I expected this article to be more bullcrap than it actually wound up being! The sensible thing it says in the article is that race directors recommend that people know the cutoff times and play by the rules (which I would also encourage and recommend!)
If the race directors specifically want to attract more participants by having long, long cutoff times, then by all means, give them your money and lace up your Skechers!
But if anyone wants to show to run a a marathon, even though they cannot run two miles without stopping, please don’t expect the city to keep the streets and bridges closed for you beyond their official cutoffs.
What I honestly don’t understand, is why anyone needs to run the full marathon when they don’t really have the fitness, and probably won’t make the cutoffs. Why not a 10K? Even a 15K would be a LONG way to go with 60 extra pounds! Just: Why?!?
I can understand applauding kids who walk it in, in a cross country race. Everyone has to start somewhere, and building fitness is not really that fun, and if they are showing up to cross country practice regularly, they will get better as time goes on. Adults on the other hand — I honestly just wish they would train reasonably well for their races.
If you can’t do a ten mile long run, you shouldn’t really register for a half marathon. If you can’t do a fifteen mile long run (which is a LONG, LONG way to run, and I have never personally gone that far before), the marathon should probably be postponed.