What is up with the flags at the Raleigh NC meet?

i was going to wrote:

I was going to come on here to laugh at how over the top the OP was being.

But I actually agree with this. Elly's picture makes it look like she won Olympic gold. And don't you want to wear the flag for exactly that moment, when you win a global medal?

This is incredibly stupid, and from Alexi prancing around with participation medals for marathons she finishes, and more and more runners focusing on how they look rather than how fast they are running, it feels less and less like they want to be competitive and more and more like they just feel entitled to moments they didn't earn.

First-timer explanation wrote:

A big part of the race's culture and history is American men breaking 4:00 for the first time and American women breaking 4:30 for the first time. The race thus gives American flags to runners who add themselves to the American sub-4:00 and sub-4:30 all time lists, not just the top 3.

Go Sweden1 wrote:

It looks as if previous top 3 at this race have posed with flags….I don’t get it.

Maybe a little post “worlds medal ceremony” envy? Not sure.

The sir Walter version seems stupid in a small, entirely American field.

runbuggy wrote:

Look at me! wrote:

Exactly. Some local meet with winners throwing flags over themselves. Same last year with the other female winner JN with her running around with a flag. : )

Careful. Looks like every post that has Norris's name in it saying she won last year and also had a flag (Ooooo - scathing attack LoL) gets deleted. LOL. Rojo/Wejo busy catering to the Norris camp constant reporting??