I ran 13.1 miles in training. Did I run a half marathon?

So here's the part that confuses me. Like many of you I've only raced one half marathon. I've also run that distance or greater at least 100 times in training. Those training runs have probably averaged 6:40 pace over the years (1:27:20 for 13.1), which is much, much faster than the weekend warriors who enter a different half marathon every other weekend and slog out a 1:50. Have they really done more half marathons than me?

sizzletime wrote:

So here's the part that confuses me. Like many of you I've only raced one half marathon. I've also run that distance or greater at least 100 times in training. Those training runs have probably averaged 6:40 pace over the years (1:27:20 for 13.1), which is much, much faster than the weekend warriors who enter a different half marathon every other weekend and slog out a 1:50. Have they really done more half marathons than me?

Depends on whether or not you blogged about your half thons.

sizzletime wrote:

Have they really done more half marathons than me?

Yes, regardless of how much faster or more accomplished you might be as a runner.

A friend of mine ran 30 miles in training for a race across the grand canyon. Can't remember the exact distance of the race but safe to say it was more than 26 miles. Anyways, he still says he's never done a marathon.

You could just say, "I've run 13.1 miles in training" I've told people that I had never raced more than a 5k, but I l've run 12 miles in training.

Why do we call them a half marathon anyways?

We should just call the 5k the Half 10K

We should call the 100 meters the Half 200 meters

And so on and so on.

Sweet humblebrag dude

plog wrote:

It's the year 2061. You sneak into the pharmacy area of your old folks home and pop a few dozen viagra. You wheel the first blue haired lady you can find in to your room and do the deed. Turns out it was 91 year old Cindy Crawford. Did you just nail a supermodel?

No. Cindy Crawford will be 95 then. So somebody either lied about their identity or their age.

John Snow wrote:

No. A half marathon is a race. Putting an article in front of a distance makes it an event rather than just that distance. There's a difference between running a 5k and running 5 kilometers. If my friend were to ask me if I wanted to run a half marathon I would assume he meant run a race with him, not go for a 13.1 mile run.

This is the most logical answer

Some posters appear to think that there is a difference between running and racing 13.1 miles, and only people who have done the latter can claim to have run a half-marathon. The problem with this logic is that they appear to think that simply running in an organized half-marathon is the equivalent to racing one. It is not.

The vast majority of people who think that they "raced" a half-marathon simply went for a run with thousands of other people, were provided drinks along the way, and ran at the best pace they possibly could for the distance. There was no strategy. No tactics. No decision about when to make a break. No worrying about mid-race surges or whether they should go with the break-away or stay behind. Even age group competitors often have no idea where the other people in their age group are. They are in essence doing individual time trials, which a person can do in an organized race or on his or her own.

So if the determining factor of saying "I ran a half-marathon" is having raced a half-marathon, then you cannot say it, but then neither can 99% of the other people who claim to have run one.

Running "A half marathon" is running in an organized event, on a certified course, with official timers and other runners on the course at the same time, and you get an official place.

I'm sorry, but if you are a former (or current) D1 runner who broke 30 for 10k, and who ran 13+ miles runs almost weekly (or more), and you are standing around the water cooler with a bunch of 2 hours guys, and they ask you "Hey, you ran in college. Have you ever run a half marathon?". You have to say "No. I never did." Maybe you can can. "I used to run over 13 miles in training all the time. Even some fast ones, but I never ran an official race.".

You don't say. Yea, I ran on in 1:07 (because you know you could have). And you don't say. Yea, I ran a 14 miler in 1:20 once, but that was just a training run. I could have done faster in a race". If you did run a actual course, and timed yourself, then you can say. "Yea, I once did a training run on the ABC course in 72:05, but I never ran in the race."

Few people have raced 13.1 wrote:

The vast majority of people who think that they "raced" a half-marathon simply went for a run with thousands of other people, were provided drinks along the way, and ran at the best pace they possibly could for the distance.

What they are arguing in the thread is "ran at the best pace they possibly could for the distance" is what qualifies it. In which case I would argue that a time trial counts as well.

But to the average pleb, the distance is what is impressive, not the time/race, etc. So if I got run a 13.1 long run sunday morning, to the majority of pleb racers, thats the same as a half marathon.

plog wrote:

It's the year 2061. You sneak into the pharmacy area of your old folks home and pop a few dozen viagra. You wheel the first blue haired lady you can find in to your room and do the deed. Turns out it was 91 year old Cindy Crawford. Did you just nail a supermodel?

No, not THE Cindy Crawford supermodel anyway because THE Cindy Crawford supermodel was born in 1966 so in 2061 she wouldn't be 91..she'd be 94, 95 so unless there's another another supermodel named Cyndi Crawford, who is a few years younger, no you did not just nail a supermodel.

But cheer up, it still works.

Somewhat ironic definition given that the first marathon, of which the half-marathon is a derivative, was run by one man, with no other runners, no timing and no "organizers". Someone may want to inform Pheidippides he can no longer tell his mates in Hades that he ran the first marathon -- he never paid an entry fee.

So did he run a half thon?

You ran a half marathon, not a Half Marathon.

I have run 1 half marathon and 2 full marathons.

I am going to start telling people that I have run 5 half marathons.

You just proved Arthur Lydiard was right on the long run. But one should build up to it.

Did you make an attempt to run this half-marathon as fast as you have evidence to believe that you could complete it? If so, then yes, you can say you ran a half-marathon, even if it was in training. If not, then you just completed a half-marathon.