Remember those high school xc t-shirts that said; "Our sport is your sport's punishment" ? That says it all.
Remember those high school xc t-shirts that said; "Our sport is your sport's punishment" ? That says it all.
Why run indeed. The running boom of the late 90s is huge. More folks are running now than ever before. Mind you, they're running slowly. And they're sometimes taking walk breaks every 10minutes. And they enjoy a Starbucks after 40min of tens and ones instead of a pint of ale after 12 X 400m, but at least they're active.
We children of the 70s running boom might get confused why anyone would want to run a marathon in 5hrs. In my day you didn't run a 26.2 race (men) unless you were thinking 3 hrs or better. A 40min 10km then was a training run. Now it's a goal race, a badge of honor to crack this barrier.
But if 40min 10kms and 5hr 'thons get fat people off their asses then I say Hurray for them. Keep running, enjoy it. Maybe you'll inspire some 300 pounders to run too.
My constant injuries and bad asthma mean I'll never be as competitive as I was in my early 20s. I'll never weigh 152lbs again. I'll never run 60mile weeks or back-to-back-to-back speed sessions in a week. But I enjoy my running now more than when I was training hard 20 years ago. And of course there's my kids: I can always live vicariously through them. THEY will be speedy little buggers.
If you want to know the real answer...
I take it that most people here actually LIKE running, although some of the racers, like a fair number of sprinters actually do not like the training, but what they do like is winning--same thing in my mind.
So, I did a search through this thread for the word "fun". This is, afterall, why most people play football, basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer and others for hours and hours, sometimes until they drop.
I saw much verbage about how "hard" running is, but absolutely nothing about how much fun it is. Only slightly tongue-in-cheek, I can only conclude that there is no FUN in running.
By various surveys, there are roughly 20 million people who run in the US. Most of those people probably DON'T like it, and only about 5% of that number finish a 5K (note: I didn't say "run," I said "finish"). and only about 2% finish a marathon. They run because they have to, not because they want to. The other 90% of the country isn't going to buy into this--spending precious free time doing something that you hate--which is why you have stuff like the Reebok Run Easy campaign and walking promoters selling it as "exercise" for "normal" people.
If it isn't FUN, you will NOT get most people to do it. Period. This is coaching 1A for high school if you want to build a program.
humans makes things like skateboards, rollerblades, bikes, cars, segway, mopeds, planes just so that they don't have to walk or run.
TRG,
For those that don't run, I think it mostly boils down to comfort. People (particularly Americans) like to be comfortable. When you work all day and are tired and you come home and it is 40 degrees, dark and raining, it's pretty easy to see why the couch would be more appealing than running. I always chose to run when faced with that decision and have plenty of reasons for it, but this thread is about why NOT run, not why do we run.
I think comfort is #1 reason. People tend to gravitate towards comfort.
darkness wrote:
kiko wrote:Let's be grateful that many slower people choose to support races. There wouldn't be many races if there was a time limit for finishers. Elite racers don't complain when YOU enter a race.
You are assuming that if joggers stopped going to races en masse, that other things couldn't change like people gettgin much better and tougher like it was in the 70's.
When I started running as a 10-year-old there were 50-ish women running 2:54 marathons, and they were NOT considered the superstars of the sport. I remember Ellison Goodall and one of the Sheas running about 2:32 and 2:34 and they were considered "good" and having an outside shot at making the olympic team ... now you are instantly heralded as the second coming ... until the next flavor-of-the-month comes along.
I ran my first 39:xx 10k at age 12 ... and finished OUT OF THE MEDALS in 13 and under that day. That is how tough people were back then. Some of the same people who ran well and competitively back then (28 years ago) are now still winning local races at 40 or even 50 years old ... because the teens and 20-somethings of 2007 are so soft there aren't many that can get it together enough to surpass these oldies.
That is why I say LESS people should run. I find someone "running" slower than 25:00 for 5k to be disgusting.
yes, that's very dark indeed. Have you ever considered attending anger management classes?
I have thought about this, as well. As a student in the health field, I have met so many people who would benefit from running (or any exercise, really). I think a lot of whether people run depends a great deal on the culture in which they've grown up and their level of affluence. It's really easy for me to criticize people for their unhealthy lifestyle choices. However, I also have to remember that I grew up in a very active household, and my mom always packed really healthy lunches for me (with carrots, apples, etc.) beginning in pre-school. While my family isn't excessively rich, I never had to worry about finding money to buy shoes, etc. I am also built to run. Like I said, I eat extremely healthy, but I could also probably not exercise at all & eat a bunch of oreos all day and still not be overweight-instead of skinny, I would probably be "normal-sized." Also, a lot of people obviously want to run but get injured all the time, as exemplified by a lot of posts on this board....so, in conclusion, these are just a few of the reasons I think a lot of people don't run. Though, like you, I definitely think they SHOULD run (or at least do SOME exericise)! Seriously, the number one cause of type 2 diabetes is obesity (at least, from my personal observations), and running/healthy eating would improve this situation immensely.Wow...this is a long post, but does anyone have any ideas about how to motivate people to start running/exercising?
Why doesn't everyone play checkers?
I think darkness has too much "darkness" in his/her life. Who the hell cares what people run in races, as long as they pay to run and are doing their best(and even if they're not) I don't mind them, just makes races stay around since they need money to exist.
This is a fair question and I don't think you can compare it to the practitioner of some niche activity who asks, "why doesn't everyone play table tennis?" The analagous question would be, "why doesn't everyone race the 1500?" not "why doesn't everyone run?" Running is an instinctual activity. Nobody has to teach you to run. Kids teach temselves to run and they voluntarily do it on their own. For some reason, most people eventually stop running altogether.
I've been thinking about this a lot actually while running with my dog. I've never heard of a dog that didn't want to run (very old/overweight dogs excepted).
I would never run if I wasnt fast..The only reason I do it is to be competitive...
Why don't you cycle, why don't you swim, why don't you hike?