Gotta love the parents who subtly mention to their kids’ high school coaches about how they know a bit about running because they’ve done a marathon. It’s always so awkward. lol
I was offered so much advice by the 5 hour marathoner when I coached. No one noticed that my teams lost about 4 dual meets in 27 years and went to states almost every year- all but 4. LOL
I don't see the big deal here. Someone running it in 9 hours doesn't impact my race. Hopefully it encourages them to run more/live a healthy lifestyle. Logistically, there's a cost to keeping a course open. I'm ok with starting to break things down & somebody continuing to run to finish in whatever they finish in. All good.
That's not the point. You're right but that's not the point here.
And, bottom line, the point isn't something that actually matters but it does.
Kind of like a man taking his hat off inside in the presence of a woman. Most people don't care anymore but it's decorum.
And just read through what I wrote. It would be refreshing to have runners actually talk intelligently about the upper levels of our sport.
If it was possible to give more than one up vote I'd give you the upper limit. It's wonderful that people push themselves to finish marathons but the sport is being redefined as one that exists for the five hour plus types. The competitive end is only slightly noticed. Races have become events.
Yea, I'm good with anyone even walking 26 miles. We need more of that. But yes. Let's make a social contract as to what " I ran a marathon" means. Lets say 12 min mile? Thats pretty generous. We have 100s of wallets now at 5ks. But I dont think they say they ran.
I’m sure you handled the very good unsolicited advice better than me. It takes everything I’ve got to not say “that’s great that you want to help, but stfu and you might learn a thing or two.”
In my early corporate days, I was known as the young runner because I would run at lunch to get my doubles in. The co-workers knew I was good, but not really the extent of it. Zero concept of any difference between sub13, 14, 15, or even 16… or even sub12! About once a quarter, someone would say, “you know Steve in accounting us a big runner, too, right? In fact he’s done marathons and even qualified for Boston!” I would reply, “Yeah, I know! Steve is great wow wow wow!” But Steve was kind of a douche bc he knew what was what, but he’d play along like he was better! Oh well.
If it was possible to give more than one up vote I'd give you the upper limit. It's wonderful that people push themselves to finish marathons but the sport is being redefined as one that exists for the five hour plus types. The competitive end is only slightly noticed. Races have become events.
Yea, I'm good with anyone even walking 26 miles. We need more of that. But yes. Let's make a social contract as to what " I ran a marathon" means. Lets say 12 min mile? Thats pretty generous. We have 100s of wallets now at 5ks. But I dont think they say they ran.
Can we use same cutoffs for saying "I RAN a marathon" as the Boston qualifying standards ?
I don't think I know what the point is then from reading this? It's that the upper levels of our sport doesn't get enough coverage/attention? I don't think the 4/5/6/7/8/9hr marathoner is taking away from that. There's so little coverage that fans of the sport, myself included, see an article like this before coverage of a really great track or road race. ESPN doesn't cover the sport. Meets are blocked behind pay walls. But even sites like this push click-bait threads & something covering what should be a big race is pushed way down. So many people do xc & track in HS. Gotta make them fans of the sport. They don't really care about fast or slow marathoners so, again, I don't see the issue here with someone doing a marathon like this. Maybe they'll help grow the sport.
That was nice of him or her to offer you advice, and I hope you accepted it gracefully. Also, you shouldn’t feel bad that you lost 4 meets. Nobody is perfect.
Gotta love the parents who subtly mention to their kids’ high school coaches about how they know a bit about running because they’ve done a marathon. It’s always so awkward. lol
I'm the total opposite. I keep my mouth shut to my kid's XC "coaches" despite my running. The coach - husband wears lulu clothes and has a spray tan, has no advice but his wife, also similarly more fashioned makes them do 'drills'. I enjoy 'watching' her.
However after running competitively for 20+ years I think I know a little bit about running and I won't offer any advice as I am not asked. I show up, run with my kid and chat with the parents. My PRs would blow their minds but they didn't ask nor are they relevant.
I did see one mom come in brand new alphaflys recently. That gave me a chuckle.
They also measure the distances by 'iphone' or by hand (like eyeballing it not a jones wheel) and while they're off I don't care. Their mile course is 1.5 etc. but I think its better for the kids to get a bit more endurance.
What on earth? 9hrs? Even if you walked the entire way at a moderate pace, that’s still only like 7hrs at most…..
She must have stopped to talk to people and hi-five and stuff. It's 21-min pace and she's actually not that big. A lot of people think of it as an outing, not a race. They take pictures when they spot their families, they take phone calls! Read about the Honolulu marathon and people stopped for lunch!
That's not the point. You're right but that's not the point here.
And, bottom line, the point isn't something that actually matters but it does.
Yikes. Instead of talking about runners who are bad at running, maybe we need to be talking about writers who are terrible at writing. She's going to finish several marathons before you even get around to actually making a coherent point.
What on earth? 9hrs? Even if you walked the entire way at a moderate pace, that’s still only like 7hrs at most…..
Walking at a "moderate" pace is about 2.5mph. That would take 10.5 hrs to cover the marathon distance. I usually walk around 3mph, and I am passing 90+% of people on the street.
If it was possible to give more than one up vote I'd give you the upper limit. It's wonderful that people push themselves to finish marathons but the sport is being redefined as one that exists for the five hour plus types. The competitive end is only slightly noticed. Races have become events.
Its the parkrun effect. Its a run not a race and walking is encouraged and celebrated. Not sure why its timed though. The walking I mean.
I struggle to tell the difference between my local college band and the new york philharmonic sometimes too. They both 'play' volin, so whats the difference?
To people on this board the difference between a 2:10 mara, 3:00 and 6:00 is three different worlds, but unless you exsist in the running space, they are all marathon runners. If you've got really fast at running to impress Sally from accounting, im sorry, you've wasted alot of time training, its not going to work.
Maybe someone will read that article and be inspired to start running and improve there lives, in which case, good on WashPo for posting it.