Yeah I walk a mile in 15 minutes, is it even possible to run that slow?

Who wants to drive when you can ride a bicycle or walk?

(Sadly, the answer is “almost everyone else”).

That’s 15 mph! That’s a fast clip for a human on two feet. That’s an easy speed for a bike, but running? I don’t know.

I can run 4 back to back to back to back sub five minute miles and run a 5k in 15 flat but in college I was only average in cc and track…

But yes, I can see the connection. I went from only running during the fall and spring in high school and thinking that it would be impossible to run that fast to running 8 miles every day and starting to see major improvements to running 80 to 90 miles a week and being able to run 15 flat (5k) and 25:20 (5 mile). I was never considered a talented runner (my max VO2 is only 66). However, all I needed to do was to run a lot every day for three years (about one to two hours at a time) to be able to run those times. In short, the only thing that I needed to do was to have the discipline to stick to my training plan every day to be in the best physical shape in my life.

Its kinda like my approach to early retirement. At first the idea never even entered my mind (it was impossible). Then I started to try to save a little money by eating cheaper and having a roommate. Then I went through 4 months of unemployment (and another 4 months at a 20 hour a week minimum wage job) after I graduated college so I started being frugal out of necessity. Then shortly after I got a steady job I found your site and I realized that all that I would have to do to be financially independent was to have the discipline to be frugal every day for a few years and I would be in the best financial shape of my life.

PS. I’ve had teammates that have run under a 4:00 mile.

It is possible to run a 4 minute mile but I wouldn’t call it easy. It isn’t possible for the large majority of people.

On the other hand it is easy to run a mile in under 15 minutes. I’m 50 pounds overweight and I can easily run faster than that.

I suppose this is an example of people expressing an opinion on a subject they don’t really know anything about.

Dudes, this post isn’t about running a 4-minute mile, it’s about attaining ERE.

@Marcy: LOL, yes… LOL @ the half dozen people who thought this a good time to talk (and/or brag) about running.

/insert over the head gesture.

A couple years ago when I decided on early retirement I went through this conversation several times… And that was when it was friendly.

Most get pissed, never mention to someone who put in 35 years at a job they hated that they didn’t need to do that, and that you retired after 5-10 yrs.

Less then 1% will run a 4 minute mile.( Too much pain in the process or lack of desire?)

Less then 1% will retire extremely early. Too much pain or lack of desire?

Thank you. I needed a kick in the pants to address spending beyond books (my old problem). Now it’s luxury electronics (my new problem). Time to get down to a 6 minute mile.

🙂

This is also a great metaphor for how most limitations or barriers are in the mind of the individual. Trucker John…..

My own metaphor / story of seeing the light as it relates to hiking: I used to think hiking 10 miles a day was a HUGE day. Then again, I was out of shape and my pack was too heavy – my gear was typical stuff from REI (e.g. mainstream, conventional wisdom of save 10% of your pay….uh, I mean buy lots of crap that weighs a ton) and I thought I needed this and that and everything else to be ‘safe’ and comfortable. One day, I was toward the end of a 74 mile hike, dragging a huge pack along, and had to pound out a 15 mile day (it had been raining the last 3 days and I just wanted to be home so I combined my last 2 days). Well, come to realize after I got home hmmmm… yes, I CAN in fact do 15….and at the end of this hike that had killed my knees. And all those other hikers I’d met who were comfortably doing 20-30 mile days.

Long story short, after a couple of years of paring down my pack and getting some conditioning in, I was able to comfortably do 20 mile days off the couch myself. A couple years after that, I did a 2650 mile hike.

I look back on my former self and think: Why, oh why did I used to think a 10 mile day was difficult? Because that’s all I knew – the equipment, lack of training, etc. It was how every one else (for the most part) was and is when it comes to hiking. Then I learned a different way, threw out the barriers in my mind and learned a whole new way of doing things.

Same thing with ERE / frugal / low cost living. I only wish I knew what I know now back in my 20’s (I’d be retired already). But, I’m on the 5 year plan now – I’m learning, doing and leaving more baggage behind.

I can orbit a mile in 6.38 seconds!

Or I can amplifiy subatomic gravitational waves with antimatter-matter energy levels and bend spacetime from where I am standing to any distance limited by my energy levels, and traverse it instantly like a portal. It’s like a trampoline of the spacetime curvature that has such a gravitational pull that you can fold it over to any other part of the trampoline you desire, and travel there instantly!

There i just ran a mile in 0 seconds!

The 1% that believe and achieve are Freed!

@FreeUrChains – See http://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/forum.php?id=9

you may have left a few insults and assumptions out of that metaphor 😛

Would there be an equivalent of the driving option, I wonder? Winning a lottery, perhaps?

In the US Army a decrepit 50 year old is expected to be able to run a mile in at least 9 minutes and 45 seconds.