Could you beat a random american in a 1 mile race with your LIFE on the line?

Probably not even though the odds would be in my favor. $1M wouldn't change my life too much, but dying would.

My scenario: would you walk through a mine field for 500 million? At the other end of the mine field you can see the money stacked on a big marble table. So delicious!!

This. $1 million won't change my life in the slightest. I'd do it for $100 million in a heartbeat though.

The one million would drastically change my life, but I still don’t think I’d do it. It’s too high of a risk, though statistically I would surely win the money

Agreed that $1 million is not worth the risk in a head to head competition, however I would accept the same terms for getting top 3 in a field of 30 random Americans.

Can I have a personal pacer the entire way?

An interesting twist: you are allowed to do this as many times as you want.

Maybe $1 million doesn't change your life enough for you to risk a 1/10,000 chance on it. But does $10 million change your life enough for you to risk a 1/1,000 chance on it?

I of course pulled 1/10,000 out of thin air, but how many Americans could--today--run sub-5? Sub-4:30?

I’m sure that if i were seriously being offered this proposition, I would want to do my research (find out whether all Americans including infants and elderly people are in the pool) and also look up as many statistics as I could find about what percentage of Americans are disabled or obese.

As far as reading the fine print, I would want to know, would my death be a painless death, if were to lose the bet?

On an oddly serious note, i like the idea of either scenario actually, one where I get a lot more wiggle room financially (i don’t love spending money but i would adore more financial security for final decade in the work force) and the other scenario where I never have to bother with my elderly years and get to go out with all my ducks in a row. (I’m 50, if that makes any difference.)

Sure, I’d do it, and I’m not even fast anymore. Still, I figure I could beat 98% of random Americans and that’s a risk I’m willing to take, personally.

I was thinking this way, but im not in amazing shape. And the average person to do this would probably be pretty confident in their fitness. There would be a response bias.

I'd take the odds. Simple. Tons of old folks, tons of obese, tons of children. Easy

Based on the phrasing of the prompt I’m assuming there’s no chance of a response bias, and it’s truly a random American ranging from Grant Fisher to my 91 year old grandma.

I’m also probably not quite as averse to losing the bet as many people, in part I’m sure because I don’t have kids or a wife. Not too excited about the future, either.

I could. But it'd be just my luck to get the 0.0001% athlete faster than me

But are there consequences for the randomly selected person losing? If not, he/she throws the race and we go 50-50. Free money for both of us.

Or will the random person die when I send him/her home DEVASTATED? In that case, I make the random person pay me a million for declining the race.

I apologize, but I upvoted this post after reading the first paragraph. Then I read the second paragraph and tried to change my vote, but it wouldn't let me. That's sad to read. You only go around once, so I hope you're able to find something that gets you excited.

Men only or is there a chance I could racing a woman?

The average american is 38 years old 25 lbs overweight and would be walking by 600 meters.

Yes

Odds are overwhelmingly in my favor that the random selection is not a runner and not in shape at all. I see a lot of people when I'm out, not at my gym, looks to me like most people are overweight. While I'm a Marathon/Ultra runner I am confident I could beat the average American in a one mile race to the death. Lets goooooooooooo

Absolutely. I usually finish in the top 3-6% of road races I run from 5K thru marathon. If I can always beat 94+% of runners, I'm sure I can easily beat 99+% of people. Only a small percentage of Americans run competitively. Definitely worth the risk. In fact, it isn't much risk at all.