No. I could run a 5:20 mile in high school and deadlift 420ish at 150lbs but nowhere near national levels.
Personal Best
- Thread starter cydnote
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I was top-10 American in my sport roughly 15 years ago, top 6 made team USA. Life's responsibilities pulled me away from training.
I was 3rd team all CIML in high school, which is basically just a step or two removed from being considered world class.
I actually think the US and a few countries are such different animals that if you took a kid with that was a good HS sprinter and spend a few years and turn them into a 400 runner that could be competitive in a lot of countries. There’s a genetic ceiling for all track events, but I see the 400m and 800m where you might be able to build a competitive runner out of someone that isn’t an absolute genetic freak.
Now the US is pretty much all genetic freaks plus high level training. But I think if you took a really good HS 200 guy and could build him into a competitive 400 guy in a lot of countries over the course of a few years.
Yes, when I was a freshman in high school I ran a sub one minute 440 yards!! Conference 2nd place mile relay and 4th place individual. Hawkeye 10. I thought I was fast! Then all the other guys grew a beard the next year or two. It has been my standard but now at almost retired it is around 2 minutes 30 seconds. But it really hurts my knee that I have been told I can have replaced when starts hurting too bad.
I'm about 5 degrees of separation from beating Olympic Bronze medalist Terry Brands. Someone beat Terry, who was beat by someone else, beat by someone else, etc. All of these were at vastly different times in our careers and I was all in all a very average wrestler, but who's to say. LOl!
Several innocent bystanders would have certainly died in the training process, but I could have probably been decent at the javelin in my heyday
Well, he is counter-balanced by the huge carabiner of keys clipped to the back of his belt.
I could have qualified for the 2024 Olympics in the Women's 800 meters with my high school PR. But, alas, I ran that almost 40 years ago and I am not a woman.
I did some canoe and kayak racing back in the day. When i was learning to paddle surfski (a very tippy kayak), I bought a used boat that had a cockpit that was too short for me. Being a taller person, my center of gravity was already high. And with the short cockpit and my knees sticking up further than normal, it was even worse. I used to joke that the wake from a duck swimming in front of me would cause me to flip. This wasn't really much of an exaggeration.
Anyway, most bodies of water in the northwest are cold year round. So with my frequency of flipping, and the cold water, I became very skilled at getting back on my surfski in open waters. I've always said that if there was such a thing as competitive re-mounting a surfski, I'd be one of the best in the world.
Anyway, most bodies of water in the northwest are cold year round. So with my frequency of flipping, and the cold water, I became very skilled at getting back on my surfski in open waters. I've always said that if there was such a thing as competitive re-mounting a surfski, I'd be one of the best in the world.
Got an intramural champ shirt for tube racing. It was an individual event in a super stars competition. It was just superior technique. Most laid on their bellys and kicked their feet. I was flat on.my back skimming my hands like oars.
At a track meet for sophomore at DM East I ran a 52.4 in the 400. It was a track record for sophomores at the time. Who knows how much faster I would have gotten as I got older. Probably not much as I absolutely hated that race. Something about vomiting after running was off-putting. I still get the cold shivers watching true athletes line up to run it.
I'm in awe of people who make a career of it. Way, way, way tougher than I am.
I'm in awe of people who make a career of it. Way, way, way tougher than I am.
That race is a real B. That’s a lot of why I think a tough kid that’s got enough sprinting ability could get good.
And you will never be a woman with that attitude!
