Are marathons that great?

treadmill wrote:

People who aren't that into distance runner (ie the gallowalkers) and the general public only care about two distances: the mile and the marathon.

I remember that Craig Virgin said that he finally decided to run a marathon because the only distances that people seemed to care about were the mile and the marathon. The two questions that everyone would ask: "How fast can you run a mile?" and "Have you ever run a marathon?"

Fortunately for me, when people ask me how fast I could run a mile, I tell them that I really don't know, because my event was the marathon.

Wasn't there some story about Bob Kennedy training for Atlanta where he ran through his hometown and some man asked if he was training for the local road race and Bob just said "yes," smiled a little, and kept going?

Get over yourselves.

Unless you're someone like Culpepper or Meb or Ritz you're not in this sport to get glorious attention. In New York City they play the most gruesomely intense rugby games I've witnessed, but those guys aren't professionals. 15:18 5K runners are just like those rugby guys. No one comes to their matches and no one cheers them because, unlike the guys with Nike deals, they are NOT professionals, just regular people enjoying their sport. They clearly love the sport enough not to care. Why should you? Because the water cooler club is more impressed with someone else? If that's the reason you're running you're going to be sore out of luck for a long time.

Or are you just upset that your sister just got more parental attention than you? Because that's a whole different discussion and sharing is good...

If you can run 5k in 15:18 then keep running at the same pace and you will be a 2:10 Marathoner.That will even impress us.

Non-runners don't know any better. When I ran Boston people kept asking me if I thought I could win. I mean how stupid is that? You just have to smile and let them go. Figure they know as much about running as I do about what ever it is they do.

Madein_82 wrote:

thats funny, my dad tried to get me to run when i was young(he thought i was built like a runner).

so he had me watch the 92 marathon, it was the most boreing thing of my WHOLE life.

all through grade school and middle school, i did jumping events(and sucked), just so i wouldnt have to run.

But then you became one of the tiny minority who live and study running seriously. Same as most of us. The point was that we can look only to ourselves for long-term motivation in this sport, and that this guy shouldn't sweat that nobody recognizes his 5k. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a dad like yours!

No, MODERN marathons are not that great. It's nice people do them, getting people off the sofa and away from the computers are good things, but considering how "FINISHING" one instead of setting a solid time goal (sub-3 is a pretty good achievement for someone who is not a natural athlete and anyone with a full time job and kids who finds the time to do that is showing the effort IMHO) turns many of these events into excursions instead of athletic competitions.

Non-runners get resentful when their city's streets are shut down for 5-6 hours to accomodate people 'running' that long.

One has only to look at average US times in the 70's and 80's to see what has happened.

Your point is well taken and I agree that a ball-breaking, flat-out, run-it-over-the-redline 5K beats a marathon. However for many of the 5 hours marathoner such an undertaking may actually be DANGEROUS physically.

6 one 1/2-dozen the other.

I did (won't say ran) 2 marathons. One in 4:45 and the other in 4:38. I don't have the talent nor the desire to put in the training to run a good marathon. I did the first to say I did one and the second because it was 4 weeks after the other one and in my own backyard.

I never considered myself a marathoner. I laugh at those who run pitiful times like this and think they are. I used to tell people, "Look, there are some things in life I'll never do. I'll never play NFL football, I'll never climb Mount Everest and I'll never attempt a marathon." I had a goal to finish without walking. I did that and I'm happy with my goal. But, to take it any further than that is laughable. Anyone can put in the minimum training and complete a marathon. It's not that hard. But, do one in a respectable time, which I consider Boston qualifying times is a different story. Do that, then you can call yourself a marathoner. Until then, you did one, you enjoyed the experience but you are simply one of the many others who reached a goal. That's it.