Forums >Racing>Outkicking in Races
(Full disclosure: I really just want to do a poll since Eric Smiley Face added the option, so, I'm not all that invested in the outcome).
What's the RA consensus on outkicking?
And, by outkicking, let's say I mean going all out in the last 50-100 meters of a race to beat out a competitor.
I ran a race today where I was trying to reel this guy in for about 4 or 5 miles. Either he really faded or I really pushed at the end. I don't think I could have caught him but, after chasing him for so long, I felt like it would have been kinda rude to do so (especially since we're not really racing the same race since we're different gender).
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Reasonable: outkick him
Rude: The dude who decided to jump in front of me right before the end of the race. Literally. He didn't just outkick me... he moved over directly in front of me at the very end and slowed slightly so that I couldn't possibly regain without trying to go through him.
Congratulations, dude, we both just ran a 4:15 marathon. Hope it was good for you.
My wife, who ran track in high school, still says of people who kick at the end to pass a competitor, "that's so junior varsity". She is 48.
I always kick with whatever I have left, competitor or no competitor, though I will admit that if I think a meaningful OA or AG place might be at stake, I can dig deeper. It's very rare that I have paced a race so precisely that I (a) did not totally blow up and (b) have no kick. I managed it at the Tucson marathon last month -- for a 3-second PR. Wheee!
Reasonable: outkick him Rude: The dude who decided to jump in front of me right before the end of the race. Literally. He didn't just outkick me... he moved over directly in front of me at the very end and slowed slightly so that I couldn't possibly regain without trying to go through him. Congratulations, dude, we both just ran a 4:15 marathon. Hope it was good for you.
LOL! I hope you gave him your meanest mean look. And, he's lucky it wasn't me because I might have gone through him. You can take the field hockey player off the pitch but you can't stop her from running up your back if you pull a clown move like that.
old woman w/hobby
It's a race.
steph
My wife, who ran track in high school, still says of people who kick at the end to pass a competitor, "that's so junior varsity". She is 48. I always kick with whatever I have left, competitor or no competitor, though I will admit that if I think a meaningful OA or AG place might be at stake, I can dig deeper. It's very rare that I have paced a race so precisely that I (a) did not totally blow up and (b) have no kick. I managed it at the Tucson marathon last month -- for a 3-second PR. Wheee!
I wonder if there's a different mentality about outkicking in track than cross-country. I ran some track in high school but not cross country. So, maybe that's why I think outkicking is "wrong" for some reason.
Devil's advocate question... If you know you could dig deeper if an OA or AG is at place, why didn't you did deeper just because it's a race? Isn't that sandbagging?
In principle, yeah. And maybe I am just imagining it. But it makes sense that performance is partially a function of motivation. Pain hurts. How much is it worth to hurt more?
Totally OK to kick in a race.
Not so cool if you out kick your running buddies at the end of a run and start whooping how you kicked their asses!
Speaking of getting cut off, that happens to me a lot more at the beginning of races. I usually line up in the first couple of rows of people at the front of races, but I still inevitable get behind some yokel who is walking the race. I've literately ran into the back of the guy right in front of me because they don't move when the gun fires. I've always been nice about it and say I'm sorry, but really, why the heck line up in the front row of a 5K if you're going to walk!
A Saucy Wench
I've dug deep to outkick the same person at 4 of my PR races. In all of them the PR was there and secure and I wasnt really planning on kicking that hard. But then I heard the footsteps. They were trying to outkick ME. Oh. Hell. No.
Yeah, I valiantly fought off and outkicked the 78 year old guy 4 times.
I've also kicked to the finish in a PW.
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
Good point. For this race, I did a few head-checks and figured I wasn't going to be caught by another woman so there wasn't much to motivate me after that (other than wanting to push myself).
Any opinions on NFL kickers?
This isn't "out"kicking someone, but I have also kicked to ensure that the clock doesn't rollover from whatever:59 to whatever+1:00.
Because 3:43:59 is soooooo much better than 3:44:02.
Heh.
People are weird.
Oh, absolutely. And then there are the near misses... I have a 3:30:03. Which as I recall srl thought was pretty cool.
It is! My first marathon ever was 4:04:04. I like that time even though it wasn't a good race.
I ran Monkey this year in 3:45:00. GAH. (I also ran Honolulu in 3:44:07... but in this case, I gave it all I had. I don't think I had 8 seconds in me).
I also have a 4:00:24. I'm a dork.
Well, I'll kick at the end of a race unless it's a lost cause or I'm nursing some kind of injury/nagging issue. It's not specifically to blast past someone, though -- I'm just trying to run my best time.
You can mostly tell the difference between (1) the people who race hard and kick and (2) the people who lollygag and then kick. The latter? That's so junior varsity.
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Feeling the growl again
Seriously. Sheesh.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
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