For 'Mega Marathoners,' the Race Is On -- to Run More Races
Wall Street Journal November 18, 2009
For 'Mega Marathoners,' the Race Is On -- to Run More Races
Wall Street Journal November 18, 2009
You headline - not the article's - is very misleading. Every person quoted in the article (except the doctor) has done at least 400 marathons, and some have done over 1,000. No one, not even the "general populations," thinks these are typical runners.
Crazy runners? wrote:
For 'Mega Marathoners,' the Race Is On -- to Run More Races
Wall Street Journal November 18, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125849597789952679.html
I wouldn't call 7 hour marathons racing. Hell I wouldn't even call that running.
Lol I mean please these people are NOT even runners. They are certainly not racers and I don't even see the point in them running. There plodders. And they are trying to steal our sport. This is why the Boston Marathon sucks now.
I like how the article refers to "bragging rights" -- who the hell are these people bragging to? I consider myself a fairly dedicated runner, and I don't think I could even have a conversation with one of these douchebags about how many 5-hour marathons they had run this year.
LVD wrote:
I like how the article refers to "bragging rights" -- who the hell are these people bragging to? I consider myself a fairly dedicated runner, and I don't think I could even have a conversation with one of these douchebags about how many 5-hour marathons they had run this year.
You're too busy hanging out with Kenenisa and the rest of the Ethiopians, ay?
Rick Rocket wrote:
You're too busy hanging out with Kenenisa and the rest of the Ethiopians, ay?
No, I'm too busy hanging out with normal runners who don't brag about any of their races, let alone these weekly jogathons.
But I'm certain you'd be impressed with these performances. Maybe you're one of the people they brag to.
No, normal runners dont brag about their races, they complain afterwards
"im just training through this race"
"i havent done any speedwork"
yada
yada
yada
listen in after any road race and its all the same. The faster the runner, the more excuses.(i know, back when I was fast, I did the same thing).
Kudos for doing 400-1000 marathons, whatver the time. Its impressive. Just an opinion from a 14min 5k runner and a nearly 4 hour marathoner.
Chuck Engle is impressive. Knocking out 2:30s-50s marathons week in and week out is pretty amazing. The rest of the multiple marathoners are just annoying. They are like the people with spoon collections from all 50 states.
LVD wrote:
No, I'm too busy hanging out with normal runners who don't brag about any of their races.
LVD wrote:
I consider myself a fairly dedicated runner.
Yet you brag about being a dedicated runner?
is considering himself a dedicated runner bragging? no, he's stating the fact that he feels that he is dedicated. what is wrong with that?
I think that breaking 300 hours for 100 marathons would be a worthy goal for some. One wonders what the record would be...250-ish perhaps?
Chuck hasn't run since Chicago. Does anyone know why?
denigrator wrote:
I think that breaking 300 hours for 100 marathons would be a worthy goal for some. One wonders what the record would be...250-ish perhaps?
Doug Kurtis has 76 sub-2:20s. If he ran even 24 sub-2:30s, that's about 237 hours for 100 marathons.
In the past few years, the “Rock and Roll” Marathon Company has embraced this approach. They have gone away from the idea that people want to see the best athletes compete for national and world records and have targeted the “average Joe” trying to complete a marathon for the sake of completing it. They have done this by making races iPod friendly, by having many bands play throughout the course, by playing up the big party at the end against the idea of running fast or possibly seeing the world’s best compete. This strategy has paid off big for them as many of their races sell out way in advance and they are buying up naming rights all over the country of prominent races and turning them into their own brand of race where it is more important they have good candy at the water stops than Gatorade.
This being said, these “Mega Marathoners” are the kind of people that events like the “Rock and Roll Marathons” all over the country are targeting. Many professional and semi professional and even age groupers will “race” 1-2 Marathons per year and maybe 1-2 Half-Marathons. Results have shown that it takes 4-8 weeks to fully recover from a marathon. These results suggest that you race them and not just walk/jog them for the sake of doing it. Breeding and selling this mentality of doing 1000 marathons or 10 marathons a year at a snail’s pace is great for the “Rock and Roll” marathons as they are charging upwards of $100 in entry fees and are not having to pay any elite athletes their much needed appearance fees that allow them to train at a very high level of 150-200 miles per week with hopes of setting records and competing well in international competition.
Who?
Chuck has disappeared wrote:
Chuck hasn't run since Chicago. Does anyone know why?
Yep, The Competitor Group is leeching from the sport. Any benefit to the sport from their races is merely coincidental.
road rashed wrote:
In the past few years, the “Rock and Roll” Marathon Company has embraced this approach. They have gone away from the idea that people want to see the best athletes compete for national and world records and have targeted the “average Joe” trying to complete a marathon for the sake of completing it. They have done this by making races iPod friendly, by having many bands play throughout the course, by playing up the big party at the end against the idea of running fast or possibly seeing the world’s best compete. This strategy has paid off big for them as many of their races sell out way in advance and they are buying up naming rights all over the country of prominent races and turning them into their own brand of race where it is more important they have good candy at the water stops than Gatorade.
This being said, these “Mega Marathoners” are the kind of people that events like the “Rock and Roll Marathons” all over the country are targeting. Many professional and semi professional and even age groupers will “race” 1-2 Marathons per year and maybe 1-2 Half-Marathons. Results have shown that it takes 4-8 weeks to fully recover from a marathon. These results suggest that you race them and not just walk/jog them for the sake of doing it. Breeding and selling this mentality of doing 1000 marathons or 10 marathons a year at a snail’s pace is great for the “Rock and Roll” marathons as they are charging upwards of $100 in entry fees and are not having to pay any elite athletes their much needed appearance fees that allow them to train at a very high level of 150-200 miles per week with hopes of setting records and competing well in international competition.
Rick Rocket wrote:
Yet you brag about being a dedicated runner?
Ironically, you're no rocket scientist, are you?
w.r.t. Chuck Engle - Somebody somewhere knows what happened to him. I emailed marathonguide.com twice and they don't respond (despite the usual comment about answering all inquries in a timely manner). I thought he worked for them and /or was sponsored. You would think that they would update about one of their own athletes.
Strange.
Smaller heads?