3M half marathon suprising results

Yearly Ritual wrote:

What I don't get is how it factors into to your day to day life. Why do you get bent out of shape on this yearly? I can understand if YOU don't like it, but why do you go thru the motion of this discussion every year?

Perhaps, as you say, it's a ritual. Why do you go through the motion of this discussion every year?

You must have been beaten by one of those "chumps" ... chump.

It looks like the course may have been short by about 0.12 miles for many runners according to this thread at

http://www.runtexu.com/forum/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8344&PN=1&TPN=2

Seems as if lots of runners may not have run the certified course.

That's disappointing, but it does explain the 7th mile split that I knew wasn't right. However, it is discouraging how slow I was for the 8th mile, but I knew I was slowing down anyway.

I was probably around 125th-135th at that point, how many ahead of me ran the short course? I was just following the runners ahead of me. Did the winner run a short course, too?

To 2006 3M Half Marathon & Relay Participants:

Upon further review of the course, we have determined that the course was improperly marked after the 10 kilometer mark. The difference is that the course should have turned right from Stoneway Drive onto Pioneer Place, then north onto Shoal Creek Blvd. Instead, the course went straight from Stoneway Drive and turned north onto Shoal Creek Blvd. The distance difference is 0.10 of a mile, about 25 to 60 seconds for most people, depending on your pace. We genuinely and deeply regret the error, especially since it was a wonderful day for running, so many ran so well, so many volunteers worked so hard, and so many people enjoyed the event. We do not believe that our error should detract from the performance of the runners or the volunteers. The 3M Half Marathon organization has taken pride in serving the Austin running community with a quality event for 12 continuous years and this turn of events is a disappointment to us.

This error does not affect the official results nor does it disqualify anyone from the Austin Distance Challenge. We are working to correct the error in course set-up and promise to do better in the future. We want to thank you for your participation and your support and understanding.

Sincerely,

The 3M Half Marathon Organizing Committee

BWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHA

BWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAH

I knew something was screwy. Too bad.

i've run it the last 3 years wrote:

The course was EXACTLY the same as it was last year (where Sell won in 1:02:59).

It should be noted that Brian Sell ran at Austin last year because he was coming off of an injury and did not feel like he was very fit. Clint Verran ran it as a tempo run 2 weeks prior to the marathon. James lander sub 65 is from a 2:21 marathon guy. Just thought that it deserved a little perspective.

Gosh, I always thought the "P" in "PR" stood for personal. As in only matters to me so don't worry about it.

Yearly Ritual wrote:

oldguy wrote:

Anyone who would list his or her time on this course as a half-marathon PR is a fraud.

Strong words indeed!!

What I find most suprising from that thread is how many people ran the race with a GPS distance measurement thing. Is this just a case of the masses buying whatever gimmick Runners World sells them, or are runners in general so anal about the exact distance they ran that they don't trust the race management to do it properly?

I can't speak for anyone but myself but, what in the hell are you talking about in reference to GPS users being anal about the "exact" distance? I use one and love to on-the-fly feedback that I get regarding my average mile pace and distance covered. No don't I'm not nearly the stud runner you are but when pushing the last 6 of a marathon my calculating abilities are sometimes impaired.

And WTF does Runners World have to do with anything?

LOL wow, I messed up that mile too. Ohwell, add another 40 seconds (max) and I still have a PR. I'm not crying about it.

Adam Locked wrote:

LOL wow, I messed up that mile too. Ohwell, add another 40 seconds (max) and I still have a PR. I'm not crying about it.

Dude, if you count this as a PR the all knowing oldguy will consider you a ..............fraud.........the horror!!

Yearly Ritual wrote:

Dude, if you count this as a PR the all knowing oldguy will consider you a ..............fraud.........the horror!!

I don't think that the kid gets too worked up about what I think (or, for that matter, about the accuracy of course measurements). You, however, get apoplectic about the subject.

Yearly Ritual wrote:

Dude, if you count this as a PR the all knowing oldguy will consider you a ..............fraud.........the horror!!

Oh noez I'm a fraud!

Seriously though, I ran 1:26 on the same course last year. So if you want to add on 3 minutes to my time this year because of the sunny day, downhill, short course, cool weather, naked chicks cheering for me along the course... I'm fine with that. I don't see what the big deal is about all this.

Shit I'm no professional, so I'm pretty sure NOBODY CARES what my PR is and where I set it. I run for myself, so I don't give a shit if some dumbass on LetsRun thinks I'm a fraud.

sebcoe59:

I am from Dallas area and ran the 3M last week as well. I do not remember how I ran the course - most probably short as most runners did (As I was following everyone else). But, I do feel that course is easier that the white rock half - which I also ran with a time of 1:23'08". I would think the down hill of 3M make me about 2 min faster and my effort and the 0.1 mi short made up the other 2 min. which give me a 1:19'30".

Chill out... wrote:

Downhill, tailwind, AND short???

Yeah, that about sums it up. A point-to-point downhill course that was not even 13.1. So many sad people now......boo hoo!!

(most of them will still claim this as their pr though. Never trust another's pr unless you watched with your own eyes. I remember that for a few years the Fresh Pond races in Cambridge, MA chopped off a 1/4 mile loop from their 2.5 and 5 mile races due to construction. With that change, the distances became 2.25 and 4.5 temporarily. For some strange reason, the "organizers" still reported the results to the Boston Globe as 2.5 and 5.0 miles. Thus, for many, many months you had some SERIOUSLY fast times listed. Honest runners knew of course, but I guarantee there are some people walking around today saying they ran 25 minutes for 5 miles, when it was really more like high 27's. People don't like the truth....)

And Geb could CERTAINLY have run 50 minutes on that joke of a course!

Yeah but Geb wouldn't feel compelled to lie about his performance.

LOL Why do you guys care so much about other people's preformances? If they want to believe they're crazy fast and can run 3 minutes faster than they really can, who gives a shit?

... Despite everything I'm more of proud than my effort and preformance at the 3M Half. I feel that I ran great, wether the course was 12.7 miles or 15.1 doesn't matter. The time doesn't matter and neither does the distance. I gave all that I had for however long the course was and that's all that matters at the end of the day to me. :-)

It becomes an issue when you get into races that give compensation to semi-elites. There are a fair number of races that will give free entry and a hotel room to guys with 1:05-1:08 kind of credentials. If these are really 1:10-1:12 guys, then the actual 1:10-1:12 guys are justifiably annoyed if they have to pay for their own hotel, while inferior runners don't.

Believe it or not, semi-elites have running resumes which are used for the above purposes as well as sponsorships. Using sketchy "pbs" from downhill or short courses amounts to lying on your resume.

I know what oldguy is talking about, since these kinds of guys always seem to run their fast times in these kinds of races. When they line up on legitimate courses against comparable competition, they inevitably run slowly or drop out.

Incidentally, the worst example of pb embellishing I've encountered was a guy who listed his 5 km pb as a split from the middle of a half-marathon, in which the markers were obviously off. The guy couldn't come close to the time when he ran 5000m races on a track.