My dad is a bad offender. Whenever he nips someone at the line (26min 5k) he'll ask the person (man or woman) their age. Classy.
My dad is a bad offender. Whenever he nips someone at the line (26min 5k) he'll ask the person (man or woman) their age. Classy.
I'm an old guy. I don't talk anymore when I run my two road races per year. I would love to be able to carry on a conversation but my pace (which is pretty slow anyway) would suffer. Back in the day when I was usually in the top 10% of all the finishers of a race I would sometimes run a race as a social event. I would run and carry on conversations with friends. Sometimes a meet would have a 5k. About an hour later there would be a 10k. I might race the 5k (no time for talking). During the 10k I would use the first few miles to shake out the stiffness and then pick up the pace for a workout. I would talk during the early part and not during the latter.
Now if someone is bothered by runners conversing around you run right by them and get away from the chatter. If you can't.... well it's a free country.
Oh good, Banana Bread is here to ruin the thread, wonderful.
I sing the body electric wrote: This is true and there is a reason for it. Our cardio-vascular systems are still in great shape but our bodies have abandoned us. As a result we have more than enough oxygen, but we can't move our bodies fast enough without something falling apart. So we chit chat and shoot the bull because we have nothing else to do because we suck at golf.
Amen to that pardner.
"I am the teacher of athletes,
He that by me spreads a wider breast than my own proves the width of my own,
He most honours my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher."
Walt Whitman Song of Myself
Banana Bread wrote:
I definitely like boys more. Whenever I went for a run with my coworkers in the steel mill,.......... .
Like literally, you don't say.
halfmary wrote:
Has anyone else noticed this? Guys in their 50's and 60's who are cruising maybe just above 7 minute pace. So you know back in their day they were quick little suckers. Everything I start running with them in a race (half marathon, 10 miler, 15k etc) they strike up conversations.
Something to the effect of
"Lot more hilly than I thought!"
"Does this headwind mean a tailwind on the way back?"
"Nice job buddy! Wish I was your age again"
Or if you are passing them
"I'm x years old...not bad for an old guy!"
I realize that in your twilight years of running you won't be able to run close to the times you could in your younger days but why even pay for a race if you are just going to yuck it up and slow yourself down?
Anyone else notice this?
Maybe stop worrying about everyone else.
That said, I would often say something to try to psych out another person. I figured if I said just a few words he would think "Damn, he can still talk at THIS pace"
Someone who knows wrote:
halfmary wrote:
Has anyone else noticed this? Guys in their 50's and 60's who are cruising maybe just above 7 minute pace. So you know back in their day they were quick little suckers. Everything I start running with them in a race (half marathon, 10 miler, 15k etc) they strike up conversations.
Something to the effect of
"Lot more hilly than I thought!"
"Does this headwind mean a tailwind on the way back?"
"Nice job buddy! Wish I was your age again"
Or if you are passing them
"I'm x years old...not bad for an old guy!"
I realize that in your twilight years of running you won't be able to run close to the times you could in your younger days but why even pay for a race if you are just going to yuck it up and slow yourself down?
Anyone else notice this?
I used to notice this back in the day when I was a young runner. Older guys who are running well enough to be at the same point as a younger runner like to announce to you that they are there...you are in your 20s and they are in their 50s and running along side you. They want you to notice them.
Oh my god, you are soo right! Thats how I met my sugar daddy. He just had THE brightest colored tights on and his voice was so deep and masculine. Lets just say that my hard breathing was not only caused by the PR pace I was laying down there.
hmmz wrote:
It's dominant to be running slower than your potential for that race? ok
Unless you are racing short distances you are not going all out in the early stage of races. Unless your the dude who sprints off the line only to die and get passed by the crowd at the 1 mile mark.
A little chit chat is nothing and I thought the OP was talking about full conversations. Which is something I do not see old guys that can still run 7 min pace doing.
when I started reading this thread about old men talking in races I remembered a piece I had read some time ago about a young lady who talks to her opponents in races. it took me a while to find it again, but here it is, below. maybe reading this will make one or more of you reconsider what it might mean when somone talks to you in a race.
http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/amaris-tyynismaa-runner/
cheers.
I'm guilty of being talkative during races (longer than 10K). It's a shared activity and a few words about what's going on around us seems harmless. But I don't try for conversations. That said, one thing I sometimes say to younger runners is, "If you are going to make a move you had better do it now, because once I see the finish line, you won't beat me." Once in a while they will take off, but generally they fold right there. I get a kick outa that :-)
Smoove wrote:
I won't lie, while I am not as old as the guys you are describing (only 46), I have been known to throw a little chatter out there during a race. I mean, I am not holding a conversation, but I might engage someone in the crowd who says something funny, point out a hot elite woman in front of us, comment on the smells coming from someone's kitchen as we run by (last time it was bacon), or gently and jokingly chide my competitors for "having the old guy do all the work", or try to encourage someone who is starting to struggle, or something along those lines.
First off, even if you are running hard, you should feel halfway decent for the first third of the race, and then at least moderately okay for the next third. Races are a long way to go and I like to distract myself.
Secondly, it's a savvy veteran move. If you can comfortably talk, even for just a sentence or two at a time, it can get in a less experienced runner's head some, and that can be an advantage.
But mostly I am just bored and trying to entertain myself and those around me.
Why would a woman be in front of you???
Oh, you said "elite". Carry on :-)
Talking I can deal with, but it's the guys that sound like an asthmatic buffalo in the first mile that drive me nuts. They sound like they are on their last legs but keep sticking around. Makes me want headphones.
theJeff wrote:
Why would a woman be in front of you???
Oh, you said "elite". Carry on :-)
As a masters runner, I have been "chicked" 60 times (including repeats), including by: 10 women in the NYC marathon (including a masters woman - Deena Kastor), by 9 women in the Chicago marathon (including Deena Kastor again), 2 women in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, by 6 women at the 2017 USATF 15k championships, by 10 women at the Boston Marathon, by 11 women at the Houston Half Marathon, and by 2 women at the USATF 15k championships.
I am not counting races that I ran as workouts, or the number would be 64-65 as I was beaten by 4-5 women at the Gasparilla Half Marathon this year when I ran it at marathon pace.
Aww Mary (or is it Nancy?), Quit your griping! Let the ol' geezers enjoy their run. They've paid their dues, now it's time for you to pay yours. Look, listen and learn from your elders. Looks like your first lesson is in the books.... now get to work. Oral quiz on your next race, so study hard..... Be 'talking' to you soon, preferably after the 1 or 2 mile mark. Happy Trails!
I'm one of those old guys who just turned 60 and I do notice it. Of course I don't have the conversations you mention. In marathons I just talk to the people around me in the early miles because it is a nice distraction. If you can't talk, you are probably going too fast in the early miles. In shorter races I make an occasional comment if something strikes me as interesting enough to make a comment, but they are not extended conversations.
I'm not trying to ruining anything. There is nothing to ruin. I literally feel like some people have a vendetta against me. I thought this was the land of the free.
Banana Bread wrote:
I'm not trying to ruining anything. There is nothing to ruin. I literally feel like some people have a vendetta against me. I thought this was the land of the free.
You post nonsense that seems to indicate some kind of mental illness. It's annoying. But my deepest condolences.
This exact thing happened to me last weekend. I'm not one for talking in races, especially during that final push. I was trying to reel in this older gentleman for a while in a local 5K (I am also an older guy), and I finally caught him at maybe 2.7 miles. At this point I am red-lining it. He turns to me and gasps "What. Age. Group. You. In?" In 38 years of racing, that's the first time that has ever happened to me. I couldn't believe it. All I could get out was "50's". And then he said "Ok. Go." Damn right I'll go. Kind of defeatist, I thought.
Hey, some might get on their high horse about not running with earbuds, but as someone who does, and thrives on it, this is one problem i have never had to deal with. Never.
When I'm busy smashing the competition at local road races on out and back courses, everyone talks to me on the way back. Why don't they learn to run faster so I'd have some real competition?
- 17:xx hobby jogger