Forums >General Running>Walking a race
Res firma mitescere nescit Running in Tampa
Why is it sideways?
I’ve seen a lot of comments here relating to these large minimum mpw that should be run before entering a marathon. I reasoning is that you shouldn’t enter a race if you aren’t ready. I’m interested in hearing thoughts about those that enter races with the intention of walking. I never saw this 5-10 years ago. Maybe there were a few people that walked across the finish line but lately it seems that 1/4 - 1/3 of the race participants walk the entire race. I bothered me a little at first but unless they start in the front it does not affect my race and if anything makes my overall finish place look more impressive. Should walking entire races be discouraged or the more the merrier?
Feeling the growl again
"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
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
There is a big difference between saying that running high miles is the best strategy to achieve your potential in the marathon and saying that "you shouldn't enter a race if you aren't ready." The first offers a suggestion about how to reach your potential. The second sits in judgment about people's motivations. By equating the two very different things, your post risks the implication that all of us who recommend running a lot to improve look down our noses on first time marathoners, folks who are content to walk or who have other goals besides running a marathon as fast as they can. This is an unhappy implication, and the only reason I can see for making it is to stir up tired animosities between experienced, faster runners and beginning or slower runners.
E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com -----------------------------
- Anya
What about those people who run for 3 minutes, walk for 4. ( or somthing like that ) I know several people who have completed 1/2's and whole marathons doing it that way. I personally would be disappointed in myself if I could not run the whole thing.
MM#1869
"If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run."
"2: I wish race directors would get rid of longer races that bring half marathon and marathons together for the last few miles - or use out and back identical courses. That situation can bring some fast runners (3:00 marathoners) into close proximity with very slow half marathoners, who are walking in a phalanx formation. "
I started this post because I don’t agree with some of the comments I see here that try to discourage someone from entering a race (usually a marathon) or not starting a race (again usually a marathon) that they have already entered. Although I think there should be a natural progression to the races you enter (5k, 10k, half and full marathon), if someone wants to have their first race be a marathon then more power to them.