I'm not being elitist, but I HAVE slow runners.

Toby, I have ... so much ... of the things you choose to be.

"really care about running, but as a SPORT, not as some kind of charity circus"

That pretty much sums it up, you are a selfish asshole who cares way to much about finishing first in your age group and looks down upon people who are slower than you. "charity circus" screw you!

The hell I am! I'm getting so much flak on here about it, but seriously, there are some damn slow "runners" out there. But it matters to me! And if I have to look like a jerk to hammer my point across, then so be it! You shouldn't be talking either, you probably haven't broken 20 minutes in the 5k yourself.

I'm afraid that's exactly what a lot of road races have become.

Challenging this provokes the kind of response you provided. It can be difficult to see beyond charity = good, I know.

Please ignore the post above.

Give me example of how legit charities are bad. Please i am giving you a chance to explain yourself.

Well we could open a whole can of worms about various charities and what they actually do with your money. But my point is that the 'charity running boom' we have seen over the last decade has helped to undermine standards. You are immune from criticism, and your halo shines brightly if you run for charity. This is a unique issue for running that other sports don't really have to deal with. No one asks you to sponsor them to play badly in a soccer game.

I wonder why no one thought of this before. What a unique thread.

Thanks for finding the time to contribute to it.

Unless there is a lot of prize money on the line or something I don't think it's a sin for slower runners to line up near the front. They paid their money just like the 15min guys. And even though they are lucky to break 25min perhaps they too are interested in running a PR, in which case they want to be near the start line so they don't lose precious seconds in pursuit of their new personal best. I know it might sound silly to some of you faster runners, but is it really that much more important for you to set a new PR and get a little plastic trophy than it is for a 25min 5k runner to run a new personal best? You're both weekend fun-runners who don't have a shot in hell at getting a pro contract or qualifying for the Trials. So why should you be allowed special privileges over the slower runners?

Look, I'm more of an 18min guy, and I line up a few rows back because, well, I don't give a shit if I have to fight a little traffic early on. However, if I see fatties and baby strollers lining up near the front I don't think a thing of it. What's the worst that will happen? Some dude stuck behind them at the beginning of the race runs 16:50 instead of 16:40. Who cares?

I say ley all the slow, attractive, single people run. That way, post-race get-togthers will have a higher success rate of hooking up.

Here we go again. "I'm not elitist, buuuuuuut."

What next, "Some of my best friends are elites"? Please. When's the last time you even had an elite come over to your house? Yeah, thought so.

Admit it, you're a rabid elitist!

we have a winner. best post of thread.

10/10

You say 'what next?', then proceed to get annoyed about something that hasn't actually happened. I've never made any wild claims.

please see screen name

not true wrote:

I think he meant "I have a slew of runners." As in he has a lot of runners. Perhaps a college coach with too much talent on the team? Does Vin post on letsrun?

A "slew"-- As in Seattle Slew, the famous racehorse? That would suggest fast runners.

A more poetic group name might be an "exaltation" --

-- as in an exaltation of larks... the metaphor of flight being more fully hinted at.... again suggesting celerity.

Of course, instead of HAVE, the word could be "enclave" (the speed and excitement of the writer as he types causing elision of some letters... and then it might be the Reebok Enclave. But as this group doesn't exist now, perhaps the writer is suggesting that speed is a thing of the past, something he wishes to HAVE in the present.

In any event, the writer's foregrounding of "HAVE" by the use of capitals creates ambiguity and prompts a host of (semi-)deliberate misreadings, all designed to deconstruct the terms "slow," slaw, slew, HAVE, Ave (perhaps it is a Latin greeting he has in mind), and thus erasure of "hate" and its companion noun "hatred." The writer riddles the audience, re-creates meaning, and thereby brings us full circle to an alternate universe in which he does not hate but rather admires the runners he mentions, transforming the term "hate" into possession -- a component of desire... or love.

So, in effect, the writer loves slow runners.

It is all about race etiquette. If you are an 18 minute guy and line up a few rows back, you have race etiquette. Thank you. If you are a 25 minute guy, or pushing a stroller and line up in the front row, you have no race etiquette.

I think that is the point that Mr. Annoyed is trying to get across. He is not an elitist, he doesn't want to ban runners, just make sure they don't mess up his race.

Quit whining. You will be ahead of these stroller-pushing folks (who are in it for just as valid of a reason as you are) for 99.9% of the race, and that 99.9% is more important than the .1% that they ARE in your way for. Distance races are not lost at the starting line. Do you use blocks for your road races too?

I'm not being elitist, but I have opinions.

watch me type them in CAPS!!!!

MY OPINION MAKES A DIFFERENCE!!!111!!!1!!1!

I knew I was onto something.

'At various stages during the 3,000m, steeplechase and 5,000m races the slowest athlete gets eliminated.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A37542350