Why do people LIE to serious runners?

M.C. Confusing wrote:

"The older I get, the better I was." - Dizzy Dean

When I started running track in high school, my friend's dad said that he ran our event (800m) too. He said he ran 2:01 when we first started out. That story lasted him until we ran 1:58 and then he changed his story to 1:58. When I dropped down to 1:55 he changed to 1:56 every time he talked about it. But at least as we got faster, his times didn't drop below that 1:56 he told us.

My high school cross country coach did this but with workouts. "Oh yeah at my high school, we did a 5 mile warm-up and then did 10xmile repeats @ 5:00 with 1 min rest! Then 5 mile cool-down. You guys have it easy. They called me the white stallion." This was the extreme quote as the story gradually increased mileage and pace.

The question 'Why do people LIE' is really an interesting debate. Because of our bad nature we lie because of so many reasons. Chief among them is facing condemnation.An article here-why-do-people-lie further explains reasons why people lie.

Sad Sack wrote:

Honestly this guy had no excuse to lie like that but you come off as kind of a jerk in this situation. Why laugh in his face?

He comes off as a jerk? Not the guy who is trying to bald-face lie he way through a conversation? Compulsive liars should be laughed at. Because they tend to be terrible people.

RRRR wrote:

An old roommate once told me that he ran 4:12 for the mile in high school as a sophomore, won the 1600m at the NY state meet, and that he "got bored" with running and decided to get into music after winning the race. I checked...nada.

This guy was very fit, and one day proclaimed that he was taking running "back up". We decided to jump into an all-comer's meet for kicks and race the 800 together.

I wasn't running much at the time, but still managed a 2:02. The high school sophomore phenom, who didn't have an ounce of fat or bulk muscle on him?

2:28 for 800m.

4:12 mile/ NY State Champ my a$$.

This makes me think that so often the lie is a time exaggeration of either 1 minute or hour. In this case, the placing was an obvious lie, but the time could have been off by one minute (he claimed 4:12, whereas 5:12 was probably more realistic). I've seen similar things with people on the paces they "used" to run (5 miles at 5:00 pace, when they'd be lucky to run 6:00 pace).

In Paul Ryan's case, it was more like an hour for marathon finishing time.

Maybe it's something as simple as "I ran... (to self: no, that's not impressive enough - SUBTRACT 1!!!!) X time.

In any case it's pathetic, and interesting. It's safe to say he felt insecure enough around you to feel the need to lie to improve his image (maybe you look fit, and he feels fat?). It's also likely that people like that are used to getting away with their lies, so it doesn't cross their minds that you would have the ability to call them out.

???????? wrote:

When someone says you are a runner do you correct them and say "I'm not a runner, I'm a seriour runner"?

Now, that's a good one! I actually do feel annoyed when others refer to me as a jogger!! A jogger!!! I can't take that...insult.