Why do people LIE to serious runners?

I got a good one, a classic resume enhancement story.

The Disney Marathon (I know, bash if you want) picks a few people from a large pool of applicants from the state of FL whom they consider FL's Finest - those FL residents selected get treated well that weekend - free hotel, a lot of 'disney cash,' free food all weekend for you and your family, vip treatment before and after the race.

Anyhow, one guy who had been selected for several yrs in a row was again selected, this time ahead of me for a masters slot. They published in a regional running mag his qualifications etc - - once I saw them I knew he had lied - multiple race times over the past 2 yrs clearly fabrications - e.g. listing a 2:37 marathon when his time was 2:44, blatantly bogus 5k times, etc. I confirmed them all to be a lie via the internet and presented that to the vip director for the race. She was furious and confronted him - he then conveniently pulled the "I'm a dumb islander who cant speak much English and my friend filled out the application" (not true). She let him stay in the race as a vip.

A month later some other guy in the vip program got injured and I was asked to sub in for the vacated vip slot. I raced, and passed the liar at mile 22 and spanked him by 4 minutes. Value - priceless.

just saying dude wrote:

I really don't think he was trying to lie to me he was just trying to tell me he had also run and had been a decent HS runner.

this. more often than not it's somebody just trying to relate to your area of interest.

Reminds me of this story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5459355

Oh, I played in high school, therefore I would definitely make the NBA blah blah blah.

not arrogant but informed wrote:

A serious runner in this context is someone who knows the facts about the sport and has an appreciation for the skill levels/efforts involved.

The point of the title is, if you meet a jogger who never races 5ks,just trains 4 miles 5 days a week, and doesn't follow running news, you can tell them you ran a 4:00 mile back in 1986 and they'll say "ooooh" and be impressed. But why would you try that on a 4:03 miler who ran in college in the 80s? Let alone make up times like a 1:26 800.

I see the angle. I guess it's just society's compulsion to assign labels to things in order to dumb them down that bothers me...who's more serious than another, silly internet pissing contests etc etc

How would I have reacted? I probably would have played along. The next time I catch up with my running teammates over a beer I'd share the story of the sport coach who broke the 800m WR by 15 seconds as a high schooler, but elected to coach hoops instead.

Every time I'd run into said coach I'd just think to myself "you're an ignorant tit with a complex" and take anything he says with a grain of salt. If these people stick their feet in their mouth every time they talk they'll eventually choke. It's the old "give 'em enough rope and they'll hang themselves' deal.

People who feel the need to talk themselves up generally do so out of insecurity. The best results speak for themselves.

It's hard to imagine anyone running a 1:56 and not remembering the exact time 20 years later. Maybe if it were a 2:56, I would understand. I think the reason so many runner recoil when non-runners make outrageous claims is that it belittles all of the hard work and unbelievable pain the elite runners must go through.

Mark

It's hard to imagine anyone running a 1:56 and not remembering the exact time 20 years later. Maybe if it were a 2:56, I would understand. I think the reason so many runner recoil when non-runners make outrageous claims is that it belittles all of the hard work and unbelievable pain the elite runners must go through.

Mark

This site has done so much to create better runners, pioneered new methods to reach out to the audience, made a living for professional runners, brought new technology to follow the exploits of the best American runners in the Marathon, 10K, 5K, Mile and 1500. What more do you want from this site?

How could non-runners belittle the hard work and pain of elites. Your sport just fell behind American Idol ... in morality .... good job!

I think that's exactly it-- long story short: I feel (as over-sensitive as it might be) like people marginalize running through their ignorance. If I tell people I averaged 8 pts a game in HS basketball, most folks scoff at the mediocrity. But through their ignorance of the sport, most people have no idea how to compare performances in running events, such that someone will proudly detail their 2:14 800m when they find out I ran just 16 seconds faster (still not that fast, Letsrun cynics, I know), or they'll talk about the 11:25 cross country 5k they sweat up and down they remember running. What's offensive to me in those situations is that people implicitly devalue my efforts and performances through there nonchalance in reference to my times, etc. It's like talking the homeruns you hit in little league baseball to an HS ball player: they're perfunctory, assumable, and, ultimately, unimpressive.

DaveW wrote:

This site has done so much to create better runners, pioneered new methods to reach out to the audience, made a living for professional runners, brought new technology to follow the exploits of the best American runners in the Marathon, 10K, 5K, Mile and 1500. What more do you want from this site?

