Interested in my running but not elite competitors

crystals come creeping wrote:

You make me sick.

How DARE you call yourself a runner?

Now then, you do know what you REALLY are don't you? Huh? I SAID you DO know what you are...don't you??? Hello? Huh-huh-Hello? Are you aware of what we call people liiiike you? Well? It's a little uh well it's a nice little title...uh a little...a little nickname that we like to uh "give" to folks of your ummm...how do I put this...persuasion. Yes yes persuaaaaasion. Uh um you see, I'm going to uh uuuuunpack this and illuminate this pet name that we give to worms just like you and your fecal friends. It's uh ummm well it's HA HA HA it's uh wait hold on wait ahhhhhh oh it's ok ok..hold up hold up...wait friend...ok ok ok okok ok so ok wait ok HAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! Ok wait let's let's do ok wait...do you uh ok wait I'll tell you what ok wait...do you know what you are?

You are a HOBBY JOGGER and you make me sick.

d1 exp wrote:

It's true, running is less fan-friendly and lots of people have the same attitude as you. But that doesn't mean you can't get into following pro running. It sounds like you never really tried yet. If you did, you might be surprised.

I can tell you that once you get to caring about tactics and times, you can find lots of exciting track meets to watch. If you start following names and individuals as people, the fun goes way up. It was totally worth it to get up early in the morning a few weeks ago to watch Molly Huddle power through the US 12k champs like a machine (come to think of it, now I have a WHOA shirt with her face on it too) and it was awesome, then seeing this random kid (Shrader) come out of nowhere down the stretch to take the men's race in a crazy sprint finish, made my day. I can tell you how you start emphasizing with the guts of an early breakaway, with 90 minutes yet to run, or with the kicker who's sitting in the pack just hoping to hang on and make that move, and now you're not just watching a group of people circling a track, you're seeing deeper.

I can tell you that the excitement of an NCAA XC meet is something you have to be there to believe, you're sprinting across a huge muddy hillside to the next spot to watch as the herd thunders past, picking out jerseys, counting places, while thousands of fans are running around screaming and the kooks with painted chests carrying flags and chanting and if you lean out too far to watch the race the leaders might swipe your nose off. Now you can compare if you want to two hours sitting on a cushion in the nosebleeds with a hot dog and binoculars but I'm telling you there's nothing like it in sports.

I can tell you how the atmosphere is at Hayward field when they hit bell or the Penn Relays on the final handoff, or the finish line of the Boston marathon, that you're part of something larger, that you're not just watching for someone to win and lose but you're watching to see people achieve excellence, inspiration. And you can see flashes of it if you look and it can be in 1st place or in 7th or in 23rd or whatever.

I can't tell you it's for everyone, but there's a lot more to dig into than you see on the surface.

(Oh and track and road racing TV coverage is usually pretty terrible of course, which doesn't help any.)