WaPo story on slow marathoning....yikes

You seem to be math challenged. A moderate pace is, say, 20 minutes per mile. That works out to nearly 9 hours.

When I was pregnant and couldn't run near the end, I walked at what felt like a brisk / strenuous pace. That worked out to 20 minutes / mile. Consider that most of these walkers are probably overweight / obese.

This isn't being mentioned enough. Do I care about someone finishing this far behind me? Of course not. Do cities care if they have to shut down roads for an entire day so these people feel "included"? Absolutely. And if you don't think that's where this is going, you're delusional. They'll complain that the 6hr finishers still get aide stations and a closed course, so why shouldn't they? And the result will be one of two things. An increase in cost. Or second, and more likely, races decide it's not worth it to cater to them and rather than face the their wrath, just quit putting on the race for everyone.

So yes, in this case, I'm not thrilled these people think they're participated in the same event I am. And it has nothing to do with it somehow denigrating my results in the least.

My parents walk every day. My mom is in her late 70s, and my dad is in his 80s. My mom in particular likes to challenge herself to max out her walking pace. She's overweight, but she's walking at 14 minute pace on hilly roads, give or take. That's FAST, especially for a woman her age. Why not let Parkrun walkers challenge themselves to walk faster? For some people walking and trying to increase walking pace makes a lot more sense than trying to "run" at 17 minutes per mile. As a side note, my sister was a high school phenom, and I always thought she got her running genes from my Dad. After seeing my mom's walking times, I'm thinking maybe she actually got them from my mom.

Also, Parkrun is DEFINITELY a race. It's a fun casual race, but it's a race. Have you ever actually done a Parkrun?

Can someone explain to me why Snell has no intermediate splits displayed?

results.chicagomarathon.com

Bank of America Chicago Marathon: Latoya Snell Details

Open link

Shouldn't she at least have a split displayed at 5K and 10K or whatever?

Mesfun DNF'd, but he has intermediate splits all the way through:

results.chicagomarathon.com

Bank of America Chicago Marathon: Daniel Mesfun Teklebrhan Details

Open link

(If you read the article, supposedly Snell ran but didn't have an official finish time because she was too slow.)

If they were observing a 6-hour cutoff over the whole course, they may have turned off and disassembled the timing mats before Snell arrived.

In this case you weren’t exactly wrong, but I find this unnecessarily snobbish and obnoxious. Before Sifan Hassan did what she just did I’m sure you would have explained in your self-congratulatory tone that she couldn’t be running the World Champs because she just won the London Marathon, or that she couldn’t possibly be running Chicago, not seriously anyway, because she had just run a bunch of track races (and medaled in one) at Worlds, and people don’t just turn around and race a world class marathon a few weeks after a world class 1500.

I subscribe. This should work:

wapo.st

Slow is the new fast: Tips for marathoners at the back of the pack

Back-of-the-pack marathon runners often face extra challenges to complete a 26.2-mile race.

Open link

Snell is a hero. Black womxn are never wrong.

Being a race timer I can tell you the answer is kinda. For us timing the race it's no. We're just contracted to time the race no matter how long it takes. I don't discourage slow runners, they make up a bulk of our business, but it is a bit annoying waiting hrs for them to finish. What does cost extra are the police/ city workers. They are expensive for race directors to hire, will open roads back up at designated cut off times no matter whos still running, and usually don't stay a min longer than contracted to. In the rare case they do stay longer, they charge the race a ton for overtime.

Reminds me of when people clap for the last place finisher in a middle school race. I never do. Why clap for someone who has likely put in less work than almost everyone else? Why clap for the 24 minute 2 miler but not the 16 minute 2 miler that works their ass off?

But surely she would have arrived at the 5K mark within 6 hours. Why didn't that one show up?

No, without getting sarcastic and uppity:

I'm not self congratulatory or elitist or snobbish.

I guess one of things I'm getting at is this simple saying:

"People don't know what they don't know about running."

Then, they engage in conversations as if they're experts.

I'm not elitest about it. I WISH that the average Hobby Jogger understood running at the elite level like the average duffer understands the PGA Tour.

There would be nothing wrong if the vast majority of the mega marathon field understood that the elites and sub elites were doing something different than they are.

That doesn't take away from their accomplishment, it recognizes the other accomplishment- which isn't happening now.

I'm sure you've seen the memes- A mile is a mile no matter how slow. No it's not.

Finishing a marathon at 15:00 per mile is not the same, by any stretch, as running one at a much faster pace.

And you analogy to Hassan doesn't fit. Did Hassan win London then two weeks later duplicate that performance at another marathon? Absolutely not.

Chicago was not 2 weeks after the World Championships (and she DID NOT run the Marathon at those Worlds)

I think you actually understand what I'm saying.

Actually, we want the "old" club back. There was a time not too long ago when there was a balance. As I said- I've been in this club from day 1. The other people complaining about the change have been in it for a long time. We've tried being involved- on the board or club officers- it's not working.

I'm not whining, none of us are.

Is there anything wrong with wanting all groups to be recognized?

I'm beyond my best running. PR's and winning races are years in the past. I encourage people to enter races (and have even "run" with newer runners who were intimidated by races and were afraid of coming in last.

I just want the younger, faster runners who work so hard while holding down full time jobs to be recognized and maybe some of the club money- earned through our membership fees and our volunteering at races that the club puts on- to be used for their benefit, too.

Try Epic browser.

That should do it.

If it takes 5+ hours to complete a marathon you should not enter. Concentrate on shorter races. It's not inspiring to run 6-7 hours for a marathon, it's inspiring to prepare to run a marathon well.

My biggest issue isn't with the 8-hour marathoners themselves. It's with the national media that keeps rolling out these articles about once a week, it seems. They are an excruciating cliche, at this point.