How could non-runners belittle the hard work and pain of elites. Your sport just fell behind American Idol ... in morality .... good job!

By the way, I was responding to Mark... I can't even begin to decipher this inane comment. Are you being sarcastic or not? And what sport are you talking about? Running?

jag wrote:

What's offensive to me in those situations is that people implicitly devalue my efforts and performances through there nonchalance in reference to my times, etc. It's like talking the homeruns you hit in little league baseball to an HS ball player: they're perfunctory, assumable, and, ultimately, unimpressive.

The comments you refer to do not devalue your efforts, unless you allow them to. You recognize "fast", and so do your competitors and training partners. Who cares if someone else doesn't get it?

There are a lot of good reasons to put in the work required to run fast times. I don't think impressing non-runners is a good reason.

Perspective wrote:

There are a lot of good reasons to put in the work required to run fast times. I don't think impressing non-runners is a good reason.

Well... yes, of course. I haven't run all these years to tell people who don't give a crap all about it. Is this is whole board idea all about people saying the most contrary thing possible? What I'm suggesting is that our culture recognizes the achievements of many mainstream sports and not those of runners, such that you get a lot of Uncle Rico-esque characters telling you they've run an 8:50 3 mile.

Get it? And it's aggravating when people do this because when somebody says they averaged 100 yards a game in HS football everybody gets it. But people feel very much at ease marginalizing and undermining the performance of runners via their ignorance, which was the idea of this thread.

Otherwise, though, you got me, I run to impress non-runners, which is why I buy bumper stickers and t-shirts and advertise my every accomplishment... Christ, what a self-righteous dick...

Yeah when I go out for training runs on business trips, they ask me how fast I went and I say bout 7min pace. So the guy responds oh ok well I ran a half marathon all the way at 7min pace. I looked him up and it was 7:56 pace, but heck he also doesn't understand that I'm just doing a training run, not racing...

I actually averaged 5:56 pace for my first half marathon - that's not that good, but at least I can say I run at his race pace on my easy days.

Yes, the average person has no idea how hard relatively moderate times are to run, let alone attain the times of elite runners. I remember Carl Lewis running a 2:20+ for 880 yards in the Superstars competition on TV, and he was bending over, sucking air (this would be a jog for him, but still it was a struggle). Elite marathoners can run at nearly this pace for over 2 h. Lance Armstrong didn't break 3 h for the Marathon, but Sister Marion Irvine, a 54 Nun ran a 2:51 marathon, and made our 1984 Olympic trials. Moreover, the top race walkers can do about a 3 h marathon, and the average person laughs at them, wondering why they even bother.

Runners don't push hard for great times in order to impress non-runners, but understandably become irked when someone says "I ran sub-4 for the mile in high school gym class" (yes, someone did tell me this once, and he says he did it with no training!).

Anyway, this subject has definitely rubbed some raw nerves.

Mark

I agree completely-- I think people can be really dismissive about the difficulty and dedication involved with running decent times. I wish more traditional athletes and fans could reflect on a quote from Wetmore; I believe it was something like, "You know go into a football game thinking you might get your bell rung. But before the start of a race, you know you will, and every time." Something like that, and I always appreciated what he meant.

and wrote:

Lying is not forbidden by The Ten Commandments.

Erm, yes it is

formerly present wrote:

Fortunately, some of us don't *have to* lie about our SAT scores.

Like me with my 1578.

You could at least pick a score that's possible.

AAHHHH...it irks me a little too. Reminds me of my first job when I told my boss that I ran and he tried to find common ground by telling me, " Oh yea? My brother, friend and I ran 100yards in high school made it to state; we each ran 9.5, 9.7, and 9.9s." All I could say was "Oh WOW! really?!" and laughed afterwords. But this happens quite often when I tell people I run and they try to relate. What make me angrier though is when you tell people you run and they make a comment that devalues all you put into training; or when people/ coworkers/ family know you run and say things like, "how was your JOG today?" like it's something easy. or "how many miles a day do you run?" Like I run the same thing everyday. People are ignorant when it comes to running.

[quote]flexedwiener wrote:

A" Oh yea? My brother, friend and I ran 100yards in high school made it to state; we each ran 9.5, 9.7, and 9.9s." All I could say was "Oh WOW! really?!"

YARDS

mmm beer wrote:

[quote]flexedwiener wrote:

A" Oh yea? My brother, friend and I ran 100yards in high school made it to state; we each ran 9.5, 9.7, and 9.9s." All I could say was "Oh WOW! really?!"

YARDS

yes yards!