RE: My friend ___ the bed at Boston. What do I say?

supportive friend wrote:

You can't overdress and overheat in winter? Moran.

People are afraid to get warm when running. Everything is wicking and cooling these days.

Why is moron misspelled so often nowadays? I rarely saw this up until like a few months ago. And now I see it everywhere. "Moran" even looks completely wrong.

As for this specific post, the fact that you would advocate overdressing and training for summer temperatures for an April marathon... it's moranic.

I know a guy named Chris Sloane who is the same way. He keeps the world updated on his amazing training and huge aspirations, then he keeps dropping out of marathons.

It is a hard pill to swallow, putting all of our eggs into one basket, only to watch them all crack. I think your friend could just use your support. Maybe instead of making definitive statements about his performance, ask him questions about what it was like to be a part of the race. Try to make him feel better without being patronizing. I've seen Chris lash out at people who have been unkind to him after races, even if they were just trying to help him create more sensible goals.

Tell him he can always turn to crossfit for his training needs.

Tell him to stop being a BOY and become a real MAN by learning how to RIP FAT VAPES

0000atmeal wrote:

supportive friend wrote:

You can't overdress and overheat in winter? Moran.

People are afraid to get warm when running. Everything is wicking and cooling these days.

Why is moron misspelled so often nowadays? I rarely saw this up until like a few months ago. And now I see it everywhere. "Moran" even looks completely wrong.

As for this specific post, the fact that you would advocate overdressing and training for summer temperatures for an April marathon... it's moranic.

Moranic means it would be a dumb idea. Overdressing and training for summer temperatures is a fantastic idea since it was way hotter than most people prepared for.

Why do you think Ethiopians won?

Netflix and chill?

You say:

"Dude, you really shit the bed. Maybe the marathon isn't your best distance. By the way, your girlfriend is hot. Is it ok if I bang her?"

Having done this in past marathons myself, I would avoid talking about the race at all. Just ask how he enjoyed his trip to Boston, and leave it at that. The key is getting him back up on the running horse, which can take some time and encouragement. The mental effects of a blowup can be hard to overcome, especially when you publicize your goals to friends and family and they keep asking you about it afterwards.

All that hype over a single race? Hints of personal tragedy just because he ran like crap? Tell him to get over it and move on. If he can't manage, he's a loser.

PRC wrote:

He posted a 100 day countdown chronicling his physical training, mental training, hopes, fears and goals and then came up 10 minutes short of his backup goal. I know it was a little toasty, and it's totally understandable but after all of that build up I just don't know what to say.

I wish he would have just run the race and we could have talked about it.

Backup goal? Setting himself up for failure right there.

supportive friend wrote:

0000atmeal wrote:

Why is moron misspelled so often nowadays? I rarely saw this up until like a few months ago. And now I see it everywhere. "Moran" even looks completely wrong.

As for this specific post, the fact that you would advocate overdressing and training for summer temperatures for an April marathon... it's moranic.

Moranic means it would be a dumb idea. Overdressing and training for summer temperatures is a fantastic idea since it was way hotter than most people prepared for.

Why do you think Ethiopians won?

Exactly. If you are going to prepare for weather in an April marathon and train through the winter, are you going to have a deficit of cold or hot weather acclimation? Morans.

I have no aspiration to run Boston, but if I did, I would not go into it with high expectations to try to hit a certain time. If I run well, great, but I would not be too disappointed if I was 10,20,30 or minutes off my best.

All the stress of getting around city and the crowds the day before and the morning of is a marathon in itself.

"Hey buddy, sorry about Boston. That said, it was pretty obvious from your blog that this wasn't going to end well. Who tapers like that? Anyway, maybe next time you should have a 200 day countdown."

I know who OP is talking about. The owner of a local running store. He ran a 2:45.

I think people who are overly public about this type of stuff tend to put too much pressure on themselves and burn out. An occasional update is fine, but 100 day countdown seems a bit over the top. After that much build up to friends and family he probably felt overwhelming pressure and pshyched himself out.

I've got a friend who would go into very detailed descriptions of his runs on strava and always provided detailed descriptions and any explanation of a slow run (i.e. was sick, was snowing, was uphill) as if he felt he had to explain to others viewing the run why it was slow. He recently quit strava and explained that he felt pressure every run to maintain a fast pace since everyone would see it. This very public sharing of running led to burnout and injuries.

The only public info that matters is the times you put up in races.

milethon wrote:

I have no aspiration to run Boston, but if I did, I would not go into it with high expectations to try to hit a certain time. If I run well, great, but I would not be too disappointed if I was 10,20,30 or minutes off my best.

All the stress of getting around city and the crowds the day before and the morning of is a marathon in itself.

The best way to run Boston is to race really hard in your qualifying race, but just do Boston as a long run, no real time goal.

VerminMeat wrote:

The best way to run Boston is to race really hard in your qualifying race, but just do Boston as a long run, no real time goal.

I have my PR at Boston but I would agree with this. Use Boston as a fun race and just enjoy the atmosphere. I wanted to have my PR at Boston at the time and for some reason kept going back and running it over and over. I should have focused on faster races, but I didn't.

Also, I do NOT understand the posting on Facebook thing. I have never been on Strava, but at least it is kind of like a social media running log (right?). No one on Facebook gives two shits about your marathon training. There is nothing worse than that guy who posts about his run and then takes a picture of his "refueling" foods. Back when I was in college, your running log was more like a diary.

A guy in my city does a similar thing on Facebook and he shit the bed, too. He has posted at least 15 times since the race to tell everyone about his medical tent experience and how it was 180 degrees out there and no one knows what it was like. Just shut up. I honestly think people totally lose it on social media.

I woulda told him when he started all that self-centered Instragram, Facebook posting to save it for the run. Shut up and run on race day. Typical millennial gets bit on the ass by all his shameless boasting.