# Who can run five miles? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-run-five-miles/697536 "2014-09-05T01:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-run-five-miles/697536/101 "2014-10-02T13:11:38Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > What Nava said. I can walk for hours. Bike at a leisurely pace for hours. But running, no. Thee years ago , I did a couch to 5 k. I joined the official run with thousands of other people. I had trained about 10 times and I trusted i would be able to make it if I would alternate my slow jogging with my very brisk walking. I was still overweight at the time. I started out in the group that was scheduled as the last to depart. And oh horror: the organization told me and other stragglers, half a mile from the start, to leave the road because they wanted to remove the roadblocks so that traffic could resume. I left the road and cried my eyes out. I have never been so humiliated in my life. And this was a walk meant for people like me. A health walk, not an athletic event. Now i’m thin, I sometimes run 10 minutes around the block just to burn some stress. But i’m never going to run again. \*No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt\* You made up your mind to get healthy, started exercising, and lost weight. CONGRATULATIONS! Don’t let yourself be dragged down by some imaginary humiliation. Use this minor setback, and that’s all it is, to make yourself an even better person. Consider that the volunteers who manned the race have lives of their own to get back to and the roadways had only been closed temporarily. Drivers needed to get where they were going and deliveries still needed to be made. Life goes on. A champion is someone who gets knocked down, picks themselves up, and finishes what they had intended to do. You are a Champion. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-run-five-miles/697536/102 "2014-10-02T13:42:51Z")
My current running route is 8K, so about 5 miles, so yes, I can totally do it. But because I run with my dog we take frequent walk breaks so she can smell things, pee on things, have a dump, walk the pickup bag to the nearest garbage can, stare at a squirrel, etc. Consider that before I started running in 2009 I couldn’t even run to catch a bus. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-run-five-miles/697536/103 "2014-10-02T13:53:20Z")
Nope. Come and get me, baboons. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-run-five-miles/697536/104 "2014-10-02T15:31:28Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > …You made up your mind to get healthy, started exercising, and lost weight. CONGRATULATIONS! > > Don’t let yourself be dragged down by some imaginary humiliation. Use this minor setback, and that’s all it is, to make yourself an even better person. Consider that the volunteers who manned the race have lives of their own to get back to and the roadways had only been closed temporarily. Drivers needed to get where they were going and deliveries still needed to be made. Life goes on. > > A champion is someone who gets knocked down, picks themselves up, and finishes what they had intended to do. You are a Champion. 🙂 What **doorhinge** said. From what you told us, you did nothing wrong. You just had an unprepared organization running your first event. You sound like you’re in much better shape than I am, and it’s through your hard work. Congratulations on your weight loss and think about giving running another shot. I could jog 5 miles, given a (sigh) 12 minute mile pace. Which is basically a really brisk walk, as monstro put it. I hate distance running, even when I was doing it in high school, (and coming in DFL.) Skiing, or playing soccer, is something different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-can-run-five-miles/697536.md?page=5)