Tripwire

The thriller Tripwire by Lee Child, page 317, paperback edition copyright 1999:

'That was quick,' Jodie said.
'Actually it was a little slow,' Conrad said back.
'Think about it from the private's point of view. He hears me say H for Hobie, he runs to the H section, he locates the file by first and middle initials, he grabs it, he runs up here with it. My people are subject to the Army's normal standards for physical fitness, which means he could probably run most of a mile in five minutes. And although this is a very big place, there was a lot less than a mile to cover in the triangle between his desk and the H section and this office, believe me. So he was actually a little slow. I suspect the master sergeant interrupted him, just to frustrate me.'

Given that one mile converts to 1600 metres this means from the above that 'he could probably run most of a mile in five minutes' translates 'he could probably run most of a kilometre in three minutes seven seconds.' Certainly to run a kilometre in three minutes seven seconds would not be a normal Army standard for physical fitness. In the above case Lee Child has possibly covered himself by inserting '...run most of a mile...' instead of simply '...run a mile...', but it's still hard to believe your average Army grunt can routinely run a kilometre in close to three minutes or run 'most of a mile ' in five minutes.