6 deadly words

I agree - why are you worrying about what this "non-runner"
said - as far as I am concerned, if you run one mile around
the block each day, you are a runner.

[censored] on her - now, having said that, your goals are
wonderful - a: you truly will not throw up during a marathon
and I forget your other concern but, my husband ran the
Philly marathon as his first (followed one of those Runner's
World training programs) and also ran Boston in 90 degree
weather - he did not throw up - DO not worry about time.
And, I call myself a runner and don't run for two hours yet
either. - Linda "frank-in-toronto"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"I thought you were a runner"

Spoken without thought. Not meant as unkind. So went the
start of my saturday family dinner. I've been thinking
about it ever since.

It all began with a family member asking me how my running
was going. I said "fine". She then told me about a friend
of hers who has run several marathons. I said "I'm not
ready yet. I've only done a 5K and a 10". Oh boy.

Then those words came. The conversation dies right away. I
told her I was going to do a couple of half marathons
later in the fall and was also running trails. I might as
well have spoken in Swahili. I had lost her respect. I
told her I would need new shoes and would have to train
for the long hours on the road. That only brought on more
digging questions: "oh, I thought you ran for 2 hours
already....".

I stopped while I still has some shreds of self repect.

Now, I don't know why this bothered me. I mean, who cares
what a completely non-runner thinks. She wouldn't know if
doing a marathon in 3 hours was pretty good or no-good at
all. To her, the MARATHON concept was all.

I talked this over with my running partner today. I said
if he was OK with it we should change one of the fall
halfs to a whole.

That's the plan. Sept 26. Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Flat. Picturesesque. 10K in 54 minutes. We'll aim at 4.5
hrs and see how it goes. 4 months to train. Gotta buy new
shoes next week. I get a discount on New Balance so I'll
get them. Started to read some marathon training info.
worried about bleeding nipples. worried about throwing up
on the run. worried about bathroom requirements during the
run. OK. I'll iron all this out over the summer.

tomorrow i'll print out the nyrrc site and see if one of
the schedules looks to fit me. gotta get crackin'
...thehick

Quoted message said:

"I thought you were a runner"

Spoken without thought. Not meant as unkind. So went the
start of my saturday family dinner. I've been thinking
about it ever since.

It all began with a family member asking me how my running
was going. I said "fine". She then told me about a friend
of hers who has run several marathons. I said "I'm not
ready yet. I've only done a 5K and a 10". Oh boy.

I've run races from 5k on up to marathon. Although the
marathon takes more time commitment to be able to finish
comfortably, the 5k and 10k require a different kind of
painful self-torture regimine (not to mention the pain of
the shorter race itself). Especially if you are training
perform at your best. The non-running public has a hard
time comprehending that. The word "marathon" has a mystique
all its own.

Quoted message said:

That's the plan. Sept 26. Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Flat. Picturesesque. 10K in 54 minutes. We'll aim at 4.5
hrs and see how it goes. 4 months to train. Gotta buy new
shoes next week. I get a discount on New Balance so I'll
get them. Started to read some marathon training info.
worried about bleeding nipples. worried about throwing up
on the run. worried about bathroom requirements during the
run. OK. I'll iron all this out over the summe

Well then welcome to the training-for-a-fall-marathon club.
Nevertheless, you were *already* a runner. ;-)

Phil M.

--
"I gotta go. You're killin' me."

who cares what they say if they sit their butts on the couch
and don't do anything to improve themselves at all.

don't let her bother you. she's a hurtful nobody.

- k i t z - livejournal.comkitznegariOpen ↗

frank-in-toronto said:

"I thought you were a runner"

[snip]

Quoted message said:

I talked this over with my running partner today. I said
if he was OK with it we should change one of the fall
halfs to a whole.

Bob Kennedy hasn't run a marathon either. Neither did
Bannister or Seb Coe. But
P. Diddy did. Perhaps P. Diddy, with his 4 hour and chance
marathon is the true runner, whereas Kennedy, Coe, and
Bannister are just overrated hacks (-;

One can politely attempt to educate these people -- as long
as they're not willfully ignorant. Perhaps pointing out that
many of the worlds best runners never competed in the
marathon, don't run over 2hrs in training (and many more
spent *years* specialising in shorter distances) is a start.
The general public have a misguided impression that it is
the distance of the race that separates the amateurs from
the pros, but nothing could be further from the truth.

You get your P. Diddys and your overweight joggers competing
in marathons, and you get your Coes, Kennedys, Bannisters,
etc eschewing the longer distances.

If nothing else, you're in good company.

I don't recommend making too many accomodations to the
willfully ignorant -- by all means be polite to them, but
don't try too hard to please them.

