Why do Letsrunners want running to be more popular, but hate hobby joggers?

A Critical Look wrote:

Why do Letsrunners want running to be more popular, but hate hobby joggers

Good question. But the deeper question is: why do LRers post hate so often? -- whether it's directed toward hobby runners, Kenyans on scholarships, Galen Rupp, people of color, Ryan Hall, Mexicans, Alan Webb, or blah, blah, blahbitty blah.

Look I agree, most people have no knowledge of the sport. But I think what really irks people on here is that they don't get any credit for being a good hobby runner, despite all that goes into running a 2:30 marathon for example. Their dummy neighbor thinks they are about the same as their friend at the office that just "ran" a 5:08 (and walked most of the last 6 miles). Hey they both ran marathons right?

Bottom line is you have to run for your own reasons and against your own criteria for success. Nobody is gonna validate you for being kinda fast. Like another poster pointed out, even the world leaders in one year are forgotten soon enough...

Why are douchebags such douchebags, you ask?

youre a moron wrote:

You! This isnt the first stupid post ive seen by you. I have no idea why you even go on this website. Every single one of your posts has shown that you posess about 6 brain cells. I really hope youve considered jumping in front of a bus because Letsrun would appreciate it!

Sincerely Everyone on Letsrun

+10000

For me, I don't ''hate'' hobby-joggers, I just don't want to be compared to them. When I go out and put my body through the land of Satan, day-in day-out, i want to be recognized as a good athlete, not as just another guy who ran a race.

that's where i think many of us get caught; we realize we do this thing at another level that most people don't understand, many on here are the college guys and elite amateurs who do school or work full-time and still put forth a tremendous amount of effort on a daily basis to get better doing repeats, fartleks, long tempos and long runs. when i do all this and get compared to the 250 lb guy who jogs 3-5 miles twice a week and shows up for an occasional race, it does frustrate and annoy me more than it should. i think it's a fault that many of us carry, it can be understandable and forgivable or not, but i think that until most of us pass through our days of training daily and competing regularly,i think it is a chip on the shoulder that will remain

Yeah but.... wrote:

Look I agree, most people have no knowledge of the sport. But I think what really irks people on here is that they don't get any credit for being a good hobby runner, despite all that goes into running a 2:30 marathon for example. Their dummy neighbor thinks they are about the same as their friend at the office that just "ran" a 5:08 (and walked most of the last 6 miles). Hey they both ran marathons right?

Don't you understand? ALL marathoners are hobby joggers!

I don't hate hobby joggers. I like hobby joggers. I certainly have more respect for them than couch potatoes.

As for the sometimes negative comments, I think any anonymous Internet forum that attracts young men will get a lot of douchey comments.

A Critical Look wrote:

I've seen a lot of threads on here bashing slow runners, but at the same time I get the sense that a lot of people on here want the sport to be more popular and respected. How do you square that circle?

LR's want the respect, but not sure they care about 'popular'. Popular brings more 'not like me' people - There are very few upsides to the running boom for the Real Runner. and there's lots of downsides.

youre a moron wrote:

stuck with match.com wrote:

Running, track and field is the 15th most popular sport in America, its even behind badminton. This makes all the letsrunners upset because their sport ranks so low on the depth charts. Eventually they will get over it and realize there is more to life than running and obsessing over workouts.

You! This isnt the first stupid post ive seen by you. I have no idea why you even go on this website. Every single one of your posts has shown that you posess about 6 brain cells. I really hope youve considered jumping in front of a bus because Letsrun would appreciate it!

Sincerely Everyone on Letsrun

+1 Well said.

I actually like hobbyjoggers because when I race competitively in a he or college race, I'm a mid packer or back of the packer. When I then enter a local road race with lots of hobbyjoggers it's amazing that I have a chance at winning the race, or if not winning it finishing among the top finishers.

Wesley d wrote:

I actually like hobbyjoggers because when I race competitively in a he or college race, I'm a mid packer or back of the packer. When I then enter a local road race with lots of hobbyjoggers it's amazing that I have a chance at winning the race, or if not winning it finishing among the top finishers.

This. Ive always found that now that most people either have run, or know someone who has run a "reaaly difficult" 2.30 half or 5 hour marathon, there are more people who, on hearing that I have run an unspectatcular 2.45, drop their jaws in amazement.

