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I respect your spiritual attachment to marathons. I like your determination to have people actually race.
However, I think some people just aren't that interested in racing. They simply want to test themselves. I ran the Honolulu marathon a couple of years ago and finished in the bottom 20%. But I didn't quit - I pushed on in spite of intense knee pain. I didn't mean to ruin it for anyone and frankly wasn't running for anyone for anyone's benefit but my own. I wanted to see if I could do it. I don't see what the problem is.
For what it's worth, I've also done a non-Ironman Triathalon and came in dead last. But again, I finished. Some people in the same triathalon quit. I thought I did OK considering the fact that I hadn't ridden a bike in a year and had to borrow my friends knobby-tired mountain bike for the event. I had also never swam a mile at the time, so I was quite proud of my ability to persevere.
I just don't see the problem. To each his own. I'm actually happy that more people are doing it because Americans need to exercise.
