How do elites feel now that hobby joggers have MUCH higher profiles than them?

Because being elite comes with certain traits of denial, which they need to race well.

Some people have a talent for, or at least work at, attracting an audience and do well.

Besides, the audience for a 3:30 is huge compared to low 2's think about it. Who was 10th at NY, or Chicago, or... All that work to get to low 2s doesn't leave time for much else and nobody cares.

Meanwhile, a 3:30 is amazing to a huge audience that spends money and has time.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Meanwhile, a 3:30 is amazing to a huge audience that spends money and has time.

Doesn't even matter. Look at Runner's World, for example. I've checked out a bunch of its writers on Athlinks and some of them are doing 25 minute 5ks, 4 or 5 hour marathons, whatever. It doesn't matter.

The masses -- all of those thousands of people who came in behind the sub-3:00 guys at your last marathon -- simply don't care about times. They're in it for fun, fitness, completion bragging rights, or whatever. They want to hear from people who have a positive, authoritative voice. And that's pretty much it.

time doesn't matter wrote:

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Meanwhile, a 3:30 is amazing to a huge audience that spends money and has time.

Doesn't even matter. Look at Runner's World, for example. I've checked out a bunch of its writers on Athlinks and some of them are doing 25 minute 5ks, 4 or 5 hour marathons, whatever. It doesn't matter.

The masses -- all of those thousands of people who came in behind the sub-3:00 guys at your last marathon -- simply don't care about times. They're in it for fun, fitness, completion bragging rights, or whatever. They want to hear from people who have a positive, authoritative voice. And that's pretty much it.

Exactly right. And they want to interact with someone who is relatable. How can a 30 min 5k runner interact with a 14:00 5k runner? They can't. But when you have a 4 hour marathoner being positive that is relatable. Not to mention most 14 min 5k runners are jerks who think they are the next world's greatest person.

pop_pop!_v2.2.1 wrote:

Some people have a talent for, or at least work at, attracting an audience and do well.

Besides, the audience for a 3:30 is huge compared to low 2's think about it. Who was 10th at NY, or Chicago, or... All that work to get to low 2s doesn't leave time for much else and nobody cares.

Meanwhile, a 3:30 is amazing to a huge audience that spends money and has time.

This. They are more relatable. A blog from an elite would just be overwhelming.... "I ran 12 400's at 58 seconds each. Then i went and had lunch and then ran 14 miles. All in all, it was a pretty easy day."

That in no way helps a soccer momm it would just make her feel bad because she will never be able to do something like that. She would much rather read "I went to work all day and I went home exhausted and i just wanted to just go take a nap but instead I forced myself to run 5 miles. It was a real struggle in the late miles, but I pushed myself and now i'm rewarding myself with some ice cream."

Social media is a very strange world. There are all sorts of people who have no particular talent who are out making money by building a social media presence. I think most athletes understand that this is a social media phenomena and in no way a reflection on their value as an athlete.

All good points and ones that have been touched on.

Nobody's answering the question of how do elites feel about this, and why aren't they building their profile in a similar way?

Jimmy21 wrote:

That in no way helps a soccer momm it would just make her feel bad because she will never be able to do something like that. She would much rather read "I went to work all day and I went home exhausted and i just wanted to just go take a nap but instead I forced myself to run 5 miles. It was a real struggle in the late miles, but I pushed myself and now i'm rewarding myself with some ice cream."

Yes, and there are 100x more soccer moms out there than any other group.

So take note, LRC trolls: Want to make money in running? Figure out how to talk to that huge market segment. Why do you think Shalane Flanagan is releasing a cookbook? That's a smart move. Coming on LRC and complaining about those horrible hobbyjoggers you saw at the back of your last race is not smart. (No matter how temporarily satisfying it might be.)

Precious Roy wrote:

Social media is a very strange world. There are all sorts of people who have no particular talent who are out making money by building a social media presence. I think most athletes understand that this is a social media phenomena and in no way a reflection on their value as an athlete.

Hobby joggers are a strange breed. Fat NFL fans wear shirts of the pro footballers, but fat hobby joggers let "relatability" get in the way of looking up to pro runners.

People do not make money from running. They make money from blogging.

An elite blogger can make more money than a hobby jogger blogger.

quiz_master wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Social media is a very strange world. There are all sorts of people who have no particular talent who are out making money by building a social media presence. I think most athletes understand that this is a social media phenomena and in no way a reflection on their value as an athlete.

Hobby joggers are a strange breed. Fat NFL fans wear shirts of the pro footballers, but fat hobby joggers let "relatability" get in the way of looking up to pro runners.

In my humble opinion the strangest breed is anyone who shows a complete lack of empathy.

nope.... wrote:

quiz_master wrote:

Hobby joggers are a strange breed. Fat NFL fans wear shirts of the pro footballers, but fat hobby joggers let "relatability" get in the way of looking up to pro runners.

In my humble opinion the strangest breed is anyone who shows a complete lack of empathy.

You know what creates empathy? Hmm, explaining WHY. This is different to pointing out the what haha.

Because life rewards frauds. It's like that. The sooner we learn and adapt to this, the more successful we become!

Simple wrote:

Because life rewards frauds. It's like that. The sooner we learn and adapt to this, the more successful we become!

How is this blogger fraudulent in any way? Because he's slow he's a fraud? That's ridiculous. He's not lying about it or trying to be something he's not. Are you really that threatened?

Life rewards frauds? No, life rewards people who bring VALUE to other people's lives. You can run a 14 minute 5K? Who gives a ###? It's a meaningless personal achievement that does NOTHING for anyone except yourself. Why would anyone even give you a dollar for it?

He has 23k followers. How is that in anyway a staggering amount? He makes "good" money selling t-shirts? Really? How many t-shirts do you think he's sold? 100? 200? This guy doesn't have a high profile.

I would guess he makes less than $1000 a year from his online persona. How is that higher profile than an elite runner?

noway7 wrote:

Life rewards frauds? No, life rewards people who bring VALUE to other people's lives. You can run a 14 minute 5K? Who gives a ###? It's a meaningless personal achievement that does NOTHING for anyone except yourself. Why would anyone even give you a dollar for it?

As a hobby jogger who jogs with other hobby joggers, I notice a lot more hostility towards fast runners, than the other way around. Despite the perception that fast runners are snobs. The above is a classic example.

Hobby Jogger Elite wrote:

How do elites feel now that hobby joggers have MUCH higher profiles than them?

I think pretty much the same way that scientists feel now that the Ignorant And Damned Proud Of It crowd is in charge.

Hobby Jogger Elite wrote:

I follow this guy on Twitter, PavementRunner.

For what useful reason?