[danielh]

The easiest way to improve your relative ranking is to find a less competitive event :)

I recently won my age class in a 10k (6th overall out of 147 men). In a very competitive race earlier this year, the exact same time barely put me in the upper half (242/498).

[brewdad]

The year I ran the NYC Marathon, I finished in the top 2 percent of men. The winner beat me by 45 minutes.

While I wouldn't go so far as to say 95% sucks, there can be a world of difference between that level and the true elites.