Any Runners On Here Dubbed "The Slowest In Gym Class" ?

I was teased horrendously in high school gym class. I would pass out almost every time I tried running the mile, I never was able to finish even when jogging at my slowest.

As an adult, I've been diagnosed with heart problems due to an autosomal recessive blood disorder.

I like running, it's actually healing my heart and good for me (only) with the right diet, but I am also very upset that the teachers didn't see it as a medical red flag at all and made fun of me for passing out.

Used to be the slowest kid in school, and hated all forms of exercise (which in my school meant exclusively track and field, and unless you looked promising enough to compete, the teacher lost all interest in you). Also out of some very weird coincidence, I had the same PE teacher 6 years in elementary school, whom I hated, then when I moved to high school, she also got transferred there, so no escape.
When I graduated, I was convinced that I was not suitable for anything but weight lifting and related "strength" sports, as this was the only thing I ever did with some (very moderate) success (javelin, shot put etc).
Then a friend convinced me to join a gym, I discovered that actually not all trainers are horrible people and became good friends with a trainer who was also a runner and encouraged me to give it a try. I have been running on and off for almost 20 years now, and while I am not going to win any medals, it is fun and I am not at all bad at it. For me, once you get the competitive part out of the equation, and focus on yourself and having fun testing your limits, most sports become far more enjoyable.

The star kid in the whole class was running a 7:50 and he was treated like some kind of Olympic athlete.

Now I can crank one out in under five minutes on a good day

That's a huge improvement! Good work!

In my school, most of the faster guys were breaking 6 minutes, but none under 5! My senior year, I finally beat all of the girls in my section at the mile run, doing somewhere around 7:30. I was still the slowest guy in that class, though.

I was always one of the slowest in gym class. Hated running then, hate it now. I like push-ups, sit-ups, etc. Running just never did it for me.

Super slow runner here. I wear a headband that says "Slow is the New Fast." That about sums it up.

I also was never able to finish the mile in gym class. It was Texas and it was hot -- I just remember being out there praying for a fire, the apocalypse, anything to get me off that track. I remember the PE teacher said that those of us who didn't finish would have to do it again "sometime next week," and every single day after that, I dreaded going to gym because ...was THIS the day they were going to make me do it again?

Now I marvel at being able to do a couple miles at lunchtime and still have time to actually eat lunch afterward.

<raises hand> Me. I run my 10-12 minute mile and I'm happy to be out there doing it. I was always the least athletic person in my high school class (literally, out of 50 girls, I was dead last), but if my last reunion is anything to go by, I'm doing just fine.

I was the slow kid on the cross country team. What I lacked up in speed I made up for in being stubborn. In gym class, though, I was the fast one :bigsmile: Yay for a change in competition!

In middle school I was definitely one of the slowest kids...but you know what? Now I'm up on Sundays running 8 miles while they sleep, plus daily gym time. It's okay if im not the quickest! I get it done :glasses: and I've got good endurance!

Hahahahahaha this is funny. I was in my school's ath's squad for..... shotput and discus... and was consistently last in any and all running events. Our school even had a 5 km cross country event that every second or third week in winter ALL students were made to run (think reallly small country school).
On one of the weeks the physical education teacher couldn't believe how long it took me and was angry because every time he saw me on the course I was walking. He couldn't get away with this now; but the next time we had cross country he chased me three quarters of the way around the course literally booting me up the backside to make me run.......

Both of my brothers are good athletes and could run the same course in around 20 minutes; I don't think he could ever accept I came from the same gene pool as them.

I will never run a 20 minute 5 k but when I run sub 24, as someone well into their 30's I think of that teacher and wonder how fast we could have ran back then if he had taught us how to get fit and run a correctly paced race. :huh: