Big John wrote:
There are probably all sorts of reasons people cheat at races, but I do think social media is a part of it for some. I notice that there are a lot of people on social media who are constantly posting about their race results and crediting a fitness plan, diet supplement, shake, etc. and then encouraging all their friends to "ask me how" they can get on the success. I don't know any of the details, but it reminds me of Amway, Shaklee, Avon, etc. Anyway, in these cases some of them may get carried away with self-promotion to the point of cheating and/or just making up race results.
I hate that s hit. It bugs me for some reason. I'm part of a dedicated running group on facebook, so we post our times and workouts on there, which is what it is for. However, to constantly post updates on your page, every day, is just being pretentious and wanting notoriety. And it is usually the very, very slow runners who do it.
I don't like to judge runners, and say someone is a hobby jogger or just a poser. I'm a serious distance runner, but I talk and post about running where it is meant to be posted: strava, athlinks, letsrun, dedicated facebook groups. And I only post on races or certain workouts. But to post everyday, and to talk about every workout? Something isn't right with that.
People want their lives to be a success story or a glory picture, and people will do whatever it takes to acquire it, even if it means being deceitful or immoral.
Running is not a glory story, or even a goal for me. I mean I have goal races or goal times that my training is focused on, but my running is a way of life. It's a natural motion that I have a passion and love for, but it's not meant to define me as a person, or to decide whether my life is successful or not.