I don’t want to call anybody out based on some recent posts, hence the new thread.
I run mountains - big ones, steep ones, snowy and rocky ones. I compete in and sometimes win trail events. I read LRC because, let’s face it, trail runners don’t have anything as cool, informative, and just plain huge as this site.
According to the majority of threads here, folks like me are not runners. Or in fact any other kind of athletes. We fall into that enthusiastically dismissed “hobbyjogger” category.
This from an older post here responding to someone wondering why trail runners have no place to go online:
“ultra people are not interesting. They're safe, politically correct, boring. That's what attracts duds to the distance anyways. Ultras, minus the elites, attract runners who are too afraid of training HARD and just want to run casually for a long time and brag about how far they've gone.”
There’s that token nod to ultra elites, but of course that category isn’t quantified, so the rest of us winning tough races and training our asses off to do it are just “casual.”
This is just one example, but I just watched two OP’s get booed off because they only “thought” they trained hard, but it was all just in “their minds.”
I’ve never asked for injury or training advice on LRC because I’d be immediately asked for my PR’s. Well, they’re not impressive to LR posters on their own, because qualifying the finish times with vertical mileage and technical difficulty makes me - wait for it - a hobbyjogger!
So if you run mountain marathons, HM’s, or ultras, please come out of the woodwork. Post anything: your PR with a 30K foot alpine climb, your “only” 9:00 pace through mud and snow, or your favorite brand of grizzly mace.
I’m tired of lurking. I’m fast, I’m strong, and while I’d likely get outsprinted on pavement by a road runner, there’s nothing casual about my running.