The NYT is All Up in Your Marathon!

Ho! Juliet Macur just called y'all out! Her article in today's Times about slow marathon runners, I must say, is awesome because it's good journalism. She does a good job of explaining arguments for both sides: if you are super slow, what the hell are you doing in a marathon? Versus: 26.2 is 26.2, regardless of time.

Being a six-time marathoner, I'm in the first camp. My PR is 4:02 and my slowest was 4:48, which turns out to be good in the grand scheme as the current women's average is 4:43. But in 1980, it was 4:03.

This year, my excitement at running NYC on 11/1 is very much undermined by the fact that I did not earn my marathon this year. After burning out last year, I took months out and was slow to begin training this year. I was pretty diligent in August, but September was completely off track (pun intended), until a few weeks ago when I just couldn't resist the unique opportunity to race on my birthday. I ran 18 on Wednesday and know I'll get through it, but nowhere near my dream time of breaking 4 hours. If I finish under 5, I'll be thankful.

The best argument for the speedies to keep the slowpokes is that they're funding the race (NYC cost $165 this year - robbery!). But guess what? Real runners don't need the bells and whistles that come with running a big race like New York. Sure, it's fun to have two million fans along the course (except the overeager fans who seep in from the sidewalks in Harlem and near Atlantic Street, STAND BACK WE'RE F'ING TIRED!!), as a purist, my favorite race was the Newport (Oregon) Marathon, just the runners and the scenery. It means more when you work hard.

Then again, if the New York Road Runners would finally enforce the "no headphones in races" rule, I'd personally recruit the walkers. Don't. Get. Me. Started. But for serious, if people who had "marathon" on their bucket list would look at it more like "writing a book" and less like "visit Berlin", we'd have a lot less tourists and a lot more people who respect the time, dedication, and heart it takes to run the race.


~Addendum~
Truth be told, I came back in and edited this post after reading the article's comments -- if you give it your very best, you deserve to be there. I didn't this year, I'll be the first to admit it. I'll still show up, but I have more respect for anyone finishing after me that sacrificed over the past months or even years to kick 26.2 ass next Sunday.