An overweight coworker today was commenting on a bumper sticker he saw in the parking lot. Ironman Finisher. He was telling me how lame that was, and if you cant finish in the top 5% who cares. This from a guy who can’t run a 5K. I am always amazed how quick people are to judge other peoples sports, marathons, bike races, triathlons etc. First qstn is always, “Did you win?” So I guess the typical ironman is 1 winner and 1999 losers. Sheez.
David
IM FINISHER is a bit posey, but that’s his problem. To each their own. Live and let live and all that stuff. The guy is reasonably justifiably proud of his achievement. I don’t think hsi finishing time makes any difference. Regardless of your time, finishing is an accomplishment that 99.999999% of the population will never do or understand. Their loss.
Just last weekend, my 21 year old son bought me a custom window sticker 4" high and almost 3’ wide that simply says “TRIDORK”. We were p*ssing ourselves laughing as we applied it to my beat up old car! (it was too big to fit on my bike 
My wife is disgusted. She thinks I’m an idiot. My son is an idiot for sure, for buying it for me. I’m pretty sure he gets it from his dad!
Am I a poser now that I have my credentials on my car? (BTW I’m thinking of getting window tints so I can’t be seen driving my car with such a dufus sticker
It’s funny what the “general public” thinks of Ironman. When someone I know finds out I’m doing an IM (Florida) they ask me if I’m doing the one in Hawaii. I explain that you have to qualify for that and that I’m not even in the ballpark, they seem puzzled.
i was out at the very start of the run part of a hard brick (60 miles of hills, 2 hours of hilly trails), heading up a moderately steep little incline about 400 yards from my house. i was obviously still looking for my stride to settle down. a car drives by and the driver yells “keep it up”. i yelled back “i just rode 60 miles, this is hard”. he reaches over and grabs an IM LP hat from the passenger seat, waves it at the window, and says “i know!”. sometimes its actually nice to have people around who know what the stupid running stride feels like and why it looks like that
Yeah. I don’t get it. Why do one if you know you won’t get to Kona? ;^)
Finishing an Ironman is something to be proud of no matter what your time and finish place were.
Having an ‘IM Finisher’ sticker on your car is extremely lame no matter what your time and finish place were.
I’m ashamed to a be a triathlete somedays…
It doesn’t matter the sport. Someone I know swam in the Olympic Games, the first question people ask is “did you get a medal”…his answer is “no”…so the originator states “well at least you got to go”…WTF…at least he got to compete at the elite stage, a pinnacle of a career as a commiseration.
Drives e crazy.
So, let me see…I train for years to complete my first IM, that most people would never even think of starting, I place alittle sticker on my car being proud of the accomplishment…and I support…ME…but I’m a poser? BTW - I don’t have a sticker on my car. But why not? I’m very proud to have completed my first IM! and Yes, I have an mdot tatoo.
How about the millions of people that spend a ton of money on clothing, sneakers, stickers, hats, shirts, jersys, bumper stickers, banners, that do nothing but make pro athletes a tad bit richer (like they need it) and its OK??? Is he a poser??? He’s not even on the team!!!
I agree with Zipp.
Some of you are the real Poseurs and are lame. Unless you win Kona you are a poseur, so isn’t Slowtwitch just a collection of poseurs arguing about other poseurs?
I guess for me (my opinion here) I find the IM bumper sticker and most all IM “gear” lame because it doesn’t take much for an average guy to complete an IM. Heck, they were giving the IM finisher bumper stickers out at IM CA 70.3. All that’s required is to pay the fee and suffer through 17 hours (or 8 for 70.3). Perhaps you did train and work hard to earn your gear and tatoo but a whole lot of those guys didn’t train much and guess what…they get the same sh*t. I walked into the merchandise tent at IMLP with an eye on perhaps buying a shirt. When I saw the condition and type of “athlete” who was buying the crap I turned right around. You don’t even have to do the race to buy finisher gear.
Here’s the link to buy discounted finisher gear: http://www.ironmanstore.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=41
enjoy!
Why do pride of accomplishment and bragging have to go hand in hand? Can’t you be proud of something without broadcasting to the world about it?
I bet that is what Peter Reid, Mark Allen, Normann Stadler, Torbjorn Sindalle’s, Michael Lovato, etc, say about you.
So everything you do, career, personal, athletics, you never talk about or feel proud about? Just keep it all in and never let anyone know what you are doing or what you have done?
I am not saying that a sticker or tatoo is cool, but who really cares. . .and who are you to judge?
why do they have to be mutually excusive?
I bet that is what Peter Reid, Mark Allen, Normann Stadler, Torbjorn Sindalle’s, Michael Lovato, etc, say about you.
I’m guessing they don’t have the IM Finisher bumper sticker on their car and IM tatoo either.
This is a bit extreme, don’t you think? I know plenty of people that smoke, are about double their healthy weight, and, say, play golf, and consider themselves athletic. Yes, that’s rediculous. But you know, what’s the average adult male VO2max? Like 35 or 40 or something. Women’s avg is lower by like 5 to 10 points. If the guy with the 20% body fat and “average” fitness level takes on a new training goal for a 5K, and finishes, he should darn-right be proud of it. It’s moving towards being a healthier person. Heck a half-marathon might as well be like high-jumping to the moon.
Now. Let’s talk about how many years it takes some people to exercise for 18 hours TOTAL. I mean like “I’m going to exercise now”. Some people never do it. Most 9to5ers probably get 18 hours exercise in 18 weeks. A huge number probably.
Anyone that suffers, even slowly by your elitist judgement, for 14 or 16 or 18 STRAIGHT hours to finish an event like this deserves to be really freakin’ proud of it. Top of the pile human performance- no. Top of the pile human determination - yes.
Just because this forum is full of fit, fast, trained people doesn’t mean the other 99.5% of the world agrees with you, or sees things through your special and challenging point of view. I’m sure that guys grandma is proud as can be.
Are you sure about the tatoo?
You are probably right, but they still think you are a poseur.
I think it would be sufficient if they just gave out, Ironman Lake Placid car stickers. Why they had to add the finisher part is beyond me.
One of the things that is appealing of the Triathlon community is that you don’t have to be an elite level athlete to feel a sense of accomplishment. Let’s face it most of us will never win first place in the ironman no matter how haed or how smart we train.
Having said that, there is a mentality out there that always thinks that bigger is better. There are Ironman finishers who dismiss the accomplishments of individuals in the shorter “sprint” or even Olympic distances. Many of these individuals never had respectable performances at any distance.
Who is to say that a marathon runner is a better overall athete than a miler or a 5K runner? Are there any triathletes that are willing to compete in the RAAM?