My local running club is everything that is wrong with local running culture

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6 years ago 11/30/2018 11:40am EST

re: John Utah

John Utah wrote:
Your local sub-sub-elite hobby jogger wrote:
Got involved with my local running club earlier this year to meet some other runners and hopefully meet some faster runners to train with. The club epitomizes everything that bothers me about modern running culture. Some highlights:
-It's a rarity that I find anyone that actually follows the competitive running scene. Maybe once every few months.
-The primary things that people care about with road races are the finishers' medals and the swag. And people barely enter races, by the way.
-Pretty much nobody is concerned with running faster. Or talking about training or running in general.
-The main topic of conversation always seems to veer towards peoples' houses or the housing market in general.
-The demographics are overwhelmingly wealthy, probably top 5%-10% of income, and everyone seems casually unaware of this. Also white, very white.
-My training pace is about 7 min/mile and I am by far the fastest runner at the weekly runs. I'm not even that fast, I get roasted at any road race or open meet with college kids.
It's "wrong" that people are white? WTF?
It's "wrong" that people are successful? WTF?

You tell me, pal, you're the one that made the suggestion.

In a city with a great deal of income and racial variety, I find it interesting that all those involves in this low-barrier-of-entry activity are demographically homogeneous. It's called an observation.

Your local sub-sub-elite hobby jogger wrote:
Got involved with my local running club earlier this year to meet some other runners and hopefully meet some faster runners to train with. The club epitomizes everything that bothers me about modern running culture. Some highlights:
-It's a rarity that I find anyone that actually follows the competitive running scene. Maybe once every few months.
-The primary things that people care about with road races are the finishers' medals and the swag. And people barely enter races, by the way.
-Pretty much nobody is concerned with running faster. Or talking about training or running in general.
-The main topic of conversation always seems to veer towards peoples' houses or the housing market in general.
-The demographics are overwhelmingly wealthy, probably top 5%-10% of income, and everyone seems casually unaware of this. Also white, very white.
-My training pace is about 7 min/mile and I am by far the fastest runner at the weekly runs. I'm not even that fast, I get roasted at any road race or open meet with college kids.

I think as a whole, we overthink all of this..

Run because you (I, we) all love to run, yet I feel this too often gets forgotten. I've ran with groups a few times, but kinda found it to be pretentious and too clicky in a sense, like missing the point of why we all gathered in the first place. I enjoy running with a couple locals, but mostly, I look forward to my weekend solo long run most weekends.

Go around your local work space or your friend group, unless your circle are fellow runners or ex collegiate runners, the idea of running a 5k to a non runner is insane. If you're a regular runner, you likely see a 5k as speed work. Running is an odd endeavor and really isn't for everybody, and unfortunately most of our society, is grossly out of shape, hence why a lunch run is a foreign concept to many.

Since only a few people in my life are runners, I for better or worse (likely worse) I come to letsrun to check the pulse of fellow runners.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 12:19pm EST

re: we've lost it

we've lost it wrote:
Your local sub-sub-elite hobby jogger wrote:
Got involved with my local running club earlier this year to meet some other runners and hopefully meet some faster runners to train with. The club epitomizes everything that bothers me about modern running culture. Some highlights:
-It's a rarity that I find anyone that actually follows the competitive running scene. Maybe once every few months.
-The primary things that people care about with road races are the finishers' medals and the swag. And people barely enter races, by the way.
-Pretty much nobody is concerned with running faster. Or talking about training or running in general.
-The main topic of conversation always seems to veer towards peoples' houses or the housing market in general.
-The demographics are overwhelmingly wealthy, probably top 5%-10% of income, and everyone seems casually unaware of this. Also white, very white.
-My training pace is about 7 min/mile and I am by far the fastest runner at the weekly runs. I'm not even that fast, I get roasted at any road race or open meet with college kids.
I think as a whole, we overthink all of this..
Run because you (I, we) all love to run, yet I feel this too often gets forgotten. I've ran with groups a few times, but kinda found it to be pretentious and too clicky in a sense, like missing the point of why we all gathered in the first place. I enjoy running with a couple locals, but mostly, I look forward to my weekend solo long run most weekends.