Do a marathon if you want to do one. Don't do one to please
people who really don't know better.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

frank-in-toronto said:

Then those words came.

'Tis a sad fact of life that it is completely impossible to
impress non-runners with speed. They just don't understand.
I could tell some of my closest friends that I had run a 5K
in 12 minutes and they wouldn't be impressed. If however I
were to tell them that I was going to run a 5 hr marathon,
they'd be impressed as hell.

(Actually, I'm pretty impressed myself by anybody who has
the guts to keep running for 5 hours) ;-)

The only answer is to smile sweetly and put salt in their
sugar bowl next time you're visiting.

Tim

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frank-in-toronto said:

Then those words came.

Move to Alaska 🙂 Up here, you're judged by whether you've
run Mt. Marathon, which is only a 5k .... with 3k feet of
elevation gain then loss on an out/back course. That race
gets more news coverage than all the marathons combined, I
think. Most people here don't know what a marathon is -
other than some crowded race run in Boston.

Seriously, though, no need to impress people - runners or
not. Run the races you want for the reasons you want.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd
Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

In article <[email hidden]>,

frank-in-toronto said:

"I thought you were a runner"

heh, i haven't heard those words exactly, but i've gotten
similar downplaying of my accomplishments and goals. the
only thing that bugs me about it is the attitude of the
people who say it. they are non-runners, who are ignorant of
what WE know about running. i don't let their words get to
me and i won't take it personally.

for example, when i went to register for my 5k race last
Friday (to run it on Saturday), i was directed to the timing
chip activation station. somebody asked me: "which race?"
After i answered, he replied: "you're just doing the
5K?".... as though that was just not good enough, whether i
was a beginner or a pretty seasoned runner (got five years
under my belt now). hell, was i not to be considered a
runner just because i chose the 5K today? but i let it go
quickly, not caring to explain that i had just done a
triathlon the week before, and had completed a marathon
before, a few halves, and many 10k's as well.

look at world track and field running events... there's the
5k. those competitors are runners, right? highly trained
athletes, in fact.

Quoted message said:

Now, I don't know why this bothered me. I mean, who cares
what a completely non-runner thinks. She wouldn't know if
doing a marathon in 3 hours was pretty good or no-good at
all. To her, the MARATHON concept was all.

exactly. and funny that a non-runner would even criticize
someone who ONLY does 5k and 10k races. i hear it all the
time from non-runners, even friends and family... "yeah, i
guess ##:## isn't too bad a time". what the hell do they
know? whatever.

Quoted message said:

I talked this over with my running partner today. I said
if he was OK with it we should change one of the fall
halfs to a whole.

only do it if you really want to, not because of what that
family member said. you're not doing this for them. be sure
you are doing it for the right reason, or it could be harder
to tough it out in training. it demands a lot of your time
and physical and mental effort. it's good that you plan on a
half before the full. it'll give you an idea of how it'll
feel to do the longer distances.

Quoted message said:

That's the plan. Sept 26. Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Flat. Picturesesque. 10K in 54 minutes. We'll aim at 4.5
hrs and see how it goes. 4 months to train. Gotta buy new
shoes next week. I get a discount on New Balance so I'll
get them. Started to read some marathon training info.
worried about bleeding nipples. worried about throwing up
on the run. worried about bathroom requirements during the
run. OK. I'll iron all this out over the summer.

read lots! ask questions here and at your running store.
you'll learn everything about preparation along the way,
sometimes just through experiences.

Best of luck!

Cam

Your first mistake was assuming you had her respect in the
first place. After all, she already knew you were a jogger.
Your second blunder was having self esteem. There's just no
place for that, when you're prancing down the street dressed
like spiderman.

I was telling someone about a 10k I had did. He says, 'Have
you never run a marathon?'. With a slight laugh, I tell him,
'only in training'. Slightly bends the truth, but 20miles is
close enough, and it sure put that conversation to bed!!

D

--

Ask for my e-mail if needed

When I tell people I run they usually end up telling me
about someone they know who has run or is going to run a
marathon. That seems to be the reason they think people run
- to accomplish a marathon. When I explain to them that I
don't run on roads anymore and run either on trails or
directly through the woods (orienteering
www.us.orienteering.org), and that once a year I stay out
all day and all night collecting as many points as possible
in a 24 hour ROGAINE (rugget outdoor group activity
involving navagation and endurance -
rogaining.comrogaining.comOpen ↗) - then most of them just give me
a subtle strange look and change the subject.