Makes me feel pretty good to have people rubbing there eyes in disbelief that I run marathons over an hour quicker than their "really fit" friend can.

Parochial boy wrote:

Wesley d wrote:

I actually like hobbyjoggers because when I race competitively in a he or college race, I'm a mid packer or back of the packer. When I then enter a local road race with lots of hobbyjoggers it's amazing that I have a chance at winning the race, or if not winning it finishing among the top finishers.

This. Ive always found that now that most people either have run, or know someone who has run a "reaaly difficult" 2.30 half or 5 hour marathon, there are more people who, on hearing that I have run an unspectatcular 2.45, drop their jaws in amazement.

Makes me feel pretty good to have people rubbing there eyes in disbelief that I run marathons over an hour quicker than their "really fit" friend can.

I love this as well, as I fit with Wesley and Parochial boy. I get frustrated with the hobby jogger on days the weather is gorgeous and everyone is out jogging about. Why can't they be out there with me on the miserable days?

Let's compare running to drugs/drinking, but inversely.

stuck with match.com wrote:

. . . blah, blah, blah . . .

thats all i have to say.

If only this were true.

Even if you're not elite or emerging elite, you can still see how the hobby-jogger phenomenon (which is sufficiently well-described and defined in many posts above) impacts on those high-level runners. The most under-served market in running today is the emerging elite runners, who are drowned out by the hobby-joggers, neglected by CGI / RnR's approaching to events vice races, and who don't get the recognition they deserve. My issue with the hobby joggers is that they've diluted what it means to be a runner, and what this sport is - a competitive sport, just like hockey, tennis or baseball. Whether or not hobby-joggers do anything to me, who cares, but it impacts people who are faster / better than me and I'm not down with that. I hate seeing talent struggle and go unrecognized while mediocrity wins the day.

Quick aside: Since it often comes up around here (stuck with match.com, I'm looking at you)... when people deride runners for "having their identity too wrapped up in running," I'm curious: on what do you base your identity? Family, job, religion, dog ownership, saturday night bingo? Are those really so much "better?"

I love hobby joggers because they make me feel fast.

DuckSoup wrote:

Even if you're not elite or emerging elite, you can still see how the hobby-jogger phenomenon (which is sufficiently well-described and defined in many posts above) impacts on those high-level runners. The most under-served market in running today is the emerging elite runners, who are drowned out by the hobby-joggers, neglected by CGI / RnR's approaching to events vice races, and who don't get the recognition they deserve. My issue with the hobby joggers is that they've diluted what it means to be a runner, and what this sport is - a competitive sport, just like hockey, tennis or baseball. Whether or not hobby-joggers do anything to me, who cares, but it impacts people who are faster / better than me and I'm not down with that. I hate seeing talent struggle and go unrecognized while mediocrity wins the day.

Do the guys playing beer league softball/football/hockey dilute what it means to be an MLB/NFL/NHL player? Or how about competitive non-pro leagues filled with reasonably athletic weekend warriors who do practice and train? What makes you think that 32 minute 5k soccer moms and 19 minute 5k semi-dedicated hobby runners takes anything away from pro and wannabe-pro runners?

Some people here seem to get bent out of shape that anyone who finishes a marathon gets congratulated regardless of time, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of people out there who know the difference between a 2:20 and a 2:50 and a 4:00 marathon. I mean, if my coworker says to me that he ran a marathon and finished in 3:20, I'm going to say congratulations. Maybe it turns out that he ran 15 minute 5ks in college and he views 3:20 as embarrassingly slow, but maybe he was the 11th fastest guy on his high school cross country team, never broke 5:15 in the mile, and worked really hard to get down to 3:20. If my first response is "Well, that's nice but you do know that thousands of Kenyans can beat you by more than an hour", I'm a prick.

Even if the coworker ran-walked a 5:20, I'd rather he do that than spend his life sitting on the couch watching football. Maybe next time he'll try to break 5.

It's not just the congratulations, as it is the self-congratulations. I've never met people in the beer leagues who confuse their level of participation and accomplishment with the level of the pro's. I think part of it goes back to the way running isn't seen as a sport, but as an activity. If running was more properly approached as a sport, with different levels of ability and a professional elite, and also an appreciation for what it takes to achieve those higher levels, then there would be better perspective and appreciation up and down the ability scale. Running seems to suffer from an egalitarianism run amok that brings the top down instead of bringing the bottom up.

How can anyone disagree with that