Same. I used to make a point to meet one group or another for long runs, and it just got tedious with thoughtless yapping invading my headspace. Now I go solo, can choose the route I prefer the most, go at the time I want, sleep in and run later if I really feel like it. I have plenty of rigid scheduling in my life, gaining some measure of flexibility in my training schedule just feels best. Meeting a group to be pushed for a couple of hard runs or workouts each week seems significantly beneficial, far more than spending two hours at conversational pace with someone else's random thoughts, which usually revolve around some running injury or any other problem they're dealing with at work or at home if not even worse, talking about other people. I wind up looking forward to my long runs far more, it's become a truly enjoyable chunk of time for me. I get that having someone else to run with helps a lot of people get through long runs, that it's not something they'd enjoy much on their own. Glad that works out for them, I just don't feel the need to do something that I can tell doesn't really benefit how I do my thing.

Your local sub-sub-elite hobby jogger wrote:
John Utah wrote:
It's "wrong" that people are white? WTF?
It's "wrong" that people are successful? WTF?
You tell me, pal, you're the one that made the suggestion.
In a city with a great deal of income and racial variety, I find it interesting that all those involves in this low-barrier-of-entry activity are demographically homogeneous. It's called an observation.

What are you talking about when you say "you're the one that made the suggestion"? This was listed as things that are wrong. Not my list, which is why I have the question. Would you be ok if you substituted black for white. Would you be ok with saying one of the things wrong with playing pick up hoops on a downtown court is that everyone is black? Think about what you are writing.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 1:44pm EST

re: we've lost it

we've lost it wrote:
Your local sub-sub-elite hobby jogger wrote:
Got involved with my local running club earlier this year to meet some other runners and hopefully meet some faster runners to train with. The club epitomizes everything that bothers me about modern running culture. Some highlights:
-It's a rarity that I find anyone that actually follows the competitive running scene. Maybe once every few months.
-The primary things that people care about with road races are the finishers' medals and the swag. And people barely enter races, by the way.
-Pretty much nobody is concerned with running faster. Or talking about training or running in general.
-The main topic of conversation always seems to veer towards peoples' houses or the housing market in general.
-The demographics are overwhelmingly wealthy, probably top 5%-10% of income, and everyone seems casually unaware of this. Also white, very white.
-My training pace is about 7 min/mile and I am by far the fastest runner at the weekly runs. I'm not even that fast, I get roasted at any road race or open meet with college kids.
I think as a whole, we overthink all of this..
Run because you (I, we) all love to run, yet I feel this too often gets forgotten. I've ran with groups a few times, but kinda found it to be pretentious and too clicky in a sense, like missing the point of why we all gathered in the first place. I enjoy running with a couple locals, but mostly, I look forward to my weekend solo long run most weekends.
Go around your local work space or your friend group, unless your circle are fellow runners or ex collegiate runners, the idea of running a 5k to a non runner is insane. If you're a regular runner, you likely see a 5k as speed work. Running is an odd endeavor and really isn't for everybody, and unfortunately most of our society, is grossly out of shape, hence why a lunch run is a foreign concept to many.
Since only a few people in my life are runners, I for better or worse (likely worse) I come to letsrun to check the pulse of fellow runners.

Oddly enough, having fun again was the reason I got back into running and I preach this aspect to any post-collegiate interested in being competitive. I started training for a race last year and then realized that liked running again. Then I built from there and ran some of the best times of my life. I guess that I find pushing myself to be faster and competing to be a bit of fun. As long as I don't get injured.

Just would be nice to meet some others that are screwed up enough in the head to think pushing themselves to run faster is fun. But I understand that the average person or even average runner does not think this way.

You need the old Clemson SC club. OCTC = Out of Control Track Club.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 1:54pm EST

re: jesseriley

The basic circle with a slash through it, like No Entry, but within the circle was “Control.”

