When an athlete wins a national title and none of the real competition shows up, do they feel like they actually earned it?

Maybe the competitors didn't show up because they were scared. If you win a national championship you deserve it.

So the real competition wins by staying in bed? That's even better than a participation trophy or finishers medal.

I think they know they would have gotten smoked and maybe aren't truly the "best", but they still feel like they earned it...and rightly so. Half the battle is making it to the line and you can't win if you don't show up. So just because the top guys weren't all there, shouldn't take anything away from the guys who actually were.

I look at it same as a local race you cant control who shows up. Even if you won a local 5k with a finishing time of 30 minutes you still beat everyone at the race and are the champ until you lose the title.

Cant whine complain or make excuses if others don't show up.

Yep.

If a high school football team makes the playoffs despite a 2-8 record, do they feel like the actually earned it?

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

If a high school football team makes the playoffs despite a 2-8 record, do they feel like the actually earned it?

Still better than competition can't help that.

When it happens wrote:

Let's use Marathon champs as an example, Jared Ward, Rupp, Meb, ect ect ect didn't show up. Does top 3 still feel like the "best" in the country or do they know they would of got smoked had the big boys showed up?

When a poster posts a (unoriginal, repost) rhetorical insult to athletes on the letsrun forum, do they feel like they have honorably put those athletes in their places? Look, reposter, grow some and publicize your message on twitter, instagram, Facebook, etc. then come back to the forum for bragging rights. Or else, stop with these unoriginal rehashed reposts and come up with witty original material

When it happens wrote:

Let's use Marathon champs as an example, Jared Ward, Rupp, Meb, ect ect ect didn't show up. Does top 3 still feel like the "best" in the country or do they know they would of got smoked had the big boys showed up?

All the champions of the last 20 years didn’t deserve it. If I had run instead of partied they’d all be toast.

None of them deserves it wrote:

[quote]When it happens wrote:

All the champions of the last 20 years didn’t deserve it. If I had run instead of partied they’d all be toast.

The truly good ones do both

Hoppy Jogger wrote:

The truly good ones do both

That's what champions do!

Hoppy Jogger wrote:

None of them deserves it wrote:

[quote]When it happens wrote:

All the champions of the last 20 years didn’t deserve it. If I had run instead of partied they’d all be toast.

The truly good ones do both

They are only good partiers. I’m a great partier and good runner.

Saywhat2 wrote:

I look at it same as a local race you cant control who shows up. Even if you won a local 5k with a finishing time of 30 minutes you still beat everyone at the race and are the champ until you lose the title.

Cant whine complain or make excuses if others don't show up.

I don't particularly feel good about winning races in those circumstances. I avoid the easier local races for that reason.

I guess this is a related but separate issue, but whenever I sign up for a race I always look up the winning times from the year before, just to see if I'll have any competition or if I'll be running by myself.

agdsfdsaf wrote:

Saywhat2 wrote:

I look at it same as a local race you cant control who shows up. Even if you won a local 5k with a finishing time of 30 minutes you still beat everyone at the race and are the champ until you lose the title.

Cant whine complain or make excuses if others don't show up.

I don't particularly feel good about winning races in those circumstances. I avoid the easier local races for that reason.

I guess this is a related but separate issue, but whenever I sign up for a race I always look up the winning times from the year before, just to see if I'll have any competition or if I'll be running by myself.

Its so hit or miss in our area we can have 50 show up a winning time is 16 minutes or we can have 1500 people and winning time is 19 minutes.

I blame the inconsistencies on the running craze being over.

If the start time is good ill head out but too early screw it I'm sleeping, a bit of a bummer though to see someone with 24 minutes grab 1st overall and get some cool perks. But hey I can't moan if I'm not out there.

The only real National Championships at the pro level are USA Outdoors and Olympic Trials. Everything else is a joke.

What exactly is the process of selecting which race will be named "The National Championship" for a given distance on the roads? It seems relatively random and arbitrary. Seems like missed opportunity for the sport to actually declare a big race as THE one way in advance. Big guns have no reason to put it on their calendar if award payouts are low.

Teller of hard facts. wrote:

The only real National Championships at the pro level are USA Outdoors and Olympic Trials. Everything else is a joke.

Exactly. And when it comes to the marathon, only the Olympics, NYC, Boston, and Chicago matter (to Americans). This isn't to denigrate but just illustrates that there are very few fans of distance running and virtually no coverage compared to major sports. Common folk don't know and don't care about the US25k road champ for instance.

When it happens wrote:

Let's use Marathon champs as an example, Jared Ward, Rupp, Meb, ect ect ect didn't show up. Does top 3 still feel like the "best" in the country or do they know they would of got smoked had the big boys showed up?

This was me in highschool. I placed 2nd in the county and region races 1600m-xc to 4 different guys. then my senior year of track the one guy who would beat me that year had a hear murmur or something(never explained but he still runs now) and I won the county titles for the first time. I personally felt good winning but in my head I always knew I would not have won if he was there. My coach on the contrary said I was the fastest runner in the field and I earned it and when I thought about that I agreed.

I think there will always be someone faster than you but if they don't come out and compete then thats their loss and you are the winner.

Meb never was fast, he was a "tactical" racer which meant he had to wait until everyone else blew up or ran a crappy race, then he could steal the win.

It's why nobody hardly remembers who won the NBA championships in the years that Jordan played baseball, because they would have been smoked by the Bulls otherwise.

So sure they'll feel like the "best" for that race but deep down in their hearts they know they aren't.