The epitome of RunnersWorld

You can be elite (at anything, really) if in the face of the fact that you suck at it and always will with the approach you're taking, you still keep trying.

I'm an elite chef because I keep cooking the same crap dishes over and over, I never give up. Even when it seems tough, I buckle down and persevere. That's me, elite.

I don't think, in all my years, I've ever seen someone so out-of-touch with what it takes to truly excel, at least in running. To compare a pro who is cutting losses by stepping off the course before the finish when out of the money and having a bad day with some slob who is contemplating whether to carry on from the water table at the 3-hour mark at mile 20 is so incredibly ignorant and just plain wrong. This is the kind of moronic groupthink that is the product of boundless positive reinforcement. What an army of stupid phonies.

Agreed, that forum needs more negativity. The support that these penguins offer one another is moderately disturbing.

Did anyone read the Penguin's article in RW this month. In my opinion it sounded like he was taking shots directly at the Letsrun crowd.

As I was reading it I was thinking, he must be reading some of the posts that slam him and his followers and now he's striking back. It was pretty funny. Not sure if his articles are on the RW website or not.

what a bunch of nobs. i don't begrudge anyone's times or how fast/slow they run. if they enjoy it and respect the sport, fine, everyone be happy. what i do mind is: dumbass penguins lining up at the front of races, hungry-hippo oprah worshippers walking 3-4 abreast clogging up the path or sidewalk, headphone wearing dillweeds not paying attention and blocking people in on trails, jogging/walking inconsiderates taking the inside-lane at the track and not having any inclination to move.....

denton is the real deal though; a sub 29 min 10k runner and former Canadian xc champ. Don't know what he's still doing over there. He's savvy and entertaining though. I too was over there at the beginning. TX, were you ever on merv?

dang. when I had defizzed coke at my marathon aid stops in the early 90's, I thought I was so avant garde. in reality, even then it was just a tired old cliche. tant pis.

dumbass wrote:

"I don't think "elite" can be defined as a measure of performance, ... I think what makes someone elite is how they react when times get tough."

I would disagree. While a person's persistence and toughness is admirable and a prominent trait of many elites, there is no way to measure that. It's merely a description or perception made by those around them. Although I don't feel "Elite" is all that important or meaningful of a title in itself, I do feel it corresponds to a person's place within the hierarchy of performances for their specific group (Event and Age). Elite means you are that top 3% of the pack, the admired, the known, the sometimes-respected. Look at it in other areas of society, those with power, money, fame were the elite. I don't see any other way of looking at it.

Joggers World does suck I agree.

You know, you guys and gal are the first to cry about the sport not getting it's due in the mainstream press and society, however the people that keep the sport going - the average runner gets bashed to pieces by you folks.

If I were a potential sponsor of a race, series, whatever, and I was doing some research on the sport and came here...I wouldn't sponsor anything. Why would a sponsor want to associate their name with a bunch of shallow, callous, complainers? If I were to sponsor the event what would happen next? Letsrun wrath bashing my product, event, and potential consumers of my product or service? I really want to pay so that my product can be bashed and defamed by the average letsrunner, you know the guy who bitches about everything yet has never run the distance or tried the product.

Get over yourselves and be thankful that the mid-packers are there to pump money into the sport. Without them we would be...I don't know...bowlers. Except that ESPNU puts collegiate bowling on their regular programming schedule.

the truth ruth wrote:

If I were a potential sponsor of a race, series, whatever, and I was doing some research on the sport and came here...I wouldn't sponsor anything. Why would a sponsor want to associate their name with a bunch of shallow, callous, complainers? If I were to sponsor the event what would happen next? Letsrun wrath bashing my product, event, and potential consumers of my product or service? I really want to pay so that my product can be bashed and defamed by the average letsrunner, you know the guy who bitches about everything yet has never run the distance or tried the product.

This makes absolutely zero sense.

