odd new form of lying that is more and more prevalent..

Nope wrote:

I will point out that a marathon is 26 miles plus 385 yards, not 26.2. So I guess you are like "most people".

So, Track & Field News, Runners World, Running Times, IAAF, Olympic website, and all other sources that have used "26.2" are wrong? Wow! If that is how you chose to pick your battles you must be really popular around the office and other social circles.

The last 2 marathons I did both had "26.2" stickers in their goody bags - and one of those was a race called the Boston Marathon.

Oh, well. Cheers.

Those stickers are too small to put the correct distance on. Those are for the hobby joggers, not the real runners.

unicyclemichael wrote:

welcome to japan

Yep! I marathon daily.

oh my. red herring 101. the foundation and premise of my thread is rock solid.

Never said it wasn't. I only pointed out that you are one of them.

5k Marathon! wrote:

oh my. red herring 101. the foundation and premise of my thread is rock solid.

I did a dance marathon. Does this mean that I can put a "26.2" sticker on my car?

Nope wrote:

I will point out that a marathon is 26 miles plus 385 yards, not 26.2. So I guess you are like "most people".

26.2 miles might be an imprecise measurement, but it isn't incorrect. 385 yards is .21875 miles. There's nothing mathematically wrong with rounding to the nearest tenth and calling it 26.2 miles. Similarly, people call the 5K 3.1 miles even though the more precise measure is 3.106856 miles.

There's nothing wrong with rounding. If someone asks you how long your run was today, do you tell them that you did 11.3756432 miles? While that may be the actual distance you ran, you probably won't report your mileage as such. 11.4 miles is an adequate measure for almost any purpose.

I don't think of it as "lying" from the common definitions of the word "lie" that include intent and knowing deception.

But I don't want to argue about that definition...

...Because that would make many runner's mothers liars, when they ask, "How was your marathon?" when they know you ran a race...and they have no concept of the distance or time.

I agree the usage is bastar-dized.

(Hypen for filter)

Running in the Rain wrote:

Definition from dictionary.com

1.

a foot race over a course measuring 26 mi. 385 yards (42 km 195 meters).

2.

any long-distance race.

3.

any contest, event, or the like, of great, or greater than normal, length or duration or requiring exceptional endurance: a dance marathon; a sales marathon.

Obviously these people are using the second definition of the word.

It made me pause for a bit, but then it only helped show that

dictionary.com is lame and useless.

Consider the ultramarathon.

* If a 10k is considered a "marathon" by definition number 2, then could a half marathon be considered an "ultramarathon" by comparison, with neither distance actually being a real marathon?

* If a 10k or half marathon requires "exceptional endurance" (which it might), then does an ultramarathon require "exceptional exceptional" endurance?

So what is the point of the word "ultramarathon," then?

Let's ask dictionary.com

Ultramarathon (noun)

any footrace of 50 or more miles.

Epic fail!

rounding wrote:

26.2 miles might be an imprecise measurement, but it isn't incorrect. 385 yards is .21875 miles. There's nothing mathematically wrong with rounding to the nearest tenth and calling it 26.2 miles. Similarly, people call the 5K 3.1 miles even though the more precise measure is 3.106856 miles.

There's nothing wrong with rounding. If someone asks you how long your run was today, do you tell them that you did 11.3756432 miles? While that may be the actual distance you ran, you probably won't report your mileage as such. 11.4 miles is an adequate measure for almost any purpose.

But that's exactly what the OP is arguing against...rounding. Otherwise a half marathon (0.5) could be legitimately rounded to a marathon. So when the OP uses 26.2, he is putting himself in the same class as someone who refers to a half as a marathon.

Rounder of Adventure wrote:

But that's exactly what the OP is arguing against...rounding.

Thank you for showing for sure that you're a troll so we don't have to discuss this stupid point anymore.

Nothing new here... Alberto Salazar claims he ran a marathon in NYC in 1981.

WhatAbout50k wrote:

So what is the point of the word "ultramarathon," then?

Let's ask dictionary.com

Ultramarathon (noun)

any footrace of 50 or more miles.

Epic fail!

Huh?

5k Marathon! wrote:

When someone says they have run a marathon, the implied meaning is that they ran 26.2. These people are lying to themselves as well as everyone else. They're trying to get a little extra credit from the people who know nothing about running - which is most people!

The thing is these people are probably not lying, I think they know so little about the sport that they have no clue 26.2 mile would be implied. They're not lying, they're just stupid.

Huh wrote:

WhatAbout50k wrote:

So what is the point of the word "ultramarathon," then?

Let's ask dictionary.com

Ultramarathon (noun)

any footrace of 50 or more miles.

Epic fail!

...

Huh?

A 50k or 38.5-miler or 45-miler is not considered an 'ultramarathon' by dictionary.com standards. That, in combination with other logical fallacies in the dictionary.com definitions of 'marathon', makes me think that dictionary.com is a liar...

Or that you are.

That's what I used to think as well. These are people that know what the distance of a marathon is.. professional, college educated. One of them ran the relay and talked all week about running the marathon. I think it is safe to assume that this person knows that the relay is four separate legs of the marathon. Yesterday's post was something about how excited and exhausted she was after "running the marathon". Soft Lie.

Hobby-joggers? Uh-uh...

I got one of those stickers in my Boston bag. I thought it was to put on my bib. I stuck it on the bib and next morning everybody was showing me to the first corral.

That's where all us good runners were stacked.

5k Marathon! wrote:

That's what I used to think as well. These are people that know what the distance of a marathon is.. professional, college educated. One of them ran the relay and talked all week about running the marathon. I think it is safe to assume that this person knows that the relay is four separate legs of the marathon. Yesterday's post was something about how excited and exhausted she was after "running the marathon". Soft Lie.

If it was a marathon relay that was conducted within the other marathon race, then she can certainly claim that she ran in the marathon. No lie there.

Why does this bother you so much? Do you feel diminished by their arguably incomplete assessments?