Hi there,

Running my first ever 5k marathon next week. I've been training my whole life for this moment essentially - in my culture then you are not ready to become a man until you have proven your ability to run free, barefoot style for 5 of your metric kilometers (think Avatar with less blue poster paint and more vibrams).

However, despite the years of training and dedication to my craft, I'm still unable to ascertain what a suitable goal pace should be! Who'd have thought, ey?

That said I can provide 2 previous end points so you may help me narrow down my range of expectations.

One is an interval session I recently ran in the atacama desert, barefoot up and down the dunes. The session consisted of 4*200m with 5 days recovery between reps.

The other was a 3km jog I did 8 years ago up the side of mount pinatubo. Since then however I have gained 150lbs and lost 3 toes from my right foot.

Please help by providing me with a series of nonsensical timing estimates which I will completely discount if I feel they insult my way of life. Equally I will also not provide any feedback on any further questions or follow up this post with the results of my life affirming passage.