Is it lame to run balls-to-the-wall in a pretty slow mass participation race where no one else cares?

I did it once, got lost and ran 15 miles, ended up like 6th. It was super cool.

When I was an undergrad at a D2 school, there was a local runner who was an Olympic Trials qualifier. One time he showed up to a race in our town with fewer than 50 people and ran a 10K solo in 31-something, about three minutes ahead of the next person (me). Since it was a small town it was a fairly prominent event and plenty of townspeople were watching. No one batted an eye or thought he was out of place.

Similar situation where I could participate in a half and finish 20 minutes ahead of anyone OR travel to a more competitive half marathon to see where I'm at where there will be people around my time and also much faster.

I regretted doing this once for a 10K. I downloaded the course to my watch, and practiced on it everyday the week before the race. The day of the race, the organizers changed the course last minute; but I got to a key turning point before the people in charge of giving directions. So I went the "wrong way" per the new course. When I found this out, I ripped my bib in half and DQ'd myself.

You said it yourself- no one cares. Do whatever you want.

It’s lame to not do it, if that’s what you want to do.

Thanks all, I think I was being a little ridiculous. To be clear, alternative is not to jog it (waste of time/ money), but to just not enter and run a big workout instead.

It really depends on how well the race is organised. You might get a nice course which is otherwise inaccessible due to traffic and aid stations (in case you need them) and a trophy when you win, so you’ll run your time trial in the nicest way possible, and organising that w/o a race would cost more money and effort. Or, you might be squeezing in between walkers and joggers on a narrow broken road when you lap them.

this is the flip side of the whiners complaining about slow runners at NYC being allowed to participate. unless it's presented as like the walk for cancer or something, or some other sort of collegial mass event, if it's a race and they have a clock at the finish and posted results, run it like a race. what does how slow other people run a race mean to your race? does the guy front of NYC marathon finishers slow down because someone else does it in 6 hours? too busy running their own race for their own reasons.

if you're too swept up in this to do it right, sign up for a name brand race and put up or shut up.

i briefly started on JV and i didn't run slower to make them feel better, i won my race by a bunch, laid down varsity times so i'd get switched.

what makes you think you are not already an ass?

Run it hard. Its always inspiring for me to see someone blast a fast time on the same course, same day as I'm racing. Even if I can't come close to it, it pushes me to train harder. Having fast guys show up is how races get bigger too. Put down a good time and maybe next year others will turn up to challenge you.

always run every race all out no matter what (with varying tactics of course) except for multi-event dual meets that are deliberately being treated as workouts

A local half last year had a guy winning in 1:17, 7 minutes ahead of second place. Another one was also won in 1:17, 5 minutes ahead of second place and 10 minutes ahead of third.

Just run the race.

Is there a bike or a motorcycle cop that goes out along the course to lead the way?

If the other runners aren't enough of a challenge try and race them.

Is this like re-shaping masculinity into the form of Walz and Emhoff?

See username

There are people running 2:30 half marathons at max effort, and that's cool. Even Jakob can be considered a hobby jogger Gallowalker in the half, so just do your thing, and everyone else will do theirs, and very few will care. Have fun! However, don't whip it out and yell Gobble Gobble MF unless it's actually Thanksgiving.

You maybe the class of the town but you never know who else may decide to race. A few years ago I ran a Turkey Trot in Montauck, they have a 3 and 6 mile option and usually 100 to 150 people run the six mile and the winner is around 34 to 35 minutes. I figured I had it in the bag if I went out at 5:20 pace. Turns out a DI xc and 5k runner was visiting his parents at their beach house for Thanksgiving and clocked a 29:29. To add insult to injury two of his teammates had joined him and ran 30:30, leaving me in the dust.

Almost any previous year I would have been first but past performance is no gaurantee of future results.

Easy solution let the masses start 15 mins ahead of you then try to catch them

Save the entry fee and just run a hard 13 miler. Sounds like you’ll be running solo anyways so…

You are clearly very cool. I am jealous of someone so superior to the minions that he must contemplate this challenging question. Should I race in a race?? Oh, if only I had the talent to be stuck in such a tricky situation.