As a sidenote, the average post on Runner's World does appear to have fewer grammatical errors than the average letsrun post. Just an observation before everyone gets too self-righteous.

KGJ wrote:

dumbass wrote:

"I don't think "elite" can be defined as a measure of performance, ... I think what makes someone elite is how they react when times get tough."

I would disagree. While a person's persistence and toughness is admirable and a prominent trait of many elites, there is no way to measure that. It's merely a description or perception made by those around them. Although I don't feel "Elite" is all that important or meaningful of a title in itself, I do feel it corresponds to a person's place within the hierarchy of performances for their specific group (Event and Age). Elite means you are that top 3% of the pack, the admired, the known, the sometimes-respected. Look at it in other areas of society, those with power, money, fame were the elite. I don't see any other way of looking at it.

Either that or the author didn't extend it far enough, to being tough enough to get out there every day, twice a day, to get the training in. That's the really tough part of it all, not just soldiering on one or two days of the year. I don't think any 4:00+ marathoners posting on RWOL are doing that, not even close. Probably less than 5% of their regular posters run more than 7 times a week on a regular basis.

I noticed that it was just as bad, if not worse, on RWOL.

Our posts do have less errors because we're adults. This place is filled with penis envy juveniles. The fact that you try so hard to make fun of the people who post at RW shows just how insecure all of you kids really are.

Now run along kids and cut the lawn before daddy gets home and takes away your allowance.

"what is the difference between an elite runner and a normal runner?"

"wow. good question. do you mean physically or psychologically?"

"Look at Boston Qualifiers. I consider anyone who makes it Elite, however if you look at some of the qualifying times, they are not exactly world class."

"hmm, which will i make it to first"

"Sorry, but I would never consider oprah an elite athlete."

"At least, the ones you would want to know"

"Kiwi's can fly"

"you guys made letsrun.com. They are mocking this thread look at txRUNNERgirl"

29 posts and at least twice as many obvious errors.

???????? wrote:

Why annoying? One of the great mysteries to me, is why a segment of the population insists they line up at the front of races when they will finish in the bottom third of the race. Why line up in the front? Is it a rush to get passed by the whole field? Training runs: When doing a tempo run on a path, why is it up to me to move away from soccer Moms running 4 across taking up the whole path?

The first part, I honestly can't answer. It's a mystery to me too.

The few road races I've ran, I've started far back seeing how eager all these other people were to get near the front. Can be kind of intimidating when you don't race a lot and aren't in much shape. The gun goes off and you're dodging the guys who thought it was a 100m dash, and past all these people before the mile marker.

The second part isn't exclusive to joggers. Anyone walking will never move, it's always me who has to take the move. The only people who are usually considerate are the people walking their dogs. I still go wide anyways in case the dog didn't notice me and I spook it or it doesn't like runners, but they still move out the way to avoid leash entanglement.

Runners in general aren't given much consideration.

Serious runners put in a lot more time than the joe jogger. So when praise/notice is given, and it's toward joe jogger, not the guy busting his ass 80 miles yada yada, I can see why the serious guy would feel an injustice has been done.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

I was a regular poster there a very long time ago (under a different name) when they first had forums, so I have the right to pick on them. It's sort of like picking on a younger sibling. I didn't mean any harm.

I used to post on there too a long time ago until I got banned for calling them "Jogger's Earth". Do any of you remember the mock Runners's World cover with some overweight jogger smiling on the cover? Was that Running Times who published that?

Oh, lighten up. Runner's World is what it is. It's a mag for recreational joggers and weekend warriors. So what? It has its place, and that place isn't for the vast majority who post here.

Maybe you should focus more on your training and improving like you obviously need to do instead of mocking joggers?

An important angle you might be missing is that even though letsrun is full of trolls, pranksters, and wannabees, I can always find something interesting or humorous to read. When posting stuff on this board, most letsrunners don't take themselves too seriously. Runnersworld.com is the exact opposite and that makes it fun to mock them.