Why do people LIE to serious runners?

Except with "resume enhancement," there is an understandable motivation or possible gain involved. These are two high school coaches. After hearing the basketball coach was third in the state meet, was the OP going to run home and tell his mother or wife, "You won't believe this, but the guy who I work with runs a 1:26 800m!!"? It just doesn't make sense, and I can identify with the OP's frustration.

It seems similar to me, in a way (beyond the lying aspect of the OP'S situation), to people who are more accurately characterized as hobby joggers billing themselves as runners. In this situation, it's easier to seem like a jerk for viewing a self-described runner with disdain because often, the person is nice and doesn't mean anything wrong by it. However, as someone wisely commented, running is more than a casual exercise for many of us. We are not only followers of the sport but put in difficult, strenuous miles day after day; tough interval workouts, early morning and late evening doubles require focus and dedication. That's not to say a less serious runner should be faulted for getting out and running a mile or two a day - great for him! But for a hobby jogger to call himself a runner and lump himself with those who are actually invested in the sport devalues the work of a real runner.

This is the same issue the OP faces. The guy probably didn't mean anything too bad by it and was just trying to impress a track coach (albeit without good reason), but most people don't get third at state meets without putting in a serious amount of time and work. Moreover, NO ONE runs 1:46 without putting in a serious amount of time and work (and no one runs 1:26 for an 800 period!) The guy comes across as not only a liar, but someone who is profoundly mistaken about what it means to be a runner. That's all.

Sorry for the long winded post, but hopefully this explains it for those who think the OP is being a jerk or can't understand his frustration.

You should have just told him your PR was 1:25 for the 800m.

Sad Sack wrote:

Honestly this guy had no excuse to lie like that but you come off as kind of a jerk in this situation. Why laugh in his face?

You're a liberal who believes everyone's right, aren't you.

I ran a 1:23. So what, am I a liar too?

Oh yeah, I took 1st that year at the State Meet.

I once had a job where a co-worker was being picked up at the end of the shift by an attractive girl who would drive him home every day. He told everybody it was his girlfriend. Later we found out that it was actally his sister.

Good topic, but way too much investment in the obvious false scene portrayed by the OP. Seriously, there was a gentleman who made a fortune off of selling people domesticated rocks. You fools.

This troll delivers a serious of hooks within the post to pull readers in, but they're bad. The first lie=blatantly outrageous...the second lie=attempted cover-up...the third lie=clearly a full fabrication from the poster and most likely about the poster.

The kicker comes as the OP uses this premise to deliver his own self-satisfying lie in the sun...that he is the rightful owner of the 3rd spot at the 1995 state meet. Yet, fools ye are and abound ye do.

Next question: Why do people call TROLL to make themselves feel wise?

No one cares, troll.

random a hole wrote:

Giddy wrote:

There are really 2 explanations.

1. P A perfect example is that dope from the weight lifting message board who said he ran the mile in 3:10 or something, and totally believed it... someone has the link I'm sure... i wasted a good hour reading that thread dying laughing.

Another recommendation for finding this thread, there is a link somewhere among LR threads. A very amusing read.

Found It!

Lenny Leonard wrote:

The real question is why you care.

I dunno, Mr. Roach. Why do you think he cares?

Are they mutually exclusive categories?

rcyouknow wrote:

I don't open conversations with strangers who I discover are girls basketball coaches saying, "when I was in high school I dunked on Lisa Leslie."

I actually did dunk on Lisa Leslie once. But I wasn't in high school. It was 2 months after I graduated.

And if you called me a liar to my face I'd slap you right in the family jewels.

.......................... wrote:

rcyouknow wrote:

I don't open conversations with strangers who I discover are girls basketball coaches saying, "when I was in high school I dunked on Lisa Leslie."

I actually did dunk on Lisa Leslie once. But I wasn't in high school. It was 2 months after I graduated.

And if you called me a liar to my face I'd slap you right in the family jewels.

Open hand strike to genitalia = gaytastic

It happens all the time and it drives me nuts too. The worst one was in high school when we got a new track coach. Naturally, we wanted to know what kind of a runner he was. He told us, the distance team, that he had run an 18 minute 5k and a 31 minute 10k in high school. We thought it was a joke or an honest mistake and tried to correct him but he insisted that he'd run those kinds of times. He also insisted that it made sense for same person to have run those times in the same season. Turns out the guy was a complete bozo that didn't know anything about running and had to lie to try to impress his new team. Needless to say, the track program fell apart.

Stone wrote:It happens all the time and it drives me nuts too. The worst one was in high school when we got a new track coach. Naturally, we wanted to know what kind of a runner he was. He told us, the distance team, that he had run an 18 minute 5k and a 31 minute 10k in high school. We thought it was a joke or an honest mistake and tried to correct him but he insisted that he'd run those kinds of times. He also insisted that it made sense for same person to have run those times in the same season. Turns out the guy was a complete bozo that didn't know anything about running and had to lie to try to impress his new team. Needless to say, the track program fell apart.

Why someone would do that I just can't understand, but on the the general "lie to serious runners" question I put things in two categories. One really pisses me off, the other I just blow off.

First is the "I placed in the state meet" guy (or gal) that you know off the bat they're just talking s**t and likely weren't even on the team. Those are the ones that piss me off and I wouldn't consider anyone a jerk that called them on it.

You do need to have some inside info to call them on it because someone that's 40 or 50 may well have and just doesn't look it anymore. A guy I swim with qualified for the Olympics the year we boycotted, you look at him and you'd never guess he was fast, but he can still set state age group records in the pool. I could easily see a swimmer that didn't know him call bulls**t, but it would be easy if he claimed he did a 30 second 100 fly or something.

The other folks are those that just don't remember right and aren't trying to bulls**t you. They have their distances or times confused and are just making conversation. In the midwest we used to run some silly distances indoors or at invitationals so I could see someone mixing things up particularly if they weren't involved in track & field after high school.

This is not just a problem with track times. Sports statistics have been embellished by middle aged men for a long time. It's simply far easier to call someone out about a track time because we have knowledge of high school/college/world records.

If someone told you they batted 600 in high school baseball, they're probably lying, but you don't know for a fact its IMPOSSIBLE, as you do with a 1:26 00.

Again, I'm telling you I ran 1:23. Look it up.

I think lying about high school track times falls under the same general category as lying about your high school GPA or ACT/SAT scores. For some reason, guys love to do it. I don't think it's nearly as common among females. There are probably also other high school experiences that are similarly falsified, but these two happen with incredible frequency--and it's amazing how often impossible times/scores are reported.

I've been on the opposite side of this I told a guy I could run 3:00 for a km fairly easily when i was 17, and he argued up and down that the world record was closer to 4:00 minutss, so really he was the ignorant one for not knowing the difference between a mile and a kilometer. . . but he came away thinking i was i lying and i thought he was just stupid.

this

M.C. Confusing wrote:

"The older I get, the better I was." - Dizzy Dean