elites in a major marathon...unfair advantage?

I'd watch your cornhole if I were you. You're about to get your shit pushed in. Take it away boys....

If it is an advantage its certainly not enough to make your 2:29 --> 2:09, thats for sure.

It's not a time advantage, if that's what you mean. Try the London Marathon where you get your own enormous bottle of water at every station.

it is unfair? no, you earn those things by running faster - kind of like winning money for running fast or placing high. the faster you run the more perks you get.

plus, some smaller marathons will let you put out your own bottles with a 2.29 pb... choose one of those and stop bitching.

You mean those water bottles are assigned? I thought if you were fast enough to get there first you got to take one?

That advantage is somewhat negated by the fact that you, as a 2:29 marathoner, can have a friend pass you your bottles along the course, and nobody cares. A 2:13 marathoner tries that and they get disqualified.

I also noticed that those same elites get to start ahead of the rest of us. They get moved right up to the edge of the line while the rest of us have to sit back. Does anyone else find this frustrating?

Mr. ~2:29,

don't forget elites also have hospitality suites, warm and dry pre race staging areas, and a nice luxurious bus ride to the start with a bathroom versus the yellow school bus that non-elites must endure. The only reason elite athletes are better is because of the unfair advantage of the luxury bus, no other reason, especially not talent, desire, discipline, committment, etc.

liar @ 2:29

the original poster is just making a point. Some of you need to relax. The internet brings out the worst behavior in many people because it allows you to hide behind a keyboard...pathetic.

I ain't that hard to run with a cup of water. Pinch the cup shut and no water will spill. Jeez, if you're a 2:29 marathoner, one would think you would have learned this.

I think its harder to find your elite bottle than to grab a cup. You cant grab any bottle it has to be yours, so you are running 4:50- 5:20 pace and have about 8ft to scan 30 frigging bottles. Stop whining. And the elites do get to start in front of you. About 3ft in front. Nothing is stopping you from towing the line and running with them since you are about 2 seconds back.

That is all.

Nothing's fair in life or at least that's what my mommy and daddy told me. How about baby bottles put on the table for the non-elites who feel left out. I think it's a good solution.

I think the OP has a valid point. it would only cost like $5 per racer to provide everyone with bottles. but I guess it might not be worth it to many of you when you can drink out of cups just as well.

why are you guys flaming him like this? I'd be pissed if I thought I could shave some time off my PR with something that others are getting but I'm not.

hey cock bags, imagine running over 3000 water bottles, everyone tripping on their asses, great job idiots.

The disadvantage is the time it takes to get their water bottle and take a drink. You will be much faster if you don't waste time stopping for refreshments when you are trying to run a fast marathon. You are just like all the other sheep who think that just because there are cups of water on the table, you must take one and drink. It will only slow you down.

The advantage is negligable at best. A 2:29 marathon starts about 2-3 seconds in back of the best runners in the world at the biggest and fastest marathons in the world.

Regarding the water bottle question, the cup vs. water bottle issue is pointless. If it means so goddamn much to you then train harder, run sub 2:20 and you'll get the goddamn personal bottles on the course.

When I ran my PR of 2:18 at Berlin, I had bottles of VAAM out there, but I could not find mine at all for the first 30km. Finally at about 32km, some nice volunteer along the course had the goddamn decency to see me cummin' and hand the bottle right to me.

How often do you drink and how much do you take in at one time during a marathon?

scooleen wrote:

hey cock bags, imagine running over 3000 water bottles, everyone tripping on their asses, great job idiots.

hey nob cheese, you don't need to imagine it, come to london and run over 30000