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Things are heating up in marathon running circles, or should we say slowing down? The New York Times reported that by allowing slower runners on the New York City Marathon route, the intensity of the debate over how quickly an able-bodied runner should finish the once-elite event is increasing.
Adrienne Wald, 54, the women’s cross-country coach at the College of New Rochelle, who ran her first marathon in 1984 said, “It used to be that running a marathon was worth something — there used to be a pride saying that you ran a marathon, but not anymore. Now it’s, ‘How low is the bar?’ ”
Wald could be right. Just look at the stats Running USA, a nonprofit organization that tracks trends in distance running, has: In 1980, the median finishing time for male runners in United States marathons was 3 hours 32 minutes 17 seconds, a pace of about eight minutes per mile. In 2008, the median finishing time was 4:16, a pace of 9:46. For women, that time in 1980 was 4:03:39. Last year, it was 4:43:32.
John Bingham, a runner who is known as the Penguin and credited with starting the slow-running movement, has been told that he ruined the sport of running, “The complainers are just a bunch of ornery, grumpy people who want the marathon all to themselves and don’t want the slower runners. But too bad. The sport is fueled and funded by people like me.”
The New York City Marathon, scheduled for Nov. 1, will have a field of about 40,000. And even though the race officially ends after 6:30, the timing system will be in place until 8:40 for all those penguins.
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“It used to be that running a marathon was worth something — there used to be a pride saying that you ran a marathon, but not anymore. Now it’s, ‘How low is the bar?’ ”
"Pride"? Bullshit. Marathons are a participation sport so if you trim, quite literally, the fat, it can become a spectator sport with huge TV and endorsement revenue? Dream on, elitist twat.
So she's saying that running a marathon is not a source of pride because slower runners are finishing it? If a runner is slow, that means it's a challenge for them. It's a source of pride for anyone who finishes, regardless of how fast or slow they run. It's a marathon for god's sake.
What a bitch.
...this baffles me. It isn't like slower runners ruin a race. Heck, they did a MARATHON. The faster people will finish the race ahead of them. Like it is a race. Why exclude people from participating who don't detract from the event? Seriously, I will defend a lot of elitism, but this is silly.
I agree with the point they're making. At some point you're not really 'running a marathon' you're just sort of dragging your fat ass to the finish line. In cycling, if you get a certain point behind the leader, you get dropped and you're out of the race. You need to have a certain level of fitness and skill to participate.
This only matters because it's extremely hard to get a bib number for the NYC marathon, and many of them are taken up by people who aren't runners, which isn't fair to the people who train and put in the work.
We've become such a nanny state that we have to cater to people who can't keep up with pack, just because they want to 'run the marathon'.
As a coach, shouldn't she be happy that lots of people are getting off their butts and finishing a marathon?
I don't run marathons -- but I do get annoyed at "runners" in races that aren't there to even try to run, but instead walk in front of you in big, wide groups. (I've seen people with backpacks and umbrellas -- wtf?) If you're slow, do your best not to unnecessarily block faster runners -- go to the back, stay to the side, etc. That's just polite.
But other than that...if want to run a race, please do. Sport is not solely for the fastest and fittest. The marathon has about 54,998 "losers" -- 99.9% of which had zero chance of crossing the finish line first. It's not like the fact that there are relatively few truly competitive runners is harmful to the race -- that's just how a marathon is.
There is a difference between "running" a marathon and "completing" a marathon. Finishing in 8 or 6 or even 4 hours is not really "running". It's walking, shuffling or maybe jogging. Still, you made it through 26.2 miles so kudos. But you did not "run" a marathon. To run a marathon you have to be, well, running. Most non-runners will dispute this difference but actually runners (people who train seriously) will almost uniformly defend it. Real marathoners (the people who are running it) are out there training every day of the week, running 50 or even 100+ a week. They are out there taking the sport seriously. Somebody who shows up training should be given credit for finishing (although it's a somewhat poor idea on their part as running 26.2 miles without proper training will likely cause you injury) but they aren't necessarily runners.
Compare it to a weekend hack and a professional golfer. Yeah, the guy whacking a little ball around 18 holes in 150 strokes is "playing" golf but they aren't a golfer in the sense Tiger is. When I drive cross country I tend to drive very fast for long distances but that doesn't make me a race car driver.
Full disclosure: I say this as a long time distance runner (who has never run a marathon) so I obviously have a bias towards runners.
Marathon runners are complete douchebags-fuck them and their stupid races. Go run around the park 25 times and leave the rest of the city out of it. fuckwads
I can understand the frustration felt by the "real" runners, but it's kind of lame if they think it's "their" marathon.
That said, if this is such a big issue, then why don't they hold 2 separate marathons, one competitive for the "pros" and one non-competitive for anyone else?
Fuck these running bitches.
Marathon day is a fun day for all of NYC. Not just for the self absorbed runners that are out on the 26.2 mile course.
Seeing the idiots in the costumes running along with all the serious runners. Great part of marathon festivites.
Being drunk and yelling at marathon runner, even better!
I'm sorry, did you just complete 26.2 miles in one go? Congrats! Hey, guess what, you finished a MARATHON.
Competitive marathoners aren't held back by slow runners, and don't suffer anything but a tiny erosion of the prestige of "running a marathon." And don't try the "cost of the marathon" thing - because that's an issue that most cities have dealt with (read the article).
I can't imagine that these pissy runners' times speak for themselves. Because I feel like if you're a good runner (not a has-been 54-year-old coach, for example), people will be adequately impressed even if some people walked the whole time.
I've played a sport competitively for ten years, and I've had to play against shitty people and deal with the lowered level of play. And I never complained about it to the New York Times. So you runners who bitch about unskilled people that have NO effect on your time or PR can STFU, thanks.
That's dead on. I play soccer with lots of different people. Some kick my ass, some play like they've got their shoes tied together. I don't complain about the slower people, and I hope the really awesome people don't complain about me.
But in soccer, there's at least some basis to complain about that stuff -- I mean, it's a team sport and you keep score. If you're the only awesome person, it can be boring to just blow everyone out game after game (or to have your lousy teammates lose every game). Running, though, is a one-person sport. So you blew by someone running slow on the side of the road? Who cares -- what was your time?
You have to be really, really good before it matters who you're racing against -- for 99% of the people, even describing the marathon as a "race" is a bit of an overstatement. If they're racing, they're losing spectacularly -- by an hour or more. So it's no skin off their backs if other people lose even more spectacularly.
Agreed. Let the slower people have their time in the sun. It's an achievement regardless. Many people can't even walk 26.2 miles. Sure, maybe there should be a cutoff time so they don't have to keep the course closed to traffic all day, assuming there's no such cutoff already. But as long as people can stay on that pace, leave them alone.
this is just like when those gay marriage people ruined marriage for everyone else.
"In 1980, the median finishing time for male runners in United States marathons was 3 hours 32 minutes 17 seconds, a pace of about eight minutes per mile. In 2008, the median finishing time was 4:16, a pace of 9:46."
Wait - 3:32 is an 8-minute pace, but 4:16 is closer to a 10-minute pace? No. I don't feel like getting my calculator, but that cannot be right.
Well, the difference between 3:32 and 4:16 is 44 minutes. If you figure 2 minutes for 26 miles, you get 52 which is close to 44. So yes, if 3:32 is an 8 minute pace, then 4:16 will be just shy of two minutes more.
Was that really that hard for you to figure out? I weep for the state of math education in this country.
Let me dry those tears...oh wait, I ran out of tampons.
I've run and finished four New York City marathons. Am I missing something? All the years I've run, people are always separated into groups based on their predicted finishing time. Soooo, for my personal safety, I would not want to be with the fast women, if I know I will be running slower than others in that group. It's just common sense. When you have 30,000 people, you need the different starting areas just to keep things moving. Plus, the elite runners are always separate. I enjoy running the NYC Marathon. It is very well organized and fun. Well as fun as running 26.2 miles can be.
People who run 6 hours should not be praised because they are running a pace that is challenging for them. If you are running 6 hours it means that you have not trained nearly enough. 6 hours means you are averaging just over 4 miles per hour, while normal casual walking speed is 3 miles per hour. 6 hour pace is nothing more than a brisk walk. If someone below the age of 50 is 6 hour marathons they have very little to be proud of. An 85 year old woman has done a marathon in 5:49. A 60 year old man has run 2:35.
If people want to be respected for running a marathon, they should respect the race by training properly and diligently. No moderately healthy person under 40 should get anywhere near 5 hours with proper training.
This is why Boston is so much more prestigious than New York, and even they have lowered their standards because there are not as many people training hard and running fast times as there used to be.
I think it comes down to respecting the distance and appreciating the number of hours it takes training for a marathon. That is where the sense of pride comes in. If you put the time and training in you deserve to be out there. If you just show up on race day without preparing, just to say you did it and end up walking most of it. Thats where it loses this great sense of accomplishment.
I've run 3 NYC marathons. For each one I've spent months training, running circles in Central Park on Saturdays, out on the West Side esplanade at 5:30 on weekday mornings, training in 90 degree weather and in the rain all the while working full time and going to school. I've always finished between 4 1/2 and 4:40. If you have ever trained for a marathon, let alone run one, you know how exciting, how fantastic, how miserable each step can be. The same holds true for a marathon.
If you have never run a marathon, you don't have a leg to stand on to judge people who may be running over 5 hours. You don't know who they are, what they've been through or what obstacles they've overcome. Making blanket generalizations about people you've never spoken with is idiotic. Please think before you speak/write. Oh, one more thing, get your ass out there and see what its like.
If you have run a marathon and are complaining about slower runners, get over yourselves. At that pace the race is not against other runners but against yourself. Give up the sport if you don't like it or, perhaps more reasonably, don't run a gigantic marathon like the ING. A marathon as big as this one is built upon the backs of the 39, 000 + runners who are "slow." There are plenty of smaller races around the country for you to compete in and "shine." You don't deserve to be in the same race as these marathoners.
I would like to to call attention to an amazing woman and 21 (almost 22) time marathon *runner*, Zoe Koplowitz:
"In a world that values fast, she is perpetually slow.
In a world that demands first, she has given new value to the word last and redefines what it means to be a "winner" because 2007 marked her 20th year of completing the New York City Marathon, all in last place.
National Ambassador Zoe Koplowitz is the award winning author of The Winning Spirit-Life Lessons Learned In Last Place, a noted motivational speaker, and she lives with the daily challenges of both multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Her thirty-three hour nine minute run in 2000 set a world record for the longest marathon in the history of women's running. Zoe's time for her 2007 anniversary run was twenty-eight hours and forty-five minutes.
As Zoe crossed the Marathon finish line in Central Park late Monday morning, more than twenty-six hours after Martin Lel and Paula Radcliffe, the male and female Marathon winners, she was greeted by countless fans from the Society, national and local media and other spectators. Stories about Zoe's inspiring achievements ran in nearly 100 print and broadcast media across the country."
Everyone runs under their own circumstances and for their own reasons. Do you mean to say that Zoe is not a valued part of marathon tradition? We stuck around for a while with our sign in Park Slope and my mom recognized Zoe, who gave her the warmest thanks for our cheers and encouragement. Keep on running Zoe! I'll be cheering for you tomorrow morning!