For those who love the wilderness rogaine is an absolute
blast. My team just walks the 24 hour event, though several
top teams run, and cover upwards of 100km, most of it
completely cross-country. They usually also have 6 hour and
12 hour events running at the same time. Its like the
navagational part of adventure racing, and many adventure
racers come to train at roagaines, though many seem to give
up early. There's something about being out there at 3:30 am
on top of some hill with no trails, reading your map with a
headlamp and trying to figure out how many more control
points your team will be able to find before you have to be
back at noon. Those are some of the most primal and
meaningful times of my life lol.

I consider rogaine an outing more than a race, though some
race for the most points. In rogaine you can choose to find
the control points on the map in any order you want and you
can skip any control you want to. That makes it creative and
great fun. In orienteering, you follow a set course finding
one checkpoint after the other, competing against others via
the clock (as each person leaves at least 2 mins spaced out
from other competitors). Also in orienteering, there are
many courses to choose from with different lengths and
levels of difficulty. In rogaine the orienteering skills are
medium, but the scale is much larger and you need solid map,
compass and distance skills. I highly recommend both to
runners who love the wilderness. You'll find a great crowd
of people at these events too.

- Tony

frank-in-toronto <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"I thought you were a runner"

That's the plan. Sept 26. Toronto Waterfront
Marathon. Flat. Picturesesque. 10K in 54 minutes.
We'll aim at 4.5 hrs

If I could go back to 1985 and have a conversation with
myself I'd tell me "don't run your first marathon for at
least 4 more years."

In 1985 I was 20. I am certain if I had waited and honed
my talents I could have had some pretty smoking marathon
times (based on the half marathon times I actually
achieved). I would have spent those 4 years getting my
half marathon times down to a competitive level. This
would have given me a solid base to use for marathon
training. Instead of wasting time and running a sucky
marathon each year until 1989.

Look at what Halie Geb (sp???) did. Was he a runner
while holding all those track records? Before he ran a
marathon for real?

you) isn't impressed with you is a really bad idea.

But do as you wish.

Andy

.

Quoted message said:

Now, I don't know why this bothered me. I mean, who cares
what a completely non-runner thinks. She wouldn't know if
doing a marathon in 3 hours was pretty good or no-good at
all. To her, the MARATHON concept was all.

Man, There's the problem. Its her CONCEPT! Its her hangup
and her movie. In her movie she thinks that runners have to
do marathons. Your concept of runner can be anything. It can
be merely running to the corner store for a pack of smokes.

Who gives a [censored] what she thinks?! You can't base your life
off of what other people think. You'd never accomplish
anything if you did.

Donovan Rebbechi said:

frank-in-toronto said:

"I thought you were a runner"

<snip>

Quoted message said:

Do a marathon if you want to do one. Don't do one to please
people who really don't know better.

I want to. Just wasn't planning to do it this year. But
this'll give me the goal and incentive I need to develop my
training plan.

Thanks to the others for your responses too. To kitz: she's
not hurtful. just doesn't understand. To Linda and Phil M.
encouraging words. If I were to try it right now, I know I
wouldn't finish. So I have 4 months to shape up. I've
resisted adding a weekend run until now because I didn't
really want to spend that much of my time running. That's
changed now. ...thehick

Tim Downie said:

frank-in-toronto said:

Then those words came.

snip>

Quoted message said:

The only answer is to smile sweetly and put salt in their
sugar bowl next time you're visiting.

i'll take that under consideration. ...thehick

Dot dot.h@#att.net said:

frank-in-toronto said:

Then those words came.

Move to Alaska 🙂 Up here, you're judged by whether you've
run Mt. Marathon, which is only a 5k .... with 3k feet of
elevation gain then loss on an out/back course.

That's one hell of a grade -- you sure thats not a typo ?
That would be 900m gain / 2500m -- a grade of over 30%. It
would be quite an achievement to run up that at any pace.
The steepest I've run up is just over 20% (San Francisco)
and that was already pretty crazy. Sounds like fun anyway
(though I wouldn't count on a 5k PR on that course!)

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

This thread is lame. Boo hoo, a family friend said six
supposedly deadly words. Get over it! Why do you run? To
impress others? Forget I thought you were a runner, maybe
she should have said I thought you were a man.

"onemarathon" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

for example, when i went to register for my 5k race last
Friday (to run it on Saturday), i was directed to the
timing chip activation station. somebody asked me: "which
race?" After i answered, he replied: "you're just doing
the 5K?".... as though that was just not good enough,
whether i was a beginner or a pretty seasoned runner (got
five years under my belt now). hell, was i not to be
considered a runner just because i chose the 5K today? but
i let it go quickly, not caring to explain that i had just
done a triathlon the week before, and had completed a
marathon before, a few halves, and many 10k's as well.

I wonder what he would have said to Khannouchi when he
checked in for the *