Discussion: 23:06

I'd kill to run that time. Coincidentally, I ran 23:06 on the course just after turning 60. It's been steeply downhill from there. Hope you can avoid the plunge.

I think I could have beat that time ... forty years ago.

Not me, I wasn't even a runner 40 years ago...

I have no idea what my 5K PR is. I wonder if I've ever run that fast. The fastest that Garmin seems to be aware of is 30:53, taken from a run around the neighborhood in August. But I ran a marathon (about 30 years ago) in 3:34, so that's an average pace of 25:22.

Mine is 19:26, on this course, in Feb 2014.

I recall a 19:05 at the Chilmark Road Race around’ 93 or ‘94. I found a 24:20 at snowstorm 5k in 2011 at age 64. All long gone. I don’t think killing would bring any of it back.

17:41, time trial (solo) on the Smith track quite a few years ago. And, more recently but still over a decade ago, 21:05 at age 67. Still my one entry on the Snowstorm 5K age-record list. :-)

OK Clint, there's a goal for you, 21:05 at age 67.

And then there was 29:40 last year. Talk about a plunge.

I had 29:59 three years ago at 72. No way that could happen again.

Some running history, maybe tmi.

I took up running in 1982 at age 28 and focused exclusively on road racing for about a dozen years, training pretty seriously with long tempo runs and track intervals. I was even a member of the Yale Coop racing team for a couple years, though quite a bit slower than its two fastest runners. 5k and 5 mile were probably my best distances (V-dot-wise). I ran sub-18 5ks close to a dozen times, with a PR of 17:14 in 1989 in West Haven. It seems that my first and best run for the Snowstorm 5k was in 2002 in 19:40. I haven't been back since 2018 when I ran 26:26. Partly this is because they moved the time from 10:00 to 9:00. But I'll go back this year if my back feels better and I think I have a chance of running in the 28 range.

Peter and I have plunged in sync over the last decade. Sadly, that means mine occurred nearly 10 years earlier in life than his. I suspect my case is more normal and his is the outlier.

Steve - the thought did cross my mind, but if I can't hit that now, then slimmer chances 6 years out.

I have to wonder if I could run a <18 min 5km on a track. I've done it twice on parkrun courses but that's different terrain. 12.5 times around the track at a steady pace could be too much for me. I barely made six the other day before the tears started.

It is a test of character as well as fitness. :-)

Yep, I always get to the start and say 'Can I really be bothered running fast today?'