The running community and new, sensitive, slow runners..

I am sort of new to Threads and, I think due to my Instagram preferences, I’ve been shown a bunch of recommended posts about distance running, especially about those who run public races.

There are many topics of debate and discussion. One of them is about the tendency for the slower runners to overvalue finishing long races like marathons and undervalue running shorter races faster. These are the types that are more impressed with a 4:30 marathon than a 4:30 mile; the latter is orders of magnitude harder to do. Example: as a younger man, I’ve showed up fat and out of shape and broken 4:30 for a marathon. But my fastest mile ever is only 5:30, and that about killed me.

But that isn’t what I want to talk about here.

It seems that many slower runners (e. g. the type that I can beat walking..or used to be able to beat while walking) are thirsty for affirmation from those who are good at it.

Here is such a thread. TL;DR: she was travelling by public transportation to a half marathon, overheard someone saying that they were going to a half marathon.

“I told him that I was too, we had a nice chat for a couple of minutes. Then he told me his target time and asked mine. (1/2) I cheerfully replied that I’d be about an hour behind him and he instantly lost interest in the conversation. It just stopped, he didn’t even look at me for the rest of the journey.”

Now of course I was not there so I don’t know the facial expression, if the guy she was talking to had other stuff on his mind, or whatever.

But, I’ll just say this: my PR is 1:34 (1999) and I had little in common with those running, say, 1:05 or faster. The faster runners: they were concerned with racing (e. g. dropping the competitors), pushing themselves to the limit, etc.

I, on the other hand, was more concerned with time/pace. My catching someone meant I’d finish 134’th instead of 135’th…not much difference. I was after a PR, or “fast” (for me) time and the calculations are different. The mentality is different and the training is certainly different.

Now, well, I am looking to get under 3 hours as a walker (IF I can get to the 1/2 distance at all) and not hurt my back in the process. I am worried about cut offs, aid stations running out of water, keeping nausea under control (keeping the ability to digest water) and increasing heat (an extra 90 minutes can mean a good change of temperature)

I have little in common with the sub 1:40 runners; I am more likely to talk to the slower people (slower runners, older runners..overweight runners and other non-elite walkers).

And I am ok with that. Evidently, some of the newbies aren’t.

So, what is going on?

I think this is the difference:

“Our community does not talk enough about how deeply unwelcoming it can be to beginners. For goodness sake, we all started with couch to 5k or something once upon a time…”

And that is absolutely UNTRUE for me! In fact, it may have been untrue for most of the runners back in 1980, when I started running in public races.

My background: high school sports, college rowing and club judo, and the military. Back in high school I used to run for conditioning purposes. My times: 5:54 for the mile (as a 210 lb lineman) and 13:30 for the 2 mile. In college (Naval Academy) these improved to 5:30 for the mile and 19:30 for the 3 mile (roughly 20:20 for a 5K) before I started to dabble in public road races.

Furthermore: I had experience on the playing field and on the practice field. I had struck out, made errors, missed tackles (once leading to a TD), missed blocks, missed free throws, gotten pinned and had coaches “gently” suggesting how I might improve my game. I also had experience in the military, getting yelled at by Marine officers, etc.

So, going into public races, I expected them to be hard and I well understood that there were levels to it. I was a “plodding fitness runner” and could not be expected to be seen in the same way as those who were good at it.

I wonder: the attitude about races appeared to be different in that era. I know that average times were much faster. Whether that was because most runners of that era came in with sports experience OR had team experience themselves, or some other factor, I do not know. Running clubs had groups, but they tended to be for those who already worked themselves up to a certain level.

Now I do miss those days. I tell myself I missed the comradery of the performance seeking runners (most of those I ran with cared about their times) or do I just miss my younger, better working body.

Now to my workout of the day. I started my PT at about 8, walk at 8:30 and finished..yes..about noon. I took waaaay too long. But I had a nice lag between finishing my walk (9:30) and really getting going with the pull ups (about 10). I got water, stretched some more, etc.

Walk: one loop course: 56:50 at the 4 mile mark 4.15 in 59 minutes. 42:40 at mile 3. It was perfect weather.

Now to the weights: did super setting with rotator cuff, monster walks and psoas marches:

10 pull ups, 7 chin ups, 5 chin ups, 7 chin ups, 5 chin ups, 10 pull ups, 7 pull ups, 5 chin ups (to make up for bad reps) 56 reps in total.

Bench press: 5 x 134, then 3 sets of 5 x 154 (big red plates), then 10 x 134 (wanted more). Lots of rest between sets here.

High incline (tied in) 8 x 90, 8 x 90, 7 x 90 (lots of rest between sets 2 and 3)

curls: 3 sets of 10.

When I look at this I think “gee, this isn’t much.” And yet it took time.