Just to clear things up I am talking about maintaining 17mph on mostly flat, or about as close to it as you're going to get ground. Here in Houston, we don't have many hills.
I also may have misrepresented myself as being "out of shape". "overweight" yes, but no stranger to exercise.(I still have 20+ lbs to lose to be at my ideal weight, which will come off quick since I am 6'4" and I am hoping this contributes to my speed)
while it has been a while since I have worked out regularly, I grew up very active(did lots of biking and inline skating) and for the past 3-4 years I have been working out on and off.
For some reason I think I have pretty good cardio fitness in spite of never having specifically focused on it. I recently got a fitbit and was shocked to find my resting pulse rate at 55-60. I'm not really sure if that's a good or bad thing. It is kind of hard to believe it would be that low considering how sedentary I have been for the second half of my 31 year old life...I'd get it checked out, but I did have a stress test about 4 years ago which came out normal, plus I have no problem reaching an exercise pulse rate of 170+.