When did the hobby jogger 3 hour + marathon types begin to saturate Letsrun?

Maybe LRC people have become more honest about their PRs

There used to be a pretty active forum on the Runners World website for 'hobby joggers' like myself. The magazine shut the forum down which was pretty crappy for people at the time.

Unfortunately the internet is now broken and people think Facebook is the world wide web, making crappy 'groups' on there instead.

Some of us refuse to use social media (except maybe Strava) so that brings us to LR. I also like the 'Runner's 4Chan' vibe.

Observation wrote:

This place used to be for people who ran on the track. If they ran a marathon, they were well under 3 hours.

Slowly but surely, the 3 hour + types have come to dominate this board.

Sad!

Hi Greg!

Now you use different handles to make fun of people who actually ran a marathon, unlike you.

Sad!

We started saturating letsrun when American men like Ryan Hall and Alsn Webb began chasing records. It gave American men like something exciting to read about and follow. I imagine it helped all run sites grow in popularity. If this site is seeking fast talented audiences. That's a short term and temporary goal.

Umm, more like when did all the corona and politics threads begin to dominate this forum... those are far more annoying.

Before Let’s Run, everyone ran 2:30 or faster marathons. Too much message-board posting has really slowed y’all down.

You are so right. I've spent years in readonly mode and only started posting after I hit OTQ standard (even if female). Those hobbyjogging zoomers, they're so entitled to everything!

Does the OP consider a 60 year old male 3 hour marathon runner a "hobby jogger" or a very good Grand Master?

Speaking of Grand Masters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYMkEMCHtJ4

Only sub 2:10 ‘thoners allowed on the boards

just accept it as humor - i got a nice chuckle when one of those types suggested that clayton murphy disappointing this year because he was training too far above (180-Age) heart rate

an elite 800m runner doing freaking MAF. what a damn gem

4 hour marathoners are far from the worst thing on this site. My first exposure to this site was probably around 2003-2004. It was smaller and had a higher percentage of post collegiate sub-elite runners. I don’t even think there were ads back then, certainly not the video intrusive ads. I’ve always been a hobby jogger by LRC forum definition, but I eventually broke a 3 hour marathon several times.

I get it that this site is for profit and the more traffic, the more ad revenue. I find a lot more clueless college kids, and even some clueless middle aged adults. It’s very polarized like the rest of the country right now, beginning with the perfect mix of Obama, Trump, social media and now COVID.

Many of the OG posters that were fast if still here are now 20 years older. Hard to stay a 2:20 marathoner for 20 years. I welcome the hobby joggers that represent 98% of “runners”.

Id say in this last decade it’s been more overwhelmed by immature teenagers and political trolls. And that goes for both sides of the wings. I’ve run 2:40s but that is slow compared to the 2:0s elites. So to have any sort of ego about that is just stupid. It would be nice to get back to discussing training and racing on this site. But as others have said the Brojos have set the tone that they want ad money over good content.

Banana Nut Crunch Fan wrote:

Manchester wrote:

Why should this be "welcoming" to everyone? If you don't like it just leave.

Ok then, enjoy your message board full of middle aged washed up white dudes who are largely lying about their running times.

Cya

Devastating loss for the community...

I’d actually rather engage with 20min 5k types that understand that their results, while putting them in the top 5-10% of a race, are nothing great… rather than the 15 min 5k runners that will finish in the top 1% and think that they are special.

You all have been trolled!

I know the OP. The bet was can he post something that will get at least a 2 page response in under 24 hours.

Well played sir - I will honor my end of the bargain.

Observation wrote:

This place used to be for people who ran on the track. If they ran a marathon, they were well under 3 hours.

Slowly but surely, the 3 hour + types have come to dominate this board.

Sad!

This is an obvious troll post, that gets a 0/10 for trolling. But, taken on face value:

People that run "well under" 3 hours in the marathon are a small minority of the human population, certainly less than 0.1%. A successful website does not cater to only 0.01% of the population and exclude the other 99.9% of the population, ensuring that they can make no money at all on ad revenue. You'd think this would be obvious to everyone. But it's not.

Observation won wrote:

You all have been trolled!

I know the OP. The bet was can he post something that will get at least a 2 page response in under 24 hours.

Well played sir - I will honor my end of the bargain.

Tell us what you owe him. Is it of a sexual nature?

Observation, you are a d---!! And all that is wrong with running and why it can't get major sponsorship and support for our runners, let alone get these races on television or streamed not behind paywalls. We need to grow this sport not just leave it for the Elite. And I have no problem mentioning my full name, Vanessa Bogenholm. Let's see you be willing to do the same.

vanessa3323 wrote:

Observation, you are a d---!! And all that is wrong with running and why it can't get major sponsorship and support for our runners, let alone get these races on television or streamed not behind paywalls. We need to grow this sport not just leave it for the Elite. And I have no problem mentioning my full name, Vanessa Bogenholm. Let's see you be willing to do the same.

He is Greg. So yes, he's a dic.k.