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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
For those of you elite runners out there who are crying that the fat kids stole your Boston Marathon, you should all visit my great home state of Montana and undertake the Bridger Ridge Run, a 20-mile race along the ridges of the Bridger Mountains at approximately 9000' elevation. There aren't thousands of people competing and nearly all who do are local.
Of course, that might be a little bit of an extreme sport for you poor marathoners. Better stick to bashing Oprah.
http://www.winddrinkers.org/BRR/BridgerRidge.html
It' not about health, you can get that with moderate running and resistance training and not scarfing down a depth charge of cola and pound of fries. So clearly it's about something else. It's about being apart of a club that will take you because the only requirement for membership is to try. And the $150 shoes and workout clothes. And the white oval 26.2 sticker for your car.
The author added his own racist touch to the Slate article.
Obesity is at an all time high. The percentage of Americans who are overweight is OVER 66%. And you are freaking whining about people willing to move their bodies for 26.2 miles all in one day, under their own steam?
I'm quite sure that the people who are inspired by "the penguin" are not the same people who might, with a hero to worship, start breaking records at running. They are the people who will live better, healthier lives because they have learned that winning is NOT all there is to it, for the vast majority of humans, and that movement for its own sake IS worth it.
If you want to produce world class runners at the marathon level, then start having the 15, 16, 17 year olds do longer that 5 and 10K races in cross country. Support people, starting at a young age, who want to run, seriously and competitively.
My husband is a half marathoner. At 47, he posted his best time in June of this year, under horrid conditions: muggy and warm. He ran 13.1 miles in an hour, 28 and a half minutes.
Had he been able to devote the time that he wanted to his training, he could have broken an hour 20. But working at a professional job in this country in this day means that you work 45, 50 or more hour weeks, and he had days that started early and ended late, requiring that he either skip or shorten a planned training.
He is an amateur runner. At his age, he will never be anything but an amateur runner. But for younger versions of him, with the talent and the drive to become professional runners at the marathon level, the impediments are many.
Stop complaining about the amateurs. They are the people who are providing role models for the rest of us, allowing us to see those regular people, those Oprahs and those P Diddies, pushing themselves past limits that they thought they'd never exceed.
Instead, push for real, monetary support for the REAL runners.
You'll get farther and you won't have to spend your time bashing people who don't deserve it.
I think, man, quitcher belly-aching, you sound all whiney instead of manly. Blame it on Oprah? Man, you have got that wrong. Oprah is the cause of global warming, the Y2K debacle, and the fact that that little tip of the toothpaste gets hard overnight. Geez, get it straight.
You want to be 'an elite?' Start your own marathon. Those who wish to be 'elite' have, since forever, started their own cricket clubs and country clubs. If you wish to compete though: the truly elite competition already exists: The Olympics.
Complaining about 'the great unwashed' participating in a marathon, is like complaining about all the mom and pop startups in America, except you're The Donald. It ain't befittin' man, to be carrying on like that...unless you're still living with your parents.
Here's the real deal: your age, year after year, is going to be the real slower-downer in every sense of those words. Age will do to your running speed, ankles, hips, shins, what Oprah couldnt. All I can say, is come on over. The spirit of running is what its about. We don't talk about 'the ego of running,' man. We talk about Spirit.
Man, do I not care.
As a physician who has to combat the after effects of obesity day in and day out, I'm ready to beat the writer over the head with a pair of my size 11 Kayanos. We should be praising these folks that are out there battling to finish a marathon and who are physicially active. We have an epidemic of obesity mostly due to physical inactivity and their ain't no way I can criticize any of these runners. Exactly how fast do we need to run to be a "pure marathoner?" 4:00? 3:30? 3:00?
I've finished 7 marathons: My fastest was 3:15 , my slowest was 6:30 when I walked/ran with my mother-in-law. Each had their own set of challenges/rewards at the finish. I love going to races now and seeing all the 4+ hr marathoners because they are "kicking ass".
I know that my time didn't do anything to change how the gazelles at the start were doing. And I know that folks like Meb, Deena and Ryan won't run any different based on how I'm running.
By the way, if you ever do finish another marathon, maybe you'll finally understand. In the mean time, maybe you should talk to my mother-in-law about what it feels like to be a marathoner.
The belief or doctrine that the presence of non-athletic runners in a marathon cause, merely through their participation, the best runners to do worse. The belief involves the paranoid attribution of the increasing number of non-athletic marathon runners to a black female cultural icon.
See also McClelland-ism.
I started running Marathons in 1975. Ran 15 until 1987 including breaking 3 hours and qualifying and running Boston.
My life got busy and I didn't start running races again until last year when I turned 60. I did notice the change in the crowds especially the number and ability of women. When I completed the Houston Marathon in 1975 there were a couple of hundred finishers and maybe 4 women. Now more men than women finish and I think that is great. They have no impact on my performance, only my training and program impacts my performance.
For me, it has always been about me vs. me and how I do in my gender/age group. I think anyone who finishes a Marathon deserves admiration - even if they walk. Twenty-six point two is a long distance no matter how you cover it - even in a car.
So as a 62 year old who has run all my life, my take is to live and let live and celebrate your own successes and determination, which really has no impact on anyone else just as they have no impact on you.
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