6 years ago 11/30/2018 4:41pm EST

re: John Utah

John Utah wrote:
Your local sub-sub-elite hobby jogger wrote:
Got involved with my local running club earlier this year to meet some other runners and hopefully meet some faster runners to train with. The club epitomizes everything that bothers me about modern running culture. Some highlights:
-It's a rarity that I find anyone that actually follows the competitive running scene. Maybe once every few months.
-The primary things that people care about with road races are the finishers' medals and the swag. And people barely enter races, by the way.
-Pretty much nobody is concerned with running faster. Or talking about training or running in general.
-The main topic of conversation always seems to veer towards peoples' houses or the housing market in general.
-The demographics are overwhelmingly wealthy, probably top 5%-10% of income, and everyone seems casually unaware of this. Also white, very white.
-My training pace is about 7 min/mile and I am by far the fastest runner at the weekly runs. I'm not even that fast, I get roasted at any road race or open meet with college kids.
It's "wrong" that people are white? WTF?
It's "wrong" that people are successful? WTF?

You're singling out factors that are listed as a compilation. It means the club is incredibly insular and not representative of the broader community of runners, probably closed to all who are not just like them.

I hear ya.

Champaign- Urbana has a jogging/social club called ‘Second Wind Running Club’ but it’s a lie.

It started in the late 70’s by guys that ran marathons and raced. It choose as it’s simple the Kanji character for ‘fart’ as it was a play on ‘second wind’ as in getting your second wind while running.

The club grew and grew, yet over the years it has dwarfed into nothing more than a jogging/social club. They have a stupid race circuit but instead of having a fair scoring system, such as one’s top 6-8 results count, they instead award points unlimitedly. Even get points for attending. So at the end of the year, some slow jogger who’s boasts a best 10km time of 46 minutes ends up winning ‘masters runner of the year’ because he racked up all of these junk points; whereas a masters runner competing in just maybe 6 events yet wins each time in 35-36 minutes ends up out of the top ten in the final standings.

Further, due to the SJWs and liberals from the university of Illinois, they banded together to protest the symbol of the club and forced through a vote to jettison the original Kanji character.

It was at that time that I just abandoned them. Having been one of the fastest club members but still hanging in there out of history and tradition, the new slow socialites forced me out with their philosophy.

The Second Wind Running Club of Champaign-Urbana is a total joke.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 5:16pm EST

re: Medium brown hair dyer

Medium brown hair dyer wrote:
I hear ya.
Champaign- Urbana has a jogging/social club called ‘Second Wind Running Club’ but it’s a lie.
It started in the late 70’s by guys that ran marathons and raced. It choose as it’s simple the Kanji character for ‘fart’ as it was a play on ‘second wind’ as in getting your second wind while running.
The club grew and grew, yet over the years it has dwarfed into nothing more than a jogging/social club. They have a stupid race circuit but instead of having a fair scoring system, such as one’s top 6-8 results count, they instead award points unlimitedly. Even get points for attending. So at the end of the year, some slow jogger who’s boasts a best 10km time of 46 minutes ends up winning ‘masters runner of the year’ because he racked up all of these junk points; whereas a masters runner competing in just maybe 6 events yet wins each time in 35-36 minutes ends up out of the top ten in the final standings.
Further, due to the SJWs and liberals from the university of Illinois, they banded together to protest the symbol of the club and forced through a vote to jettison the original Kanji character.
It was at that time that I just abandoned them. Having been one of the fastest club members but still hanging in there out of history and tradition, the new slow socialites forced me out with their philosophy.
The Second Wind Running Club of Champaign-Urbana is a total joke.

Lol somebody is salty that they didn’t win the running circuit.

If points are given for every race and you want to win, then show up to every race, don’t just bellyache afterwards

6 years ago 11/30/2018 5:38pm EST

re: Free_The_Thigh

As mentioned I’m not a member.

