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I doubt there is any logical connection between the growth of “noncompetitive” runners and the fact we’re not beating the Kenyans. Sorry your formerly elite and eccentric sport is now popular. Go try ultramarathons or RAAM. In any race you will still see plenty of competition near the front. I doubt the people at the back are slowing the front down any more than they ever have. The popularity is good for the sport and for sport in general. What’s bad for sport is people sitting on the couch watching millionaires play on TV. And those millionaires doing steroids. What’s sillier than duffers arguing over baseball stats? Certainly not duffers doing marathons. What’s good for sport is people actually doing it. Here are my credentials: All-American swimmer 7 times, state champion matched-sprinter, various runs, triathlons, biathlons, and cross-country bicycle epics, Portland Marathon in 1988 (3:15), 7 Hood-to-Coasts, rock climbing, mountaineering, mountain biking. I don’t mind seeing competitive sport less important to people now. I care less who wins the Tour since so many top riders seem to be dopers. Same for elite runners, weight lifters, football and baseball players, etc., etc., etc. All Olympic and world speed, endurance and strength sports are suspect; the elites are polluted, but guess what? People still like to do the sport. So what if they’re not sub-3 hours in the marathon? In an era when our country’s average level of fitness is more abysmal than ever, why object to people slogging out the miles, however slow? Crooked “elite” athletes have ruined the search for who is fastest, but they failed to destroy their sports because it never really was just about that one guy who broke the tape, it was about the community of dedicated athletes and it was about the inner journey of each participant. Good job, Shorter, and good job, Oprah, and good job, Kenyans, who are probably even clean. At 48 now I still might run, swim or ride another race, which someone else will win, or maybe I’ll do 25 miles of single track to get my exertion and exhilaration. I won’t be doing it to see if I’m the fastest in the world, and either way I won’t be needing to despise anyone doing it slower than me.
