When did a 3-hour marathon become something to brag about?

When people realized it was hard to do. Not everyone's as fast as you, some people have to work to get faster.

for us dudes over 45 or 50, breaking 3 hours ain't so easy.

you'll see....

This thread is stupid. I've come close to breaking 3:00. I'm 43 years old. When the economy was booming I was working near 60 hours a week as a construction worker on my feet all day. I support a family of 5. Should I brag?

Totally agree.... bragging is for the insecure. But a sub 3 marathon for someone who never ran in HS or university is solid. So many of you past collegiate runners take yourselves so seriously. Lighten up Cassidy.[/quote]

Bump.

When you get to be over 40 and going to China 5-6 times a year...lets see u run under 3 hrs.

Should it not be a source of pride for the 5'9'' unathletic white guy to work his arse off on his vertical doing plyo and weight training so he can dunk a basketball just because Yao Ming can reach up and dunk effortlessly without jumping?

China dog wrote:

When you get to be over 40 and going to China 5-6 times a year...lets see u run under 3 hrs.

When did going to China become something to brag about?

when most of the people say it is nothing to brag about have never run a marathon.

They probably consider 10 miles a long run.

heat index of 115 maybe? i'd be impressed

old and in the way wrote:

for us dudes over 45 or 50, breaking 3 hours ain't so easy.

you'll see....

Trust me, very few of these guys will still be running when they're our age. It requires a great deal of humility in the face of so many harsh realities.

Wrong. 2:50 was the standard not 3:05.

Coffee added wrote:

Wrong. 2:50 was the standard not 3:05.

Would someone post the BAA standards year by year.Thanks

What kind of a dickkhead 'brags' about his marathon time, regardless of what it is?

It's all relative. But for the likes of this forum, just getting just under 3 hours is not that spectacular. I do, however, think once people go sub 2:50 it becomes another ballgame. At that level, you're talking about a runner that can hit a low-5-min or sub-5-min mile and keep a roughly 6:30 or below marathon pace. That's quite good for an amateur. And apart from the most naturally aerobically gifted it requires much dedication over a longer period. What % of marathoners go sub 2:50? Probably a very low number.

Toney - I agree with your comments. However, the OP didnt really state in the original post about people specifically bragging about a sub-3. Of course there are some who do and who are the type of people who cant stop talking about themselves and their running without even being asked. The tenor of the OP (imho) was that running achievements have been dumbed down.

Giddy (poster on page 1) put it nicely as follows:

It's typical let's run envy calling out 3:00 marathoners who are proud of their accomplishment, simply due to the frustration that the general running community doesn't understand that you're better, or probably more accurate, doesn't care.

Are you really mad that they're bragging about running 3 hours, or are you pissed that they aren't touting your horn because you're faster and you want them to know it

The thread is a typical non-constructive letsrun thread whereby someone makes a sweeping generalized, provocative stmt.

Blizzardo wrote:

I think most non-runners just picture hoardes of runners going down the street like a parade, without a concern about what their time may be. Which is generally the case.

LOL

Thats so true

When I started running in the 1970's, if you broke 3:00, you were a runner. If you ran slower than 3:00, you were a jogger. Simple as that.

I think the opposite question is better:

When did 3 hours become something you shouldn't brag about?

sLCsucks wrote:

When I started running in the 1970's, if you broke 3:00, you were a runner. If you ran slower than 3:00, you were a jogger. Simple as that.

An arbitrary and meaningless assignment as the time "3 hours" itself.

On Letsrun, it is not something to brag about. This is a site for runners who are competitive. I've gotten tired of the site being taking over by Politically Correct runners who spend more time on their own blogs than they do actually trying to make themselves better runners. It's sad that 3 hours has become what it has become. It's like lowering the standards in school so the dumb kids feel better about themselves.