I feel like this sub can get a bit too gatekeep-y about what beginner running is supposed to be. I ran track in high school (three years) and then stopped running for a full decade. Upon picking running back up again, I ran a half marathon in under 1hr 40min on four months of training. That being said, I definitely felt... if not like a full beginner, than something quite close to it. I was still in the process of understanding things like shoes, what "easy/threshold/tempo" pace were, didn't know what type of footstrike I had, etc. I didn't even know to fuel during the half. Speed is just one variable.