Do runners who habitually seek out downhill courses share certain personality disorders?

welcome to utah, where basically every marathon drops 1k+ feet. it's hilarious when someone counts their 5k PR from a course that drops 400 feet.

I just ran a downhill mile. Course dropped 60 ft. so it wasn't ridiculous. The last 20 seconds was a little uphill which is even tougher after running down for the rest of the race.

I go to a massage therapist once a month who does sacral cranial therapy.

On the other hand I love hilly courses and just crushed a hilly 4 mile race last weekend.

I would love to run Mt Washington one year.

learning the downhill wrote:

I would love to run Mt Washington one year.

Nobody "runs" Mt. Washington. Check out the average times even from the better runners. Its a run/jog event.

learning the downhill wrote:

I just ran a downhill mile. Course dropped 60 ft. so it wasn't ridiculous. The last 20 seconds was a little uphill which is even tougher after running down for the rest of the race.

Oh, please! A 60 foot drop for a one mile race is huge! And then you comment about the little uphill being even tougher after all that downhill is priceless!

You know what is actually tougher? Running a mile that doesn't have a 60 foot drop! Tool on!

Polish Fernandez wrote:

learning the downhill wrote:

I just ran a downhill mile. Course dropped 60 ft. so it wasn't ridiculous. The last 20 seconds was a little uphill which is even tougher after running down for the rest of the race.

Oh, please! A 60 foot drop for a one mile race is huge! And then you comment about the little uphill being even tougher after all that downhill is priceless!

You know what is actually tougher? Running a mile that doesn't have a 60 foot drop! Tool on!

Woah woah woah! While 60 ft is a substantial aid for a road mile it's nothing for the detractor to get all worked up about. It's just running, and road running at that.

learning the downhill wrote:

On the other hand I love hilly courses

supposed the title was "Do runners who habitually seek out uphill courses share certain personality disorders?"

Don't be prejudiced and bigoted. Be tolerant of both uphill and downhill.

Ironic. Your last paragraph perfectly describes the people that I know who are most upset about downhill PR chasers.

Vince Offer wrote:

In looking at the few runners I have known who fit into this odd category, they have a few things in common. One is being far better than average but nowhere close to "good" (say low 16 mins for a male on a "real" course). Another is being deluded easily and falling for scams like the worst of naturopathic or homeopathic medicine. Still another is acting like a high functioning autistic person. Yeah, I know, most runners are "a little off" but I'm talking waves of weird coming off these folks.

Sesamoiditis wrote:

Ironic. Your last paragraph perfectly describes the people that I know who are most upset about downhill PR chasers.

I'm not "upset" at these people. Why would I be? It's not like they're gaining an unfair advantage over others in these races like Kip Litton and Mike Rossi and other course-cutters do. It's just comical that they list times from these races as personal bests and start stattering and stummering when someone politely asks, "What's your fastest for that distance on a loop course?"

The main reason I asked what I asked in the first place is because the one person I know well who is in this category really is a hot mess of personality problems and borderline mental problems as well. He claims to be a vegan but periodically "takes days off" and goes to Arby's. He claims to be a psychologist but actually works as a "peer counselor" at a mental health drop-in clinic. And more than once I've seen him loudly fart in a small crowd of people at a race with no change in expression. He's not actually otherwise-challenged or whatever the PC term is, but he is an odd damn duck.

ROFL at your last anecdote. ..should become part of a new diagnosis

just sayin ...... wrote:

learning the downhill wrote:

I would love to run Mt Washington one year.

Nobody "runs" Mt. Washington. Check out the average times even from the better runners. Its a run/jog event.

Yes I understand the times. I spent one whole winter running on the treadmill at 12% incline which is similar to Mt Washington. A real hard effort would be in the 10-11 minute range compared to 6:30 or 7 minutes on flat.

While 60 ft drop is worth about 10 seconds, the Wheeling half marathon (old 20k) has a mile race the night before that drops considerably more than that with a course record of 3:39!!

just sayin ...... wrote:

Nobody "runs" Mt. Washington. Check out the average times even from the better runners. Its a run/jog event.

First, what does "average time from the better runners" mean? That sounds a lot like "middle-class incomes of wealthy people." Do you mean the winning times?

8:00 pace at the Mt. Washington Road Race translates to 1:00:48 (7.6 miles). Only in foul-weather years is the winning time slower than that. It may be painful running and stooped-over running at times, but that's still running.