Unlike you perhaps, I’m a runner. I race all over the world and have no interest in local jogging events people like you participate in.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 5:50pm EST

re: Medium Brown hair dyer

Medium Brown hair dyer wrote:
As mentioned I’m not a member.
Unlike you perhaps, I’m a runner. I race all over the world and have no interest in local jogging events people like you participate in.

Sure you do buddy.

You just know how their point system works, the times of various winners in particular races in the series, and the times of the winner of the series to make fun of them, not because you actually participated!

6 years ago 11/30/2018 6:01pm EST

re: NickeIback

NickeIback wrote:
John Utah wrote:
It's "wrong" that people are white? WTF?
It's "wrong" that people are successful? WTF?
You're singling out factors that are listed as a compilation. It means the club is incredibly insular and not representative of the broader community of runners, probably closed to all who are not just like them.

If that's what the OP wanted to say then he should have said it. Stop trying to overlook his overt racism and classism.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 6:12pm EST

re: reer

Um, he's only pointing out the clear racism and classism and their clearly intended effects. Stop being so reactionary.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 6:53pm EST

re: amkelley

amkelley wrote:
As a masters runner married to a masters cyclist, I can attest to cycling groups being generally much more "serious" and more competitive than running groups. Cycling groups also tend to be filled with quite a few a**holes. I like the runners better, by and large.

Yep. i run and my husband cycles. i've watched many bike races and there are no hobby joggers in cycling. every one of those guys that races all think they have a chance to win. in road races, if they are dropped, they drop out. there is no reason to just finish.

totally different scene from the running crowd.

6 years ago 11/30/2018 7:04pm EST

re: Medium brown hair dyer

Medium brown hair dyer wrote:
I hear ya.
Champaign- Urbana has a jogging/social club called ‘Second Wind Running Club’ but it’s a lie.
It started in the late 70’s by guys that ran marathons and raced. It choose as it’s simple the Kanji character for ‘fart’ as it was a play on ‘second wind’ as in getting your second wind while running.
The club grew and grew, yet over the years it has dwarfed into nothing more than a jogging/social club. They have a stupid race circuit but instead of having a fair scoring system, such as one’s top 6-8 results count, they instead award points unlimitedly. Even get points for attending. So at the end of the year, some slow jogger who’s boasts a best 10km time of 46 minutes ends up winning ‘masters runner of the year’ because he racked up all of these junk points; whereas a masters runner competing in just maybe 6 events yet wins each time in 35-36 minutes ends up out of the top ten in the final standings.
Further, due to the SJWs and liberals from the university of Illinois, they banded together to protest the symbol of the club and forced through a vote to jettison the original Kanji character.
It was at that time that I just abandoned them. Having been one of the fastest club members but still hanging in there out of history and tradition, the new slow socialites forced me out with their philosophy.
The Second Wind Running Club of Champaign-Urbana is a total joke.

I had a great anecdote from my short time with SWRC until you went off on your right wing tirade.

Fuggit Now

6 years ago 11/30/2018 10:19pm EST

re: Year of Our Lord 1996

I was also a former member. I’m just an average hobby jogger but liked the club.

However, I wore a M A G A cap to a club function once and was asked to leave or take it off.

I in turn did not renew my membership to Second Wind. No need to mention the two board members who insisted I remove the cap. They know who they are...and if they happen to read this, then you both can kiss my asss!

6 years ago 12/01/2018 7:13am EST

re: SWRC blows

Good for them to tell the troll to go

6 years ago 12/01/2018 7:29am EST

re: SWRC blows

My marathon pr is 2:18. I run about 3;00 now so I can get into Boston. I probably could run 2:55 or so, but I never push it.

My club is in rural Ohio, and we have about 6-7 people around 8:00. Sometimes I run easy on their tempo days at 7:30. Sometimes I run 8:00 with them. A lot of times I run by myself, but might meet up with them for a beer after

I cannot believe you live in a city and you cannot get a decent group of hobby joggers together.

6 years ago 12/01/2018 8:49am EST

re: Medium brown hair dyer

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