Would you count training runners longer than 26.2 miles as "marathons"? (Read 418 times)

 

Why do you hate slow runners?

I don't hate slow runners, but it somewhat bothers me when some of my running friends approach a marathon as just a long training run, and then are in awe when someone breaks 3  hours.  I hate to be snarky with them but I feel like saying, "dude, it's a race, not just another training run."

Wasn't there a kerfuffle among the maniacs a while back when someone claimed s/he should get the title of "most marathons in the year" because of the number of >26.2 training runs completed, and the club instituted a rule that a marathon had to be organized (start & finish time, publicized) and have at least 10 entrants to be considered a marathon?

Not exactly. For Maniac purposes (also 50 states club, etc.) there have always been rules about what counts, and training runs have never counted. What changed recently in the Maniac criteria were number of starters (5 -> 15) and finishers (3 -> 10) required.

Why? Because too many people were gaming the system by putting on their own tiny "races", basically every day, to pad their stats, so they could get more "stars", and/or the Guinness record for most marathons in a year. Maniacs was a cool idea when it started, but it's somewhat become a victim of its own success, when it begins to change the landscape of marathons to something silly like this.

And yes, part of the kerfuffle was the battle for Maniac of the Year (most marathons), which as a result is no longer awarded.

And I should add, for full disclosure, that it is a little hypocritical for those of us who "know" that only real races "count" to think we're really so different from Dave. As if the "real" count of how many marathons we've run defines our worth as runners. I admit I played that star game for a while. (FWIW, I stopped at 7, and yes, I only counted "real" races.)

As SRL says -- it's just running.

A week or so ago, I ran and then a while later I flopped around in the pool and then I had a little dawdle on my bike. ALL IN THE SAME DAY!

 

OMG! My first triathlon!

Doesn't count unless you were wearing a visor.

I believe in quality not quantity, but 'spose that's a minority opinion.

So what is the record for number of marathon races in one year?

Utterly meaningless at this point.

Yeah. That whole situation turned into a dumpster fire. She directed races that she put on and then would run the course later on.  This ended up opening up another can of worms. According to the BAA website, Dave McGillivray has run 129 marathons including 41 consecutive Boston Marathons. I like the guy, but...

Don't we need a poll about what constitutes racing?

If a pacer decides at mile 20 to finish, does that count? Cause that guy didn't go through all the suffering of expecting to have to finish....

Oh. Oops. I was thinking of rabbits -- that is, pacers who are pacing the front of the field.

 

Doesn't count unless you were wearing a visor.

LOL, and riding a a $15K bike.