It's not even about sponsorship or prize money.
In whatever segment of running you are in (HS, college, age group, professional, masters), if you are capable of being competitive and maybe even win races in your class, then you are by definition not a hobby jogger.
Hobby jogging is relative. If you are the number 1 8th grader in your state, your times may pale compared to a pro runner, but you certainly are not a hobby jogger. Same goes for the number 1 freshman in college, etc.
trackster%rrr wrote:
Chewbacca wrote:Verify registration times with documentation of previous times? Never been an RD before, have you?
Many track races require this. If track meets with a thousand competitors can do it (examples Stanford or Payton jordan), so why can't a local 5k? Usually those track meets cost less to enter than the local 5k too.
Never been a RD or meet director, have you? Why don't you volunteer to "verify( previous times" at a road race this month?
I agree with OP.
I returned to the annual big trail race again this year, won by almost 10-min, and at the awards, the RD basically was disappointed that I didn't reset the CR from the year prior, resulting in all the guys flat out telling me in front of my daughter (yes, they had been drinking post-race cider and beer) that "come on, you suck!!" "What happened!?"
Geez, I left as soon as I could, it was a hostile environment.
formerD1 wrote:
It's not even about sponsorship or prize money.
In whatever segment of running you are in (HS, college, age group, professional, masters), if you are capable of being competitive and maybe even win races in your class, then you are by definition not a hobby jogger.
Hobby jogging is relative. If you are the number 1 8th grader in your state, your times may pale compared to a pro runner, but you certainly are not a hobby jogger. Same goes for the number 1 freshman in college, etc.
Do you know that 18 flat would win many 5k road races? Not just age group award, but the OA.
You are a hobby jogger unless you make your living as a runner, or you are a collegiate runner on scholarship. The minute you finished your final college race, you joined the ranks of hobby joggers. Don't dwell on your past.
Chewbacca wrote:
Verify registration times with documentation of previous times? Never been an RD before, have you?
You don't need to verify every runner's time. Just the ones who want to be in the first corral (and possibly the 2nd).
At a half marathon I run every year, those who want to be in Corrals A & B (faster than 8min pace) have to present documentation of previous times (in the past 2 years). Everyone else can choose which corral they want to be. They probably do this for a few hundreds out of 4000+ runners.
Able to speak wrote:
Ralph the Man wrote:That's unpossible!
Irregardless of his misuse of the English language, it is now a mute point.
I feel this thread is getting a bit out of sink with the main discussion.
To go back to the original post, there is an interesting trio of short books (and I mean short - less than 25 pages each) called 'Running Away from the Race', available free for Kindle on Amazon UK, on the divide between serious runners and joggers that has emerged in the last few decades in Britain.
AndyC wrote:
To go back to the original post, there is an interesting trio of short books (and I mean short - less than 25 pages each) called 'Running Away from the Race', available free for Kindle on Amazon UK, on the divide between serious runners and joggers that has emerged in the last few decades in Britain.
That would be the divide between joggers who take their hobby lightly, and those who are more serious about it.
"3. Chances are, you're a hobby jogger too, just a faster one. Unless you make your living from your running, guess what? It's a...hobby. No reason to get your knickers in a wad over people who aren't as good at or who don't take as seriously this hobby as you do."
Is it ok if I feel like my world just crashed down around me??
I am definitely a hobby jogger, but one that still wins occasional races. My main beef has been race directors who don't seem to care about scheduling races where the leaders run into the slower masses towards the end of the race.
I have run two Halfs this year and in both of them, I have had to fight my way past 5k walkers over the last 800 meters. In one, I was racing a guy for the win.
I love the socialist mentality here. Always trying to bring down everyone else to the lowest common denominator.
Let me guess, you never ran in college, so you are more than happy to bring former elites down to your level, since you couldn't possibly ever get up to theirs?
formerD1 wrote:
I love the socialist mentality here. Always trying to bring down everyone else to the lowest common denominator.
Let me guess, you never ran in college, so you are more than happy to bring former elites down to your level, since you couldn't possibly ever get up to theirs?
Are you a socialist who is trying to bring down the current elites to your level?
I think a healthy level of competition is great for a race. That doesn't mean that there need to be Kenyans and Ethiopian star athletes that steal the spotlight from local runners.
In generel, I like races best that are won at 5k 16:00 men or their female equivalent of 20:00 min,
I like the meta humor wrote:
Let me start by saying that I don't at all begrudge the hobby jogger crowd from going to races. I think it is great that people, no matter their ability or training level are willing to be active and go to races. However, I am starting to experience a disturbing trend where the fast runners are criticized for their ability or effort.
I ran a thanksgiving day Half Marathon this morning. It was mostly an out and back course. One of the aid stations was at about 5.5 miles on the way out, and 8.5 miles on the way back. As I was coming back, there were no volunteers noticing me come back, so I had to grab an energy gel off the table myself. I was able to do this because there were tables on both sides of the road. One of the runners heading out, yelled "cheater" at me. At the time, I assumed they were joking, but after the race I started to wonder.
There was also a 5k with the race. So the faster Half Marathon runners had to pass the crowds of 40-55 minute 5k runners during the last 2 miles of the race. After the race I talked to another top finishing runner, they said a 5ker yelled "show off" at him as he was pushing to finish the last quarter mile. Once again, maybe the person was joking. But it is still disheartening to think that people have no appreciation for the effort that someone who is trying to run fast, is putting in at the end of a race. If you can't resist the urge to yell at a runner passing you, just be positive and say "good job." When I finish a race, I cheer on the slower runners. I don't try to think of something sarcastic or funny to yell at them.
.
Let me unequivocally state on behalf of my fellow hobby joggers, that we fully condemn this rising trend of the shaming and humiliating of the fast runners. The fast runners that I know are good people and they deserve to be able to finish their race without the harassment of pejoratives cast upon them. These poor competitors should not have to worry about being the victims of abusive and really bullying behavior from anyone.
A group of us hobby joggers feel so strongly about this that we are organizing groups of hobby joggers to wait at the finish lines to protect the fast runners from any harassment.
We hear you and you good people have our support!
Its happened to Steve Madness. He's being called a bandit all because he was faster than some guy on the boards.
Anyone who uses the term "shaming" is an imbecile.
Glad I could help clear that up for you.
Funnage wrote:
We should shame fast people. They take the fun and joy of my group of friends racing a 5k or marathon. I shouldn't have to feel pathetic when I want to enjoy myself. This isn't the Olympics.
....Hey, I remember you..from tt.net :P
hello funnage.
formerD1 wrote:
I love the socialist mentality here. Always trying to bring down everyone else to the lowest common denominator.
Let me guess, you never ran in college, so you are more than happy to bring former elites down to your level, since you couldn't possibly ever get up to theirs?
There was a guy named Phil Coppess who never ran in college; indeed, who did not go to college. He was a hundred times better than you or the rest of us who ran in college.
Xenostreams wrote:
I think a healthy level of competition is great for a race. That doesn't mean that there need to be Kenyans and Ethiopian star athletes that steal the spotlight from local runners.
In generel, I like races best that are won at 5k 16:00 men or their female equivalent of 20:00 min,
I think 16 is more closely equivalent to 19. Just saying..........
CLO wrote:
I agree with OP.
I returned to the annual big trail race again this year, won by almost 10-min, and at the awards, the RD basically was disappointed that I didn't reset the CR from the year prior, resulting in all the guys flat out telling me in front of my daughter (yes, they had been drinking post-race cider and beer) that "come on, you suck!!" "What happened!?"
Geez, I left as soon as I could, it was a hostile environment.
Well, let's hope your daughter will learn the difference between good natured ribbing and hostility from someone, since you apparently don't know.