Why I love letsrun

rojo wrote:

Awesome post.

I have long said the forum is what you talk about on a run with your buds. Sadly, I don't run with buds anymore. Every six months, I claim I'll get in shape, become part of the Bmore community and people email me and I just don't follow through.

I've lived here for almost 10 years now. Wow.

You’d be the kid on the team that everyone would avoid running with. The one who will derail the conversation on the run with the cringeworthy attention seeking comments.

Otherwise the overall coverage of events is second to known. No other track and field new source has what you have here. If random message board trolls and even a owner of the site making troll post are the worst you can say. It really ain’t that bad.

Second to none*

I enjoy it because you seek advice and get honest feedback here. Take it or leave it. It's entertaining to read opinion of others about the pro's performance or under performance. Also fun to predict or read about possible outcomes of an athlete/team upcoming event.

America's fury wrote:

Letsrun made me fast.

Here's a tip for newbies: stop looking for things to be offended about, and stop clogging up the boards with "this place is a racist, homophobic, mysogonistic (insert offense of the day) blah blah blah." Maybe get your dopamine fix over at the Preparation H boards? I dunno 😂😂😂

I've followed the boards for a long time, even during my 15-year running hiatus. A ton of trolls, but lots of advice since I started making my comeback to become an below-average runner (based on this board's standards) from a poor runner in 2017. A ton of marathon strategy I learned this year will serve me on Sunday. It's a great site and one of the last few unfiltered communication tools out there.

I'm a big Browns fan--even the sports/football websites/boards/chat rooms are now heavily regulated, and if you're slightly bit to the right, it's a challenge.

I come to letsrun because it's easily the best running news source and if you look, you can find very useful information on the threads.

That being said, there is a lot of problematic sh!t that gets posted here. It can make it hard to be a regular visitor and I completely understand the viewpoint of Molly Huddle and many other (disproportionately female) elite runners.

Why the moderation game isn't stepped up DRAMATICALLY is beyond me. Implementing an upvote/downvote system much like reddit's would solve a lot of the issues with this board in my opinion. Allowing users to call out the sh!t when they see it would help get rid of it faster.

Pretending like letsrun is all rainbows and sunshine is delusional. Expectations have (rightfully) changed and if the brojos want this platform to survive, they need to adapt. And no that doesn't mean being fake woke, rojo.

In running groups I have been part of, we generally had a 'what is said on the run stays on the run' policy. This allowed people to freely say things/speak their mind knowing that they were among trusted friends that would honor and respect their opinions.

These groups often have been smaller (<15 people) mixture of old/young, men/women, different ethnic backgrounds, different political viewpoints, etc. The common thread is showing up on a regular basis to run 8-22 miles at various efforts.

We talk about everything on these runs. People say some outrageous things, and get questioned/grilled/roasted for those sometimes (if others have the energy and extra effort to do so, believe it is important, or care enoughy to pursue the topic while also trying to maintain the pace of the run).

These on the run conversations are similar to, but very different than, the LRC message board.

A big difference is we learn and know more about the other runners in these groups than we do about board posters. We develop a basic relationship with other runners in the group. We can excuse what we view as faults with other group runners because we know they are not all that bad (if for no other reason than the always show up, keep the pace honest, or hang back with those having a bad day.)

Similar to the message board, group runners can choose to not hear or pay attention to certain runners or conversations, and choose to avoid running with the group.

The positives of LRC, the message boards, and these running groups far outweigh the negatives. Sure they are not perfect, and never will be. You will be enlightened, educated, rewarded, tested, humbled, punished, entertained, etc. if you choose to run with a group or read/participate in LRC.

Or you could choose to run alone, in the dark, naked and without a watch, on a flat empty featureless plain.

I am grateful for this site. I have been coming here for about 15 years. I have gone through some rough times in those years. Bouts of major depression, anxiety and worse. In the times I have felt isolated and alone coming here has brought me comfort. I am happy to say I am in a much better place today. There are definitely people who try to stir things up but they are easy to ignore. Most people are kind and willing to help and give meaningful advice.

CCB wrote:

I am grateful for this site. I have been coming here for about 15 years. I have gone through some rough times in those years. Bouts of major depression, anxiety and worse. In the times I have felt isolated and alone coming here has brought me comfort. I am happy to say I am in a much better place today. There are definitely people who try to stir things up but they are easy to ignore. Most people are kind and willing to help and give meaningful advice.

Great post

CCB wrote:

I am grateful for this site. I have been coming here for about 15 years. I have gone through some rough times in those years. Bouts of major depression, anxiety and worse. In the times I have felt isolated and alone coming here has brought me comfort. I am happy to say I am in a much better place today. There are definitely people who try to stir things up but they are easy to ignore. Most people are kind and willing to help and give meaningful advice.

What I've noticed on some LRC threads where if there is a legit serious issue with a poster voicing a concern, most will actually ignore the trolls and have a good discussion. Not always, but sometimes people will be serious for once.

I agree with you on this. I've noticed a lot more kindness post-2013 here, post-bombing as well. I think it was meaner BEFORE 2013 in some cases.