pointer outer of the obvious wrote:
Runners are excluders. We thrive off of knowing that other people can't understand our sport. But we get pissed when our sport gets no respect?!!?!
Show me any evidence of truly good runners "thriving" off the fact that people don't understand the sport.
I used to be this way until I grew up.
Are you sure that you have?
I ran in college although not super fast. (3:50/1:52/24:50) I used to think that everyone should worship runners because of how hard we worked. I used to sneer at guys running 5k's in 17:00 and 18:00 minutes. Then I grew up and now I coach. I realize that the more people you have involved in your sport the more they get how hard it actually is. I want joggers and people who are slow to try what we do and be proud of the fact that they completed something. Then, when they hear that I was finished when they were at the 5 mile mark, it makes them appreiciate [sic] the sport because I am not even an elite runner. This brings popularity to our sport and creates more opportunites [sic] for young runners.
And yet that hasn't really happened, despite the huge growth of marathon finishers in the US since the '80s. Why could that be? Maybe because not only is there no causation, there isn't even any correlation.
It just helps the sport in general. It's a step towards improving the health of our society.
Really? So why has the growth of the obese population paralleled the growth of marathon finishers? Maybe because our sport has nothing to do with "improving the health of our society?" Our sport is about competing, and even going to extremes to get an edge in competing. Gee, just like any other sport. Fitness running (or jogging) is separate from competitive running, why do people make the mistake of confusing them for being one and the same?
So quit bashing people for taking pride in what they have accomplished just because you don't agree with the way they express it. It's no different than someone buying a Kobe Bryant jersey. Do you see NBA players ridiculing people who buy thier [sic] jerseys and wear them around with pride? WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!!!!!!
So a KB jersey is equivalent to a 13.1 sticker? I don't see that analogy working at all, you'll need to do a better job explaining it.
Let's not turn people off to running!!!
Running as a sport isn't for everyone, I'm okay with defying this pussification-of-America inclusiveness BS. The NBA doesn't care about or need every slob playing Y league hoops to maintain its popularity, the NFL doesn't care about or need every slob playing rec. league flag football to maintain its popularity, the PGA doesn't care about or need every slob playing the local muni course regularly to maintain its popularity, etc. Just like the health of our nation is in no way dependent on the popularity of the sport of running, the health of the sport doesn't depend much at all on whether there are 100, 1000, or 10,000 finishers slower than 4:30 in a marathon. Especially when almost none of them know anything about the winners or the top of the sport.