Sal's

Running, Biking, Swimming, Triathlons, Snowshoeing: what's next? Sal's kicks butt.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Things I Don't Understand


When is a running race a charity walk? I volunteered as a road marshal for the Rochester 1/2 marathon on Sunday (Jan helped too). The number of people walking slowly past us at 6.5 miles was incredible. 1881 people finished the half-marathon. Forty-three participants took over 3:30 to finish, a pace of 16+ minutes per mile. Eleven more took over 4:30 to finish at a pace of 21 minutes per mile.
Admittedly this is a long way to walk at any pace. But are they helping themselves physically? No. Better to walk 30 minutes at a faster pace and do some other exercise for another 30 minutes. Or, since it's a running race, why not train to run?
Four plus hours for a half-marathon, that is when most of the marathoners are done. It takes resources of the city, the police, the race event staff and volunteers to make the events stay open this long. Is it worth it?

In 1982 I completed my first marathon in 3:33. I finished 107 out of 250 finishers. I was pretty disappointed by that time and place, especially since I made it to the halfway point in 1:33. That same time this year, on a less hilly course, would have placed me 49th out of 543. Top 10% versus 40%.  The last place person in 1982 finished in 4:58. This year last place was 9:14, almost double the time, at 21 minutes per mile. Another 27 people took over 6 hours, a pace of 13:50.
Again the question must be asked, is this a worthy athletic achievement? Is it worth the time of the police, emergency crews, volunteers, inconvenience to the regular population and traffic? How about store owners whose customers can't get to their shops?

I have an internal struggle with this development all the time. I like seeing people being active, but I don't believe walking 13 miles or 26 miles at more than 15 minutes a mile, on a normal road marathon course, is a race or a significant athletic achievement. Call me elitist or old-fashioned.

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