"Top" Colorado Runner....

Good for you - I hope you get it! If a local company or anyone else sees your attributes as marketable, then they ARE marketable. I know that I, along with many of the other posters on this board, would love to have our races paid for, and have $1,000 for shoes, gear and travel.

Another thing, the slowest runners in the race often get a lot of applause as they struggle up the home stretch. Sure, it IS mostly sympathy cheering, but it still counts! Maybe there is even a niche for the end-of-the-pack athletes. Personally, I think it must be harder to run a 5:00 marathon than a 2:30!

DPG wrote:

I think it must be harder to run a 5:00 marathon than a 2:30!

please don't say things like that.

active.com sponsorships are a joke. I applied a few years ago for the heck of it and despite having run 31 minutes for 10k I was told I did not make the cut. So looked into some of the people they were sponsoring and lo and behold, I saw all sorts of 20 year old 19 minute 5k runners and slower. I sent a sarcastic email to the company and some clit waggling clam got back to me with the advice to not insult their site or their program. Plus those dickheads take forever to take people off their spamming lists. I won't register for races thru that site either, no reason they should get an extra $2 or $3 for playing the middle man. I hope active.com goes under, and that everyone in the company winds up on the street with nothing, forced to give b*******s in order to scrape up enough pennies to keep them in Ramen noodles and MD 20/20.

And neither are the guys and gals who play on sponsored adult softball teams all over the country ... but they get to play games, and maybe get some free grub, etc on someone else's nickle all fror wearing a "Joe's Beer Barn" jersey.

Denver runner wrote:

Running is a great sport. Everyone can do it, but some people need to realize that they may not be as "good" as they think they are.

"And neither are the guys and gals who play on sponsored adult softball teams all over the country ... but they get to play games, and maybe get some free grub, etc on someone else's nickle all fror wearing a "Joe's Beer Barn" jersey."

Sure. They're also not out there claiming that they're going to attract all sorts of "attention" for the comapny by wearing the company's name on a thursday night beer league softball game.

Most of the softball "sponsors" are the comapanies that the players work for in the first place, much like this gentleman's deal with his smoothie company or whoever he worked for in his previous "sponsorship."

When softball players are putting themselves up on ebay telling companies of the exposure they'll get when they go up to pick up their "MVP" trophy, then we'll talk...

My only point in making that statement is that having run under 2:30 for a marathon 4 times myself, I have a tough time imagining how much pounding you must put your body through when running for twice as long.

I DO know what kind of training and preparation goes into running a fast marathon, but I also know I have never run for even 3 hours, much less 5. I just think that would be very difficult.

"On Semptember 25, 2005 I took third place in the Westwoods Elementary Run With the Wolves."

How did he come up with this stuff. Hilarious. Pure genious. Good luck dude!

So did homeboy lose to or beat the wolves?

This whole thing brings up an interesting question, namely, what is sponsorship worth to THE SPONSOR? To me, this is kind of like buying land. The old line about land is "What's it worth? It's worth whatever the next guy will pay for it." As the buyer, it's up to you to make sure that the land isn't a swamp or a former pesticide dump. OTOH, it's required of the seller to accurately list the land (can't say it's virgin old growth forest if it isn't), but it's not up to him to inform you that there's some better land down the road at half the price. Similarly, the sponsor of the runner needs to do a little research about sponsorship in general, and the runner seeking sponsorship needs to portray themself with accuracy.

Consider: perhaps a local pizza joint decides to give this kid some shoes, energy bars, and gels in exchange for running in a singlet that says "Larry's Pizza" on it because Larry has determined that the sort of people who like his pizza are also the sort of people who run races called "Run with the Wolves". For Larry, it's basic advertising. Maybe 3rd place is just fine for him. Now, what would be very BAD is if the runner falsifies his resume, making Larry think he's going to get consistent overall winner podium exposure for his singlet advertisement. Ultimately, if Larry thinks it's in his best interest to give this runner $1k, that's Larry's business not ours, and all the power to the kid for doing something that works for him.

So, did the runner falsify his resume? I don't get that impression. Did he mislead by referring to himself as a "top" runner? Maybe. Top overall? Top in age group? I guess that's debatable.

The better question is, Did Larry lose money because the runner got beat by a girl? Will People no longer go to Larry's pizza joint because they think it will make them run slower?

Hello lovers and haters,

It is nice to see that some of you are coming to your senses. First of all, I did not falsify my resume, do you really think that someone would lie about my times? The "Run with the Wolves" exists, you can look it up on active.com if you really think I am lying about that. It is a small race that benefits a Jefferson County Elementary school in western Arvada. The night before I ran that race I did not know that it existed. A lot of the athletes on my track team go to that school, that is why it caught my eye. The night before that race I went out clubbing with my wife and a couple of friends got totally hammered, and after I was unable to wake my wife to go to church I staggered over to my computer, and found the closest race starting the soonest. I have always wondered what it would be like to run a race really really hungover. The funny thing was that I ran 30 seconds (18:36) faster than the week before at the Farmers 5000 (19:10) and placed higher. I do not know why I am telling you all this story, but I am really starting to enjoy this debate.

By the way, there is a race happening at Washington Park in Denver, Colorado called the "TTTS race for hope" It is benefiting "Girls on the run" a local womens group who take girls of all ages running and teach them confidence. I will be there, I would love to meet any one of you and attempt to use you as a rabbit since you elite runners are going to destroy my "pathetic" self.

until I annoy you again,

Ben "The best runner ever"

stop it wrote:

The better question is, Did Larry lose money because the runner got beat by a girl? Will People no longer go to Larry's pizza joint because they think it will make them run slower?

First, this scenario is just a fictional tool for illustrative purposes; a devil's advocate of sorts. Second, if Larry loses money on the deal, that's no ones fault but Larry's. Third, in this particular scenario I don't think anyone would care if Mr. Runner got "beat by a girl" (who asks that sort of question anyway, 14 year olds?) Fourth, the average person at a local road race is not there to win, they're there to participate and support some charity/cause, so they don't care about Larry's pizza making them fast or slow, and all Larry cares about is making sure these people know Larry's exists.

That said, if I were Larry, would I fork over $1k to this individual? No.

JimFiore wrote:

So, did the runner falsify his resume? I don't get that impression. Did he mislead by referring to himself as a "top" runner? Maybe. Top overall? Top in age group? I guess that's debatable.

[quote]atownroadrunner wrote on ebay.com:

By winning this auction, you are buying a piece of a proven winner.

Proven winner of WHAT, exactly? I see no 1sts listed in that resume in the description.

Ben the Clown: You'd love that your plan would fall to pieces well before the first mile marker? You waste your time collecting dorky, meaningless trinkets at small potatoes races, I've got better uses for my time and energy than on someone obsessed with dicking around and pissing away potential. Congrats on breaking 18, though, maybe you could keep working for the next decade and find a race with an even steeper downhill course to break 17.

Atownroadrunner wrote:

I will be there, I would love to meet any one of you and attempt to use you as a rabbit since you elite runners are going to destroy my "pathetic" self.

Apparently your intelligence did not get you anywhere close to college, either.

Bub, I betcha $1 million that it took way more physical effort in training + racing to hit that 2:30 than it did for any slob to hit 5:00 (or even 4:00.) I think the rarity speaks to what's the more difficult task.

5 hour marathons ain't running wrote:

Bub, I betcha $1 million that it took way more physical effort in training + racing to hit that 2:30 than it did for any slob to hit 5:00 (or even 4:00.) I think the rarity speaks to what's the more difficult task.

you are confusing difficult with impressive. nobody is debating that 5:00 is not impressive. It is not, however, easy to run for 5:00. at any pace. in fact, i would claim that it's easier for me to run for 3 hours at 6:35 pace (my modest marathon PR) than it is for me to run 3 hours at 10:00 pace. it hurts running slow.

No, I neither said nor implied nothing at all about "impressive." YOU are confusing just a few hundred hours of effort (painful or not) in training and racing for a 4+ hour marathon with tens of thousands of hours of effort spent going thousands of miles to prepare for 2:30. The greater effort outlay for the race AND everything leading up to the race, and not just the race itself, rates as the more difficult feat.

So it is tougher for say, Evans Rutto to run 2:30 than for Joe Six-Pack or Oprah to run 5:00? A 2:30 for a super-fit athlete should NOT feel that tough on race day, because he or she has trained their body to be used to the feeling of that effort. The 5:00 people often have NOT been able to train for a 5-hour effort! Who has 5 uninterrupted hours a day for training?!? (Not me. Not some of you - since that would cut into your message board posting time!) So many of these 5:00+ runners are going to be "racing" for 2 or 3 hours longer than they have ever continuously run before. That is MY point in saying a 5:00 is tougher than 2:30. A fast marathon is very tough from preparation thru the race finish, but so is a slow one!