When did "just finishing" become a big accomplishment?

Thanks! Interesting.

I think that someone like Oprah clearly put in the work! 9:40 per mile pace is not something she was born with.

I think there is absolutely a place for women in their 40s (her age category at the time), to round out the midpack.

It DOES take a solid amount of work for formerly sedentary women, with no particular gift for endurance sports, to run below ten minute pace.

I have absolutely no problem with people who treat their marathon or half marathon as a glorified long run. It is hard to see the point of pressuring people to race the distance, when just running the distance is challenging enough.

But showing up with 2 miles worth of fitness in the tank, to a 13.1 mile race (or longer) is so awkward. And unsafe. And no amount of people cheering and clapping for them, is going to make up for the insufficient training. Better not to make human interest stories out of people who overdreamed and undertrained!

Getting out the door to even jog a mile is rare for the average American, let alone an entire marathon. Any bit of effort is totally unexpected and seen psychologically as a small win.

1) You don't know the individual's experiences that brought them to running or to the moment where "just finishing" was a big win. What if they were in a horrible car accident? cancer? MS? A really hard life that led them to where they are that day, finishing their marathon? No everyone is the same, and it's best to support a person rather than judge them for what they haven't done (yet).

2) You also have no idea whether or not they trained for the race - and they likely did train for it, and potentially lost 50 - 100 pounds which enabled them to complete the distance. Imagine the time it takes to train when you are a slower - that's a lot of commitment, effort and time. Those traits should be valued.

3) As an adult, it's really, really hard to stay fit...especially when today's jobs and lifestyles are more on the sedentary side.

4) There are likely more runners now versus before you were born, which would explain how there is a wider range of ability and speed.

5) I don't think today's recreational runners have a "standard"; they have their own personal goals - and not other's standards.

6)I've lived in neighborhoods where my street is shut down for hours because of a race and walkers. The race directors give you a heads up about it so you can plan accordingly. I don't care if the road is shutdown for hours, and it's nice to see people participate and continuously improve themselves.

I used to be a pretty good runner, but after a brain tumor and life hitting me really hard I'm thankful for being able to run 10- 15 miles a week. Again, you never know another person's experience. I entered a race recently and finished in the top 10 (a very easy field), but was totally amazed and actually motivated by the support from the other runners cheering me on as I was coming back from the out and back race. I'm actually really glad that more people are out running, as a form of fun, self improvement, wellness rather than times and results.

HOOWIE wrote:

SON; A TIME IN YOUR LIFE WILL COME WHEN YOU SIMPLY...DO NOT GIVE A SH!T!

In that case, move on to something important in your life.

When I was 6’2 and 350 pounds, I could barely “run” 10 feet without puking. However I decided to lose some weight through kickboxing, jogging, and changing my eating habits. I slowly got back into shape and decided to run my first marathon. After 16 weeks of hobby jogger marathon training, I was lucky to get to the start line without losing interest, getting hurt or just being afraid of not finishing. When I finished that marathon, that finish medal was like an Olympic Gold medal. There millions of hobby joggers like me.

Now a days, 5Ks are like my marathon journey, but I think it is a little extreme to get a for medal for anything less than a marathon. I think that it is important to have little mile stones along the way, but the way people treat it as extraordinary to finish is a bit overblown. I prefer a knuckle pound and a good job, but now get back and beat your time today. However, everyone is different and needs more feedback to make themselves feel good about themselves. That is fine and they have the medals. I’m just happy they are doing something. So many people don’t do anything and eat pizza, ice cream and drink 1000 calorie Starbucks everyday.

I agree that some reasonable cutoff should be used. Some races do state when roads will be opened to traffic. Aid stations may also be taken down at this point. Some races even include buses that pick up those who miss cutoff times for points along the course. I don't think races should shut down roads for the amount of time it would take someone to walk the whole course. They should not have to pay law officers or others for that amount of time. Volunteers should not be asked to work at aid stations and elsewhere that long.

One recent race I ran published the time when roads would be reopened to traffic. They also stated that medals would be given out up until 30 minutes past that point roads where opened. It came to about 3.9 MPH so only fast walkers could still have received a medal. I thought it was proper that they make the times clear and that some limit was set for receiving a finisher medal.

I think it is great for people to get motivate to exercise but if they need to walk all or much of a marathon then I think they should set their goal to first running/jogging a 5K without stopping and move up from there to longer races. I was obese until about 7 years ago. I lost 50 some pounds by walking 2 to 4 miles a day and by counting and reduces calorie intake. I later added cycling a few days a week. I did this for 2 years before I starting running. I ran 5 to 10K races for a year before moving up to a half marathon and only ran HM and marathons when I able was already had completed 14 to 16 mile training runs and was able to run with others who had run Boston as qualifiers and run other marathons.

Dr. Nick Riviera wrote:

Charlesvdw wrote:

I have a lot of sympathy for slowers runners.

But if a marathon takes them more than 5,5 hours or a HM more than 2,5 hours, then they’d better run shorter distances.

Besides, running 6 hours non-stop can’t be healthy for a non-fit person. I don’t know if it’s healthy to run for 6 hours for a fit ultra runner, but I’m sure it’s not for 6hr marathoners.

Oh did you go to upstairs medical college too?

As a matter of fact, I’ve spoken to GP’s about the subject “exercise and longevity”, so I’m not totally ignorant about the subject.

People should be running the entire distance to make it an accomplishment.

If it takes over 5 hours of continuous running it’s fine by me.

But imho a 6 or 7 hour marathon means that some miles were walking miles and not running miles.

Charlesvdw wrote:

Dr. Nick Riviera wrote:

Oh did you go to upstairs medical college too?

As a matter of fact, I’ve spoken to GP’s about the subject “exercise and longevity”, so I’m not totally ignorant about the subject.

Yeah, well I played a doctor on TV. And back in my day we were certain that a woman’s uterus would fall out if she were to run a marathon. It just ain’t healthy for ladies to run that far...

To me, one big problem with people running an event they’re grossly undertrained for, is that it just seems like a cardiac event waiting to happen.

One year, the television coverage of the Frankfurt marathon, was sponsored by Polar heart rate monitors, and all their “human interest stories” on the course, were wearing chest straps. And as they would show these people on camera during the race, they would show the persons Polar heart rate monitor data in real time.

Well, at times these people were at really elevated heart rates, to the point where it seems like a knowledgeable medical professional would be legally required to intervene. Kinda like they shouldve stuck to “dont ask, dont tell” for the sake of legal liability.

This was at least a few years ago, and i don’t think this was good for Polar, or for viewers. It stressed me out to see people who were pushing their aerobic engine beyond even reasonable healthy limits.

People in america (and in Germany) often have underlying heart disease, and running beyond your fitness is one way things can have horrific consequences.

I’ll see if i can find the coverage on youtube!

In the late 70's/early 80's, the Mission Bay Marathon in San Diego had a 4:15 finishing requirement (9:44/mi). They swept the course of anyone slower than that, and if you didn't finish by 4:15, you didn't even get a t-shirt. We used to laugh at "old guys" pushing to finish in 4:14 to guarantee a shirt.

When did “just maintaining LetsRun” become an accomplishment

"1) You don't know the individual's experiences that brought them to running or to the moment where "just finishing" was a big win. What if they were in a horrible car accident? cancer? MS? A really hard life that led them to where they are that day, finishing their marathon? No everyone is the same, and it's best to support a person rather than judge them for what they haven't done (yet)."

This. Some years ago I had cancer. Then a shattered knee because chemo weakened my bones. On the couch for 4 years. It took more than a year and a lot of hard work in physio to learn to walk again and without a limp. Another year to start jogging. I was more excited about finishing my first post-cancer 5k in 47 minutes than any prior athletic achievement.

Oh my goodness, are you kidding? I hope you find it; I'd really like to see it.

So, it was the 2014 Frankfurt marathon, which is posted in two parts on YouTube. (User name simhoppare is the one who uploaded.)

There were two separate human interest stories, whose heart rates, as measured by their chest strap, and bluetoothed to the monitor for viewers to see, were in the 170 bpm range.

I mean, heart rates are heart rates, and just based on my own experience, i sense that someone in the 150s is working hard but probably not in any kind of danger zone.

I feel like someone in the 160s is pushing, and can’t keep that intensity up for very long unless they’ve done a lot of intensity in their training.

And when someone’s bpm is in the 170s (who is middle aged and overweight), i pretty much worry about them collapsing.

Of course, maybe i am just mapping my own perceived exertion at various heartrates, onto complete strangers, but my guess is that at some point, people are suffering minor heart attacks out there, which never get diagnosed.

Basically, underlying heart disease (i dunno, 90% blockages in particular arteries, which of course goes undiagnosed until the first cardiac event) plus extreme, immoderate exercise — isn’t that how things go south?

When I started running at age 55 after having done nothing physically since my 20s and being a desk jockey for decades; started and couldn’t run beyond two houses before stopping, struggled but worked my way up to slow half marathons. For me, it’s about getting fit, not impressing you or anyone else.