In Reply To:
100k - now you know that is a whole other ball game, I dont thing most of us - myself included could do 100k at ANY pace :-)
I do however stick to the fact that unless you are PC, have serious medical/weightloss or in a more mature age group....11 minute miles for a person who is 25-40 and in any inkling of a decent shape 11 minute pace is not a "race", it is a "participate" - there is nothing wrong with participating. Where it becomes laughable is when people will spend the few weeks after their "race" bragging about their BOP finish...then there are folks (many on this forum) who RACE, they put it all out there and RACE...but, you would never ever know it randomly in a coffee shop. It is a shame to me that USA has the slowest AVG Marathon and Iron distance times on the planet. If you look at the avg. AG at Roth, WA and other races (I dont know of any international marathons as that is now what I am in to) to name any off hand - but I do know (from reading an article in Running magazine) that the times are getting slower and slower - yet participants expect more and more and more. I could mention the IronMan "mile to mile run course buffet"....but that would make me elitest. ;-)
Sadly I Agree!
Don't get me wrong everyone and add me to the flame pile. I am myself a middle to back of the packer and it doesn't make me feel very good, knowing that I don't put in the effort to be a front of the packer.
When friends or co-workers say "Wow, you did a 1/2 IM", I sheepishly comment that I really just finished it, but didn't really "do it". To me finishing the event and feeling that I should have been a minimum 1 hour faster bothers me inside and I feel that I let myself down.
Sure I lost 30 pounds and finished Calgary 70.3 on basically 3 months training, but it took me 6-1/2 fu#@king hours, which really is lacking IMHO.
Conclusion - don't have any issues with people "just doing it" but definitely feel that if you "just did it", as I did/do, then 0 bragging should be done about it. Hell, even if you're in the top 10%, you shouldn't brag about it.
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"Chrissie wins because she trains really f'ing hard and races really f'ing hard and was blessed with a huge f'ing motor" Jordan Rapp