I know quite a few people who have IM tattoo’s but a friend of one of the girls at work has had his Marathon time tattoo’d on his arm. Now I am not a big fan of tattoo’s which perhaps gives me a biased opinion but it seems very strange. Maybe I could understand if he ran a sub 2:10 or sub 2:20 or if his time had got him Olympic qualification or something but I think it was a steady 4:41 run. Perhaps its just because I have become a bit of a snob on times or something - I hope not. It obviously means alot to him and I guess it is a conversation starter but still seems odd to me. Pretty sure I would run out of space if I had my race times tattoo’s on to me after each race - I guess when people ask what your pb’s are you could just point.
I have no problem with the marathon tattoo. I have no problem with “26.2” or something else distance related. But, I agree with you. The time seems odd. Personally, I would not want that b/c I try to beat my previous race time every time I race.
Of course, tattoos are very personal. Perhaps that time means something to him besides just a momento of the race. Who knows.
We just have no idea what people have gone through to achieve something. I used to have a huge poster with 6:42 on it up in my room. When people asked about it, many times they were pro triathletes, my answer was simple. It is my finishing time in a mile race. Seeing as I had run about 16min for a 5k I got some strange looks but in the end, it was for me to understand and not for them.
We all get moments of pride where we just dont get why someone would do something, but it’s my opinion that if we shut the fuck up and ask a few questions, we’ll soon find ourselves being inspired by a someone else.
I fully agree. Some people overcome epic things to even finish a marathon. Maybe they lost a bunch of weight, lost a family member and ran it in their honor, or it could have been something that they’ve always wanted to accomplish. Sometimes it’s hard to take a step back and see how much of a feat it can be to finish a Marathon when we’ve been doing Ironmans.
I said this to my freind when she asked if this was normal, but as far as she is aware the marathon had no specific meaning. It had taken him a few years to finally get a slot so that maybe why it carried extra meaning - though she thinks he probably just got drunk and thought it would be a good idea.
she thinks he probably just got drunk and thought it would be a good idea.
Never underestimate the easy answer:-)