I never thought I'd start a thread about this topic, but it seems no one really tires of it, so here goes:
First, some background information. I ran my first marathon in 3:35 four years ago. Since then I have made a concerted effort to improve as much as possible. I went into the Pittsburgh marathon last may with a 2:44 pr and was looking to go 2:35-2:37. However, I didn't do enough pace work in training and, instead of slogging around out there, decided to drop out and start training again quickly.
This was a little hard to deal with but, after some time off, I started training again furiously. I decided that I needed to run a race to regain confidence in my abilities so I keyed on a 5k on July 20. (My 5k pr progression is 21:37 in 1998 to 16:38 in 2001). I went into the race this past weekend and came within 5 seconds of that pr. It was exactly what I needed, and I was happy.
After the race I was cooling off and I noticed I had a raging headache and I was nauseous, in addition to usual after-race fatigue. I mentioned this to my parents while discussing the race in detail as I often do when I have a good one, and they gave me some tylenol or something like that.
Out of nowhere, a woman who had come in quite some time after me said, "I think that people who are out there running longer go through more pain."
Wtf? Why would some random woman, who doesn't even know who I am, say something like that? I figured she was annoyed, maybe she thought that I was bragging about my time and how hard I pushed myself. In reality, I was happy with my time, but in pain, and just expressing that. Shortly after her comment, she seemed to make a point to cheer for her friend: "Good job so and so, sub 30."
Now, I don't usually get wrapped up in the doings of other runners slower than me. I figure they can do whatever they want. Generally I bought the argument that they probably admire faster runners and therefore weren't worthy of their ire. I have always admired runners faster than myself.
I just couldn't believe that this woman was probably annoyed with me, probably just assuming that I was some gifted athlete who never worked hard, cruised through 5ks and then complained about minor pain. In reality, I was proud of my time and performance but realize that it wasn't really praiseworthy, but I've been working my ass off for years to get better.
I know she doesn't stand for all slower runners but it really changed the way I look at things. Not everyone back there thinks the top guys in local road races are worthy of emulation. Some simply think they're jerks who have some sort of natural ability and like to whine. And in reality, the top guys in local road races are for the most part guys who really are trying to get better, who might not ever reach the next level, and are stuck between a rock and a hard place.