One of the cover stories in the latest issue of Runners World is about someone who’s run 841 marathons so far. I haven’t read the article yet, so maybe I shouldn’t comment. (I’m going to anyway, you all know it!) Who cares?! What kind of an accomplishment is that?
A few months ago my local newspaper had a similar story about some middle aged woman who had run a whole bunch of marathons- I forget how many. She, however, was keeping careful count, and she wasn’t the only one- apparently there are two women in the US who have run more marathons than she has, so she’s unlikely to beat their “record.” I think her times were around the five hour mark.
Now, if someone wants to keep track of this type of thing for their own gratification, great. I have my own personal benchmarks that I keep track of. But someone’s actually keeping official records? It seems silly to me. Sort of like keeping records of who’s eaten at the most McDonald’s, or which town has the biggest ball of twine.
So, what does he do with the t-shirts?
can you imagine the quilt that would make??? of course marathons that repeat the tshirt year after year in different colours…or changing the dates…are exempt. And I thought I had too many shirts…oi!
Look vitus979. . .Just because it doesn’t pump you up. . . Who made you arbiter of all that is “worthy” of news and mentioning? That’s a fairly arrogant position to take. This person is accomplishing something extraordinary. How about celebrating the diversity of accomplishments in life? Maybe someone will return the favor to you someday.
Noone made me arbiter of all that’s worthy. I was just bringing it up for discussion. Settle down.
Frankly, and you can think this is arrogant if you want, I don’t find the accomplishment all that extraordinary. I think it’s like getting a perfect attendance award. Fairly meaningless.
If you actually stop to think about it, 841. Let’s see, at two a week that’s 104 a year or 8 years of 2 marathons every weekend. If it’s 1 a week, that 16 years of a marathon every weekend. If it’s 2 a month, that about 420 months, or almost 35 years of 2 marathons every month, and so on. That’s a hell of a bit of ENDURANCE.
Or at my rate of one or two marathons a year, that’s 841 marathons over 841 years, or at best 421 years…I’d have to live as long as Abraham and some of those biblical dudes !
Dev
Why publish it? Because people WILL read it.
Incidentially, it caught my eye when I got my issue, and it was the first thing I read.
I think it’s pretty impressive. It shows a commitment to a lifetime of fitness, an amazing amount of resilience, and a dedication that is unreal. In the article it mentions that during his last marathon, he tripped over something(it was dark and he started early), and ran the whole thing while bleeding from his injuries. After the race he went to the ER, and was found to have two bruised ribs.
I do not have the desire to do that many marathons, but at 36 I certainly hope that when I am in my 70’s and 80’s I still have the desire and ability to do something like that. Hell, if I can finish an Ironman when I’m 77, I’ll probably get some hardware. The last thing I want is to be 80 years old sitting in my chair watching Jerry Springer for 16 hours a day while drooling applesauce from the side of my mouth. I’ve seen it happen, and don’t want to go there myself.
I think that the reason why magazines run articles like this is because some of us do, indeed, find them to be inspiring. We need more stories like this that show us that not everyone aspires to be on the next episode of MTV Cribs. Some folks just want to run.
Well, once again you pass judgement on someone else’s accomplishments by assigning the “meaningless” tag. As others have done here. . .stop and do the math. It comes out to much more than a passing commitment to fitness or a “perfect attendance award.”
I think it’s great . No polution involved, Healthy hobby, inspiring to many ,etc. Why would you care? What would be more interesting in your opinion because that’s all it is an opinion. We always want nice age group stories then complain when we get them. Who says he even wanted to tell his story? The mag may have heard about it then talked him into the interview. Maybe it’s his way of getting through life. It sounds like a GREAT story to me.