Have I run a Marathon if I Bandited it?

Questionable wrote:

No you haven't. Going out and running 26.2 miles doesn't mean you ran a Marathon. I run that long all the time, but I am not going out and saying "Hey I ran a Marathon today".

You may not say it, but that's what you did. You can't say you raced a marathon, but you can say you ran the marathon distance.

KevinM wrote:

You may not say it, but that's what you did. You can't say you raced a marathon, but you can say you ran the marathon distance.

Saying "I ran a Marathon" implies that you actually ran in a Marathon, which this person did not, legally. Lets see the finishers medal. "I ran the Marathon distance" is a completly different statement.

A story that's relevant to this topic...

A couple years ago there was a female student at the college I coach at who we would see running all the time. She was not on the XC team but it was clear that she had talent. The spring of her junior year we (some of the men's team members and I) saw her around the athletic center one day and got to talking about running, trying to convince her to come out for XC her senior year. During this conversation she claimed to have done many marathons; multiple Bostons, NYCs, Chicagos. She claimed to have run something like 3:15. So of course the first thing we did after the end of that conversation was find a computer and look for her results on marathonguide.com. Guess what we found-NOTHING. We tried different spellings of her name, no results! Ok, maybe we found 1 result or something like that, but no way were there 8-9 results in big marathons for this woman like she claimed. So that kind of became the big joke among us for awhile whenever anyone would talk about getting ready for a marathon; "don't forget to register".

Turned out she did come out for XC the next fall and ran great. Plus she was a real team leader, great to be around, a real breath of fresh air in our women's program. Right after she graduated she ran the local marathon in around 3:40 and now she's under 3:20. So she's definitely legit but it just seemed so odd that we could never find results for all those races she said she did.

The weird thing is that we still get a call or an email from her every once in awhile. Half the time she tells us about some race she did and we can't find her name in the results. We are convinced that she enters races under a fake name. Maybe it's like those people who do restaurant reviews and have to write under an assumed name.

For what it's worth, the search function on marathonguide.com may not be that accurate. I couldn't find my result from this year by putting in my full name, or my first initial and last name. Eventually I tried just my entire last name with no first name or initial and it pulled up the result. So, who knows, maybe she did run a few that didn't pop up when you searched.

As for me, my time sucked so I am not really disappointed that it is hard to find!

war trojan

can I say I have run a marathon? Can I say I completed a marathon?

You have run the marathon distance. What you haven't done is run any particular marathon. Unless you are an official entrant in any particular event, then you haven't taken part in the event...even if you ran the course while the event was taking place. Essentially, you were a spectator.

Robin and the 7 Hoods wrote:

With marathon season upon us, assuming I have never run a marathon, but happened to be an "unofficial runner" at a local marathon and I started at the start and crossed the finish line with the "official runners" - can I say I have run a marathon?"

Thank you for the written statement. Now with your IP address we can easily nail you upon your first bandit attempt. BTW the penalties are severe and brutal.

Have a nice day.

The crux of the question is whether running 26.2 miles always = running a marathon. By implication, I think "running a marathon" means you have run a marathon race. If I go to the track and run 800m and somehow run a PB, is that PB legit? I know Isanbeyeva is meant to have vaulted over 5 metres in training - is this a world record?

If you are running the marathon to see how fast you can do one, then I say you can count it as your PR. If you are doing it so you can brag to everyone about your PR then it will not count. You know what you did and that should be all that matters. Isn't the goal of running to see how fast you can cover a certain distance? If the course is legit then the time is legit, whether or not you paid the entry fee. Essentially, you are paying the entry fee for the food, drinks, shirts, massage, awards, etc. but not the use of public roads.

I'm not explicitly condoning banditing here, but I wish there was some way to compete in marathons and road races without paying for all the frills (t-shirts, food at the finish line, superfluous water stops, entertainment, etc.) I think a lot of the people who bandit don't want to participate in all that crap and would rather just RACE. Isn't that what the sport is about in the first place? I understand the expenses of closing roads and recruiting elites, but it seems like "real" runners are getting stuck paying for the gallowalkers who treat the marathon like an extended party.

No. You are a race organizers worst nighmare. Don't show up to run. Just pay the $70-$100 like the rest of us you cheap bastard!

Robin and the 7 Hoods wrote:

Your input would be welcomed.

Are you coming on to me?

KevinM wrote:

Questionable wrote:

No you haven't. Going out and running 26.2 miles doesn't mean you ran a Marathon. I run that long all the time, but I am not going out and saying "Hey I ran a Marathon today".

You may not say it, but that's what you did. You can't say you raced a marathon, but you can say you ran the marathon distance.

Suppose you spend a day at DisneyWorld and walk 26.2 miles. Did you do a marathon? Or run 26 miles over a few days? Is that good enough?

If some a-hole were to jump on the track at the Olympics and run the length of the track, would he be able to claim he ran 100 meters in the Olympics?

Like most endevors, there has to be some general agreement about the rules, and I think most people would say the rules of running a marathon include being a legitimate participant.

Running as a bandit is more legitimate than running as a registered participant. Registered participants line up at the start line for a pace they can't sustain. When I run as a bandit, I don't take water and I finish parallel to the official line, so as not to confuse anyone. It sure beats all those claiming "registered nobility" and bottlenecking the start line while walking from the 6:00 pace sign.

Does anyone have a problem with the fact that Terry Fox ran a "marathon" a day for 130 days? It is a very arbitrary distance though. As soon as you cover slightly more or slightly less distance, nobody cares. It becomes meaningless.

what part of "no" do you not understand?

the N or the O ?