Any other slow runners?

[SamuelWestsMistress]

I've been running since January and my god I am so SLOW! It's mightily frustrating. I'm not greatly large (about 12 1/2 stone and 5'9) so I don't think it's down to that.

I can't seem to get anything under about 35/36 minutes for a 5km. There have been a few freak runs where I managed 32 minutes but I have no idea how or why, so have just deleted them from memory.

How do you other slow runners feel? I have a race on the weekend and I'm dreading being one of the last.

Why does your speed matter? If you enjoy the running, then surely that's more important?

Thank you all for your posts with this.

I actually thought "sod it" and went for a run yesterday and managed to do 10km in 1:13! Big difference there. Not entirely sure what happened. I have new shoes and new shorts so maybe that had something to do with it. If I could get down to 1:10 I'd be delighted.

1:13 is definitely not shabby and definitely does not make you slow. You're doing fine, keep at it. Better to be slow and injury free than fast to quickly and ending up with shin splints right?

I'm very slow, been running a couple of years and while it's got slightly easier I've not got any faster.
For me the cost benefit ratio seems to shift if I speed up, things start to hurt a bit.
Even though I'm slow I've found running great for keeping body fat down.

I'm just amazed that I can even run at all..I find it very hard!

i'm trying to speed up by sprinting during training,we just did 1k sprints at the weekend. seems to be working too.

Definitely don't give up Samuel! Have a look at some 10k race result timings, you definitely won't be the slowest!