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Annoying Anonymous

by only running one, oprah demeans those to whom it IS important. look, folks, it's ALL arbitrary, certainly in sports. going around and around for 400 laps? is that not crazy? not only in the Year of Global Warming. but one of the great things about people is that Some of them choose one of those arbitrary things and really try to become the best at it. oprah cuts the ground from under them, so to speak. now, deering, you have a good point too. like life, it can be seen from many angles.

One of the winners was actually in a mobility scooter. I should get me of those.

but your words,
"Paula Radcliffe of England trained through pregnancy before giving birth in January. She won in 2:23.09."
Goddam Oprah slowed her down! - implies she gave birth *this* january.
Learn to Write.

david sugarman, in knocking Paula Radcliffe's time in the New York City Marathon, implies it was because "Oprah slowed her down."

Impossible. Ms. Radcliffe is British.

While Edward McClelland is surely loving all the bashing - he probably still believes that any attention is better than none at all - I do hope the editors at salon.com and every other publisher take to heart the criticisms that have appeared in response to this (and other) recent rants from Mr. M. it's not a question of his opinion, but his absolute inability to

make a coherent argument or one at least that leaves him a leg to stand on; with reducing complexity in issues and positions with a degree of cynicism that most of us grew out of in our freshman year. time for him but more importantly the media, to move on! I hope the Chicago Reader and other respectable publications that run his work are listening.

You raise some valid points about the rigors and risks of taking up marathon running.

But your problem is the same as Buckeye Tim's. You presume -- wrongly -- that many of these novices are not properly trained before entering marathons, but they are. The fact they may not have a shape or a stride as pretty as yours does not mean that they cannot finish the race, be they sprinters or staggerers. As a plus-sized runner myself (who has given it up for the most part due to joint stress, as you pointed out), I wouldn't dare try a marathon. But it's still a free country for those that do.

By the way, Oprah appears to be in substantially similar shape.

For those elite runners who agree with the author, I'd say this: If looking at these people offends your delicate sensibilities, then just pass them by, cross the finish line, and let the others stagger home. But give it a rest. You may be in impressive shape, but you're not Peyton Manning, Mia Hamm or Floyd Mayweather. You can run at a pretty good clip for a pretty long time. But don't pretend you're any type of premier athlete.

So, you self-proclaimed "warriors," mind your own business and let everybody else chase their goals, and maybe add years to their lives in the process. Run restricted competitions if you seek a taste of the good old days.

The fact that all of these fat, slow people are crossing finish lines all over the country doesn't diminish the marathon as a sport, it places it in perspective. Long-distance running is no longer the province of self-appointed elites whose only purpose in complaining about democracy coming to the sport is to validate themselves.

Wow, what a mean-spirited, arrogant snob.

I just watched Mr. McClelland on a Canadian TV show. He wasn’t terribly articulate: He had a difficult time making his point against the founder of the Running Room. He just came across as mean. One writer here suggested his tone was semi-humourous. Wrong. After watching him on TV, I can tell you this guy means it. He honestly believes every-day runners are ruining the sport for the pros. Seriously!

I guess that means all you recreational hockey, football, baseball and soccer players/coaches are ruining your sports. So stop now before it's too late.

I take his point that there are some unfit, ill-trained folks who should not be in marathons. And agreed, walking marathons are just plain dumb. But most of what he says is pure elitism.

A point he made on TV was that one surefire way to tell the sport being ruined, is that most runners couldn’t tell you who Paula Radcliffe or Frank Shorter are. Could it possibly be because running is generally not a spectator sport? We runners don’t spend a lot of time sitting in front of the TV watching the Boston Marathon, memorizing the stats of say, Catherine Ndereba (like a lot of football or hockey fans).

He also points to America’s failure to excel on the world marathon stage as proof of the dumbing down of the sport. But could the failure be for other reasons?

Distance running is not a grassroots sport in North America (yet). Countries generally dominate sports that are entrenched in their culture: Americans at baseball, basketball and football, Canadians in hockey, Australians in swimming, Brazilians in soccer, Ethiopians and Kenyans in distance running, Jamaicans in sprint, etc., etc. Who knows. With more people participating in marathons, it may someday become a grassroots sport.

Another reason is money: Elite athletes know they can make more playing professional organized team sports, so the culture encourages that.

Mr. McClelland suggest the high number of participants in races are hurting the events. Again his logic escapes me. Anyone who’s ever run a race knows the elites start in the front. The rest of us start in the back with our time-group. And since most races use timer chips, the slower people are not rushing to get the the front so they can get a faster time.

And let’s not ignore body type. Marathon champs are tiny. Most of the women weigh less than one hundred pounds (Paula Radcliffe seems like a giant compared to her contemporaries). Lets face it, North Americans are generally bigger and stronger and therefore better suited to sprint over distance.

As for those of us who have “lowered the bar for excellence” I’m in my 40’s. I run 5 miles, 4-5 times per week. My BMI is 22, my resting pulse is 48. I attribute my good health to running. I love running. But I’m slow. I’d have a hard time finishing a marathon in under 4:40.

So according to Mr. McClelland I should stay home and turn into a big fat tub of goo. I should watch marathons on TV ( instead of participate in them), and memorize the names of all the elite runners. If I do that, it will make the sport stronger.

Get real!