scott8888 wrote:
I didn’t say 50% of all men in high schools. I’m talking about 50% of high school XC varsity runners. This is still a vast number of athletes and is a valid population for comparison. If your goal is only to be better than the average human being on earth you have set the bar super low.
I can guarantee that not 50% of HS XC varsity runners are running 16:30 5ks. At the very top schools, yes, but across all HSs, absolutely not.
I think a valid bar when dealing with random ST posters is to compare across fairly serious AG triathletes. If <3% of AG triathletes can run a 16:30 5k, even in their prime, I'd say you absolutely cannot say it's 'average.'
Note that you're not the only one guilty of this - swim times are thrown around here like you have to be a D1 college swimmer to be 'average!'