No. There are certain runners whom I try to beat if they happen to be in the same race, but that's just because they happen to hit times similar to mine.
And if they do run faster, great work. I don't harbor any ill will, running and racing are too much fun to be negative about.
Trail Monster
I haven't entered a race to beat a specific person but I have entered with the goal of beating everybody there. If I find a new or small race I usually give it a go because the top runners around here won't show up.
2013 races:
3/17 Shamrock Marathon
4/20 North Coast 24 Hour
7/27 Burning RIver 100M
8/24 Baker 50M
10/5 Oil Creek (distance to be determined)
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Brands I Heart:
FitFluential
INKnBURN
Altra Zero Drop
sugnim
Yes. Every race I sign up for, I do it just to kick my own ass.
Chief Unicorn Officer
Mile 5:49 - 5K 19:58 - 10K 43:06 - HM 1:36:54
Have I ever deliberately entered a race for the sole purpose of beating someone? Nah. That's a little too obsessive if you ask me. Do I know the local runners who are competitive in my AG? Of course. Is it exciting to beat them? Sure. When one of them beats me, does that give me a little extra kick in the pants to get out there and work harder? Absolutely.
OTOH, there is one local runner in my area who is fairly decent and when I started running, I thought that if I could be competitive with him, I'd be at the top of my game. As things worked out, I ended up becoming a good bit faster than him. He's a good runner and I respect him but I can't get excited about beating someone when I know I'm faster than him. It's a lot more exciting to beat someone you know good and well could beat you on a different day.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
Penguin Forever
I can be a petty person sometimes. I haven't entered a race to beat someone (and at my current running level, it's slim pickin's finding someone I can beat), but I have looked at my friends' results after learning that they raced somewhere else that same day and felt a surge of joy when my time in my race was faster. Doesn't matter that we're in different parts of the country, running completely different races (although the distance is the same).
Barking Mad To Run
Can't say that I have, I am just not that competitive. However, if there is some type of mascot running at a race I do, I at leas try to beat the mascot to the finish. As slow as I run, it's still a close call for me, trying to beat someone running in a costume, lol.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." Theodore Roosevelt
Yes, and I beat him on gun time but he had a faster chip time by about 1 second.
This doesn't feel like a win to me. Still hoping our paths will cross again..........
I have never entered a race to beat a particular individual and normally am more concerned with my own
performance than someone else's.
However this June I came 3rd overall in a sprint-duathlon and two months later got to another sprint-du
to find that the woman who edged me out for 2nd was also competing.
At this race I came ahead of her out of the first run in 3rd place. She passed me on the bike and then 3k into
the second run I saw her ahead of me and saw she was struggling (it was about 85F by then) I passed her
when she stopped at a water table and there was no way in hell I was stopping and giving up my chance of
taking 3rd place back.
I ended up beating her 5k time by 3 minutes. I came in 3rd overall and she came in 4th and yes it felt good!
Sort of. At a three-mile race a few years ago, I was passed in the last couple of hundred yards by both a guy pushing his daughter in a stroller and the guy running with his dog. I made a big joke about it and I became the butt of a series of jabs from my friends in my running group. I had a good time meeting the dog's owner and the dog (she won her age group, bitches 3-5). I made the joke that the dog was my personal nemesis and my running goal was to beat her in a race. After about two more years running the local races, Sweetie (the dog) was like 5-0 against me and what started as a joke became an all-consuming passion for me. I really had to beat that dog! I finally beat her in a five-mile race, which might have been a little too long for her (or her owner). Or maybe she went off course to chase a squirrel or mark some territory or something.
Also, when my group first started running and I was a complete newbie, there was a guy who ran with the local experienced runners who came over to talk with us, essentially to find out what we were all about. He was pretty arrogant about his skills and experience, so I decided that someday I was going to beat his butt in a race. It turns out he was a bit faster than me, but not that much, maybe 30 seconds faster in a 5k, so I really had a shot at him. It took several years of getting closer and closer to him in races until this past May, when I spied him in the distance about a half mile from the finish of a five-miler. I knew I could catch him and I went for it. I passed him about a quarter mile from the finish and he was huffing and puffing. I was taking his arrogant @zz to school! As I passed him, he told me, "nice job, Tom," which surprised me since I didn't think he knew my name, and it was so nice of him that it took all the fun out of beating him. Well, most of the fun. Why couldn't he have put on a huge effort to try to stay with me, grunting and gasping for air only to fail in his ultimate futility?
I have not run many races- my goal is basically dont finish DFL.
All the races I have done have been at different distances, so i dont even get to say I am running for a PR.
”Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
Tomas
Speaking of DFL, as the calendar guy for the maniacs and fanatics, I know alllll sorts of characters. There is a small subgroup of Half Fanatics (and one maniac, but I hesitate to mention her because she's, well nevermind) who have the life mission of intentionally being DFL at races. For real. So when more than one of this subgroup apparate at the same race, things get interesting.
"I am here not just to lose to everybody, but to get tricky and lose to... her".
I found a picture of me and my nemesis! Sweetie was taunting me after this race! I am the one on the right without the collar.
Proud Calgarian
Maybe I'm actually getting competitive, or maybe it's just because I can. I ran a 10 mile race last year. After I finished, they were having an awards ceremony and I heard a co-worker's name get an AG award for the 5k. I checked out his time, and I've beat it in the last 3 5k's I've done. I'm pretty sure when this race comes around next year I could squarely beat him. I'm almost to my 2 year runniversary, and I've put in the time, and boy-oh-boy do I want beat him. Have you ever done something like that? Enter a race just to beat someone?
Maybe I'm actually getting competitive, or maybe it's just because I can.
I ran a 10 mile race last year. After I finished, they were having an awards ceremony and I heard a co-worker's name get an AG award for the 5k. I checked out his time, and I've beat it in the last 3 5k's I've done. I'm pretty sure when this race comes around next year I could squarely beat him. I'm almost to my 2 year runniversary, and I've put in the time, and boy-oh-boy do I want beat him.
Have you ever done something like that? Enter a race just to beat someone?
Have I entered into a race just to beat someone? Yes, and more than once - I'm not always successful in that attempt, but I've learned that as a runner and a racer, I'm not always motivated by the clock: every race doesn't have to be a PR attempt for me. Sometimes, it's about torching those rivals!
2015 Goals and PRs:
5k - 17:59 (18:05); 10k - 35:59 (36:42); HM - 1:19:19 (1:19:59); FM - 2:49:59 (3:05:46)