 12:07. Just over a 6 minute mile. I was quite proud of that.
Of course, I continued to smoke after that, so I never made that time again. Nowadays, I don’t run at all. Unless you count my nose when I have a cold.
In high school:
800m - 2:04. 1:59 was our HS record. I wanted it pretty bad, but never got lower than 2:04.
1600m - about 5:10. We had a few guys breaking 5, and I was in the middle of the pack at the time.
5k - 17:15. Extremely flat course and the best day ever. I ran my last 5k in about 34 minutes, but it was on the end of a sprint tri, so I figure that isn’t horrible.
Other running:
Our XC team went to the Disney Invitational several times, and one year I was in the hotel room with a buddy and we got permission to walk down to the gas station. As we left, right before we crossed the road, we heard either loud backfires or gun shots behind us. It scared the crap out of me, so I’m pretty sure we made it back across the four lane, down the block, and into the room faster than any other time in my life.
When I was playing ball with my nephew, my two nieces were watching my son on the playground. He fell on the bridge of the jungle gym and flipped, falling about 5 foot. I dropped the ball and made that 50 yards faster than I ever have gone since I was a kid, and I got him up off the ground before they were down from the jungle gym to get to him. He was fine, but I was more adrenaline pumped than ever.
Brendon Small
This is what always killed me… I am 5’8" now, and I was an inch or two shorter than that when I was running track in high school. It took a lot of work and conditioning to put up my somewhat-okay times!
400: 59.7 - not my best distance, but I was so happy when I broke a minute!
800: 2:07 - my best running distance, my normal time was 10-15 seconds slower than that, but I was legitimately helpful to the track team at my tiny school at the 800.
1600: 5:23 - I would only do this race when we didn’t have anyone else to do it, but I wasn’t terrible.
Nowadays, anything under a 7 minute mile is a Good Day. I need to get back into shape.
Haile Gebrselassie the marathon world record holder is 165 cm. Kenenisa Bekele 5000 and 10000 meter world record holder is 160 cm. If anything, shorter seems to be better 
I don’t want to brag, but I’ve made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs.
Actually my fastest time in the Air Force mile and a half run was 9:06, right around a six minute mile. Nowhere to go but down from there.
Not-so-stealth brag. I was the second fastest female runner in my high school. My legs are long, I was slender and competitive. And the high school was small!
Unfortunately our girls track coach, because of the size of our school, happened to be an English teacher. Don’t think she took time to learn that runners should warm up well first. And what? Guess you runners would know. Probably not give it your all without prior training?
So, after a good run and all the kudos, I’d go behind the fieldhouse and throw up. Guess that’s why I never developed an interest in running.
Too bad I couldn’t run fast enough in kindergarten to avoid being kissed by the token freckle-faced, red-headed boy with the green stuff hanging out of his nose. (No offense to you red-headed, freckle-faced boys. Turns out I had one myself and have a soft spot now for my first stolen kiss. And for little red-haired rascals.)
Tethered Kite, you threw up because you gave your all, not because you lacked a warm up.
I’ve lost count of the times I dodged vomit in the finish chute( and contributed my share to the finish chute dance.).
My college coach said you should finish a race in one of three ways:
- Collapse from the effort.
- Throw up from the effort.
- Collapse from the effort and fall where you threw up from the effort.:eek: