Is it lame to win a half marathon by 10 minutes?

Also, should, for some reason that I can in no way relate to, you decide to run this as a tempo effort (foregoing a potential PR in the process), you should not, by any means, tell people after the race that you were not giving it your all and that "it was just a workout." Now that would be insulting.

Dream2Meme wrote:

New 1:10 guy wrote:

Yes, please go into that race thinking you'll win by 10 minutes. I'll be there to take you down a notch when I out kick you in the last mile. Mentally you won't be on your A game thinking a win is a given, meanwhile I'll be there ready to battle all the way to the end. Just don't complain about getting 2nd place on here after the race.

Alright sweet please show up, I'd love to not run alone this year. A 1:10 finish in 2nd place sounds much better than another 1:17 win

Ok great, now you just have to let me know when and where the race is and hopefully I have enough time to train to drop my time about 18 minutes so that I can actually run 1:10. Ha!

If you can run a 1:10 then you should be able to find a half marathon that awards cash you can win. Even if it's enough to cover entry & gas it's worth it.

I've driven an hour and a half for $200 (2nd place). It's not much money, but with a cash prize you are almost guaranteed competition. Look up results from previous years and estimate.

Also, races are for racing.

Best of luck.

Just make sure after you finish you do a victory lap of the course as a warm down and tell everyone "nice race" as you jog past them. Or if there's chip timing, just start 10 minutes after everyone. Then let the second place guy nip you at the line only to later find out he's 10 minutes in arrears.

I understand your situation perfectly. I had a number of years where I was in 2:24-2:25 marathon shape, but lived in a rural area with few racing opportunities. It can be hard to get a peak performance when all alone out there, but it does reward being well in touch with your body.

If you don't have many opportunities to race, you've just got to take them whenever you get them. I think most of the runners out there appreciate that someone in your shape is running the same event. If you're worried about impressions, take nerp's advice and cool down running the course in opposite direction cheering for the other runners. Be friendly with everyone.

If it's possible arrange one or two major trips to bigger races where you'll have deep competition, but until then just race hard on your own when you get the chance. I don't know about you, but for me even when I was racing way out in front, I was able to put out a stronger effort than when time trialing in a non-race situation alone.

Go for it. I set my pr in a half that I won by over 8 minutes. Made $500 for the win plus $250 for the course record bonus.

I really don't like tempo effort races. I just personally feel like a douche. I did it once to support a local charity that my wife cares about but it didn't really fit into my training so I went easy. The other "leaders" recognized me and asked why I was running so slow. I apologized, tried to do all the work for them and then kicked the last mile to not look likes total dick.

Lurker wrote:

Showing off? Good lord, is everyone in America entitled to be offended by everything these days? ...

Ummm, yes. Since when is it against the law to be offended?

Tempoing a race is lame. Go hard and get that PR son!

I was in a 10K where the winner ran his marathon pace to an easy win. I finished fifth in a then-pr four minutes behind him. I wasnt mad when he said he was running marathon pace because none of the other fast locals showed up. He then gave me advice on my first marathon. It was a nice talk, I knew he could have run faster and brought up most of the conversation though.

It's not against the law, it is just the ultimate millennial conceit. As if anyone really gives a crap about your taking offense?

Plus, it is a pointless exercise. Oh you didn't give it your all!? You showed me up by jogging while I was giving it my all.

You ran the race all out? Oh you've embarrassed me because I wasn't good enough to keep up with you! (The participation mentality strikes again - news flash: don't invest so much emotional energy into a sport if you're going to get offended if someone beats you by giving it there best).

Get over yourselves millenials. No one cares about your feelings. They're your idiosyncrasy to deal with, they're not to be foisted upon the rest of us.

Dream2Meme wrote:

Last year I ran a small half marathon in it's first annual year and won by two minutes despite taking a bathroom pit stop. This year I'm in exponentially better shape and feel like I could win by nearly ten minutes if I reach my goal time of 1:10 and the competition is just as sparse as it was last year. Is that lame of me to run that race? Should I just look for a more competitive race? Annoying thing is that I already paid for my bib

No it's not lame in the least.

However, the humble-brag is very lame.

Conundrum wrote:

Dream2Meme wrote:

Last year I ran a small half marathon in it's first annual year and won by two minutes despite taking a bathroom pit stop. This year I'm in exponentially better shape and feel like I could win by nearly ten minutes if I reach my goal time of 1:10 and the competition is just as sparse as it was last year. Is that lame of me to run that race? Should I just look for a more competitive race? Annoying thing is that I already paid for my bib

No it's not lame in the least.

However, the humble-brag is very lame.

1:10 HM humble-brag? You must be REALLY slow.

Is it lame to win a HM by 10 minutes? NO

Is it lame to lose a HM by 10 minutes? YES

I haven't read any of the other replies and I don't care what was previously said. I didn't even read the content of the original post, just the subject line.

Here is the answer to the OP's headline question:

It is not lame to win a half marathon by ten minutes.

It is lame to lose a half marathon by ten minutes.

The rest is just details.

Go race it and try to set a PR. You never know when you will get injured and not be in the shape you are now. Take advantage of it and see what you can do.

In a few years time age will catch up to you and you won't wonder what you could have done if you raced while in good shape.

I guess I'm new around here, but what's a "tempo run"?

GRV4 wrote:

I guess I'm new around here, but what's a "tempo run"?

A tempo run is sustained running at 15-30 seconds or so slower than your 5K race pace, usually for up to 20 minutes or more in one go. I'd never heard of tempo runs while I was running in HS in the 80s, and when I got back into running a couple years ago, it took me a while to figure it out. For a lot of distance runners, tempo runs turn out to be a very effective form of training.

Back when I was pretty fit, I went to Leadville for a week to crew my dad in the 100 mile trail race. The week before, they had a 10k, and the entry fee was cheap, so I signed up. It was base season, and I guessed I was probably in high 31 shape.

I thought that might be good enough to win a late summer road race at altitude.

The gun went off and I took the lead immediately - it was a downhill start and I just floated away from people, without even trying. Within a half mile, I couldn't even see anyone, and I ended up winning by 4 minutes... it felt like an days run! I even made the front page of the paper the next day.

(Sad epilogue - my time was over 42 minutes.... so win your half marathon by more than ten minutes, but only if you have real competition!)

I once won a 10K race by about 5 minutes running in a time of around 35 minutes. Next closes was around 40. Really sad.