>He is in the mindset that is not a fast sprinter so he
>"obviously" cannot run. I keep telling him distance isn't
>about how fast you sprint.

I didn't end up great (let's go with "useful D3 400/800 runner") but I wasn't involved in it at all until I was sixteen. It took awhile to really want to run longer events, having a small amount of success there to get me interested, and then to grow into my body a bit and discover that I had more sprint value than I thought - but it was in maintaining that 4th gear for a longer sprint race.

We called the 800m a distance event in high school, but whatever. Point is, I backed into the sport. Wasn't my first or second choice at all.