<p>The New York Times carried a front-page article today about the increasing number of “marathon” runners finishing in 6 hours or more. Apparently, there is a marathon in Hawaii that has no time limit, and the participants sometimes stop for lunch mid-course. Aloha!</p>
<p>Why I love Hawaii. What’s the rush?</p>
<p>I love it. Sounds like my kind of marathon!</p>
<p>Slow MARATHONS? You should see my version of a slow 10K. Laughable. My D pointed out this fall that she thinks I could probably WALK faster! LOL. I suspect the smart mouth is correct.</p>
<p>A slow marathon is better than no marathon. </p>
<p>DLF > DNF >> DNS</p>
<p>Better than the recent Detroit International Marathon that featured the deaths of 3 runners.</p>
<p>Amen to that, UMDAD.</p>
<p>Better than slow: Not running at all and handing out Gatorade. Greeting the runners at check in, meeting people from all over the globe.</p>
<p>I LOVE slow marathons! Last year, I did the Minnie Marathon (a half-marathon) at Walt Disney World with my daughter. We had an amazing time, and we were slow enough to appreciate all of the fun sights along the way.
Let the fast people start in front, and everybody’s happy.</p>
<p>slow is great if you aren’t in the city streets mucking up traffic and people getting about their business. And it’s also somewhat safer.</p>
<p>I ran a marathon many years ago and did a great deal of preparation for it. About 10 years ago, I happened to be in NY on marathon Sunday,and happened to be over near central park at about 4+ hours into the race. I was absolutely astounded at how overweight (for runners) almost everyone was who was passing by. It was absolutely clear to me that the runners had not properly prepared for this event by dling enough mileage. </p>
<p>When I read the results in the paper the next day, I realized that the marathon time that I had run (which put me right in the middle of the distribution for that particular race) would have placed me in the top 10% of finishers in New York. I was stunned. There were about 30,000 entries, and probably should have been no more than 12,000. </p>
<p>I don’t think that anyone who hasn’t been averaging at least 6 miles per day for the six weeks prior to the marathon should be running. A basic rule of distance running is not to run more than three times your average daily mileage. If you go at a slow enough pace, the risk to you is minimized, but walking a marathon is not the same as running one, and requires the organizers to have a completely different logistical setup.</p>
<p>Can I ride a golf cart?</p>
<p>As I type this, I am taking a break from a marathon whose course runs from my desk to the coffee maker and back. I have been participating in this marathon for the last 28 months and am nearly one-third finished.</p>
<p>I think it sounds awful! Having a marathon and a couple of halfs under my belt, with decent times, but nothing amazing (unlike MOWC), I can tell you that the more time you spend out, there the more grueling it gets. There are very few things in life I want to be doing for six hours outside of sleeping.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You couldn’t possibly know that.</p>
<p>I cycle. I certainly don’t look as though I can ride the rides I ride, but I ride 'em. I’m not fast, but I’m out there on the trails nonetheless. </p>
<p>broetchen, bikeriding for six hours or more can work out pretty well! :)</p>
<p>Biking and running are different. A cyclist can carry more weight and not suffer as much.</p>
<p>This was (once again) the subject of huge debates on my running forums. I don’t judge by finishing time. I think marathons are extremely challenging and should not be attempted by untrained people. I personally don’t have a lot of respect for people who complete 26.2 miles by walking the whole way, but to each his own. I was on the board of a major city marathon for over 20 years, and the extremely slow finishers create a lot of expense and problems for the race administrators. You either need to close the course and pull them off after a certain time, or go to additional expense to keep the course protected. If people want to walk, stick to half marathons.
I used to be a very fast marathoner. Now I am 30 years older and still fast for my age group, but almost an hour slower than I was 30 years ago. There are people on my running forums (young people, needless to say) that don’t understand that I am performing at the same competitive level and training just as hard as they are. They look at my times and think “slow” until they think it through a little bit.<br>
Those of us who grew up with Frank Shorter have a different view than those who came to running in the era of charity fund-raising events.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It seems like there could actually be a certain advantage in terms of inertia, and I’m not just making a joke. I really wonder.</p>
<p>Carrying a lot of weight in a distance race is really tough. The single best thing you can do to improve your marathon time is to lose weight (if you have it to lose).</p>
<p>I thought the article was obnoxious and designed to stir up this topic for the zillionth time. My running friends and I tend to be somewhat elitist (obnoxiously so, in fact) and even we thought the quotes in the article were over the top.</p>
<p>I’ve been an avid runner and road racer for 37 years. For some people 6 hours is the fastest they can go in a marathon. For them I say great, keep up the good work. There is room in the sport for all levels of talent. But if you are stopping for meals, relaxing, or otherwise deliberately dawdling along the way, then you haven’t properly grasped the concept of a <em>race.</em></p>
<p>A race is supposed to be challenge. A challenge to see how fast you can go, how many competitors you can beat, to compete against your own best times, to gauge how successful your training has been. </p>
<p>If you are going out there for a social event, stopping and dining with your friends, or just cruising along at an easy pace and enjoying the conversation and scenery, why bother to enter the race? Save yourself the entry fee and just stage a 6 hour jog or training run.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, there is an advantage, as shown in the wheelchair class. The amputees in the racing chairs are in the neigborhood of a minute and a half per mile faster than the fastest runners in the world. Thats over half an hour for the race. (That creates a logistical issue at the start too. )</p>
<p>There’s a reason that the wheel caught on.</p>
<p>My H has done around 30 marathons. In his first, which was Seattle in driving rain he finished in 5 1/ hours. By the time he crossed the finish line the streets were reopened, and they had stopped giving out food at the end. I was so proud of him…for keeping going for that long when it would have been much easier to give up. The elite runners are done in less than half that time, but it takes a lot of heart to keep going when it is that hard for you. He has yet to break four hours, but he keeps working on it. Now he’s 15 years older and it is not getting any easier! I still take my hat off to the slowpokes in the bunch. At least they are getting up and moving!</p>