PR Question (Read 1491 times)

Hmm...let's recap: 1) You wonder why people/the log only want PRs generated in races. 2) You admit you'd probably run faster in a race 3) You claim you look to improve your times, but... 4) For some multiple mysterious reasons you refuse to ever, EVER, race, even though... 5) You consider yourself an extremely competitive person??? WTH??? I think from #1 and #2 above, it is self-evident why the log only looks for PRs in a race and why most people look there. I really have to think you only started this thread to be inflamatory, or you aren't thinking very hard about this. Pretty much everyone will go faster in a race than a workout. Therefore, that will be where their fastest times are from. Nobody really cares if you want to race, though I question either your honesty or your ability to self-assess as no "very competitive" person would purposely shield themselves from all competition. As Hannibal indicated, competitive people put themselves in situations where they are virtually guaranteed to be beaten to push themselves harder. If you really cared to improving your times, and were so competitive, and admit you'd run faster in a race, you'd race...especially if like you said you didn't care what people thought of you.

After reading all of this, I'm just worried that milktruck's "walks" may feel slighted by the fact that he ran most of them.

I can't speak for anyone else, but at a certain point the experience of running surpassed in value, and by a pretty wide margin, my desire to make sense out of it. I don't know why I run. I don't know why I race. I don't know why I pursue PR's. I don't know why I compete. I don't need to know. Because running means more to me than curiosity. It goes deeper than knowledge. I run. I compete. I move on down the line. I'm a runner. This is why I say that for those of us who have reached this sort of place, your questions are moot. Not because they may not be interesting, or important, from a certain point of view, but because we've left the question of the meaning of running behind. We've made a decision. After all the questions have been asked, and all the answers given, in spite of the disagreement on essences, physiology, rationales, training strategies, trail running, road racing, i-pod wearing, mid-foot striking, turnover cadences, arm carriages, Jack Daniels, Arthur Lydiard, 20 miles a week or 100, 5k or the marathon, whether it's really the miles of trials or the trials of miles, after all the words have been spoken and keyboards have been pounded and ideologies subverted... After all this, we bend down and tighten the laces, open the door, brace for the cold and are renewed: another godawful, glorious, and meaningless 8 miler. Runners run.

Post of the year* *I know, it's early, but it's a damn good post.

You know, Jeff, I was accused earlier of looking for offense in this thread and I will admit that perhaps there was a bit of truth to that. Perhaps you should do the same. You obviously love your words and I have to agree that your last paragraph is downright poetic. The problem is that everything in it applies to me as well. See, you seem to need me to be somehow different because I asked a question and I don't really understand that need. It's funny. I've been a member here for over a year. I am probably not the most prolific poster as I tend to be keep to myself quite a bit, but I have contributed to countless discussions in countless threads and asked countless questions without incurring the venom that has come out here. I've had my psyche analyzed by what, high school gym teachers? Give me a break. I'm not competitive. Wrong. I'm a coward. Come say that to my face. It's all just so silly to me. I think I do take more offense to yours than the others because you say what you say so well. It's horribly simple to dismiss the mindless name calling of some mope but you seem so very sincere in your beliefs that it becomes hurtful. Maybe it's because, for the most part, I agree with you. As I said, your last paragraph was downright poetic. But it's hurtful that you believe it somehow doesn't apply to me because I choose not to enter the local Saint Whoever's charity 10k. How can that be possible? Eh, you're going to believe what you want to believe I guess. But as for the part about you needing me to be somehow different, that I can illustrate...

So, you're the radical thinker, eh? Questioning the dominant paradigm. Subverting the blinding ideology. Thinking outside the box. That's how your mind works, huh. And the rest of us? How do our minds work? We fall in line. We roll with the herd. We do not question. We just pound the pavement with the masses, while your mind does its radical questioning thing. You wanna question basic assumptions, then. Fine. What drives the innocent curiosity behind your questions? What special pleasures do you get out of taking the critical view? Nothing more than the pleasure of knowledge? Nothing more than the thought that you, somehow, have noticed the absurdity of the runner's task to find meaning in footsteps? To run without destination? To pour effort and struggle into the childish endeavor of moving your body over terrain? You think that we haven't noticed the absurdity? You think we haven't turned these questions over in our minds as we run on endlessly down the road? We have.

When did I claim to be a radical thinker? Because I said that I question things? Yes, that is how my mind works. Do I see myself as a "radical"? Not in the least. Huge leap on your part. No, that's not even a leap. That's just you painting me into a box that you create based on nothing more than the fact that it's easier for you to take shots from there. If everyone else "rolls with the herd" then so do I. I'm out there pounding the pavement as well. I'm sweating. I'm hurting. I'm running through shin splints and snow storms just like everyone else. I'm worrying over my pace. I'm stressing my next challenge. I'm working toward my next goal. Just like you. I asked one question, Jeff. I asked about PRs in planned solo runs vs PRs in races. When did I describe running as "absurd"? When did I ever once question the meaning of it all? Never. Not once Jeff, did I do those things. Not once did I in any way, shape, or form, put forth the notion that I have it all figured out. Not once did I say that there was anything wrong with racing. Not once did I condescend to those who think differently. And yet, there you are, claiming some moral high ground in defense of your running brethren against what, exactly? Against the onslaught of non-racers? I run, Jeff. Just like you. Why the need to paint me as something I'm not? Where in any of my posts have I claimed that running is absurd or meaningless? Please, do show me. Seriously. Good God, man, you preach on high here and your passion is great but there's no one attacking you. It's all a bit melodramatic, don't you think?

This has become the most entertaining thread ever. Ever. I'm gonna sum it up now: Most runners consider PRs to be in races for the simple fact that they are races, and it's a known entity. Plain and simple. You've gotten that answer a couple times. You either accept said answer and move on with your day, or come back and argue some more. Machs nichts.

It's all just so silly to me.

These are your words, and the reason therefore you feel the guilt of poetic posts directed at the foolishness at questioning something so simple as running. But I do agree that eric could add a call as, or call not, any running entry (not just a race) as a PR for those who so choose. Hows that?

It's just running.

Oh no you di'int!!

These are your words

Context, please.