- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
That’s a good one.
Oprah trained hard for--and ran an excellent race in 1994. Accounting for age and sex, (there’s calculators on the web for that), she kicked your butt.
But I won’t pile on too much, because the posters here did an excellent job of pointing out the flaws and vacuity of your alleged argument.
Also, most local road races aren’t money-makers for the sponsors, etc. If it weren’t for the back of the pack runners supporting these things, you might not have a race to run!
As a devoted runner, though, I do cringe when I hear a few people saying “anyone can do a marathon” etc. And some people do show up at starting lines untrained and maybe a little naïve. But that’s life, (and not exclusive to running) and it has no impact on me. (or Ryan Hall for that matter).
But the people who train and put in the time and miles regardless of pace have nothing but my sincere respect and congratulations. And I’m so happy for them because running can enrich every corner of your life, no matter how fast or slow! I wish more people would give running a try, but maybe snobs scare them off?
Really, I think you’re disgruntled because Oprah seriously kicked your butt, despite the fact you consider yourself a “real” runner.
