I know for some of you as soon as numbers appear your eyes gloss over because you have a double digit IQ, so I'll try and keep this simple.
Since roughly 1950, this average global temperature has increased 2.3 degrees. Since 1980, it's increased just over 1.5 degrees. This is according to NOAA data, yes the US government, which I believe to be as accurate as we can gather.
This means two things:
1. The climate is warming, the temperature is increasing.
2. If you think 1.5 degrees, or even 2.3 degrees going back 75 YEARS is the reason you're not running a PB or the elites are no longer able to run a WR, I have no idea how you even dress yourself in the morning with the mental capacity of a special needs child.
Exactly. Global warming has effects but as long as you aren't trying to run a marathon in a place where the temperature swung significantly hotter you will be fine.
The NYC Marathon had this problem for awhile. For several years, it bounced between late October and early November. When it was in October, it was too warm, but when it was in November, it was considerably colder. It was amazing the difference a week or 2 made. But they eventually decided that too cold was better than too warm, and so the November date has stuck. Similarly, about 10 years ago Boston *finally* moved their start time up a few hours to avoid the noontime sun.
With that said, for most races that aren't NYC or Boston it's hard to just change dates or times. If you're a major city you may have to coordinate a date that avoids a major convention (this happened to the Philly Marathon about 10 years ago). Also, permits, road closures, agreements with police, emergency services and town/city services are all considerations, as are volunteers. Some races start setting up way before dawn and it can be hard to find a critical mass of people that want to get up that early. And finally there are noise ordinances - a race might be forbidden from even turning on its sound system before something like 7am. There is more things in heaven and earth and race organization than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Rojo.
I'm no expert in climate change, but have a good dose of common sense. If it gets a little hotter, couldn't the races just move back the race a week in the fall or move it up a week in the spring?
You have your backs and forwards mixed up, as usual, but have you heard of a running calendar. Do you think you can just squash the same amount of marathons into less weeks?
And BTW, you don't need to be an expert to know the climate IS changing. You can even be rojo
Thank you for the link. Here's a relevant quote from Gates' post (written in BOLD LETTERS so you can't miss it):
"To be clear: Climate change is a very important problem. It needs to be solved, along with other problems like malaria and malnutrition. Every tenth of a degree of heating that we prevent is hugely beneficial because a stable climate makes it easier to improve people’s lives."
I find that my time on the internet is much more zen if I make the simple assumption that posters like Jogger Hobby are either trolls or disinformation bots/russian trolls/etc. I also recommend assuming that drivers who make really dumb moves are rushing to the hospital. It really helps put the mind at ease.
I'm no expert in climate change, but have a good dose of common sense. If it gets a little hotter, couldn't the races just move back the race a week in the fall or move it up a week in the spring?
The willful ignorance here is baffling. The article is not saying that climate change will doom marathon running. It says that the increase in temperature will make it slightly harder to run fast times. It's reporting on a scientific paper that estimates the magnitude of that effect.
Rojo, your response is the equivalent of responding to data that says alcohol consumption correlates with cancer risk with, "What's the commotion about, they can just drink less!"
Yeah, obviously they can play the dates and latitudes. No one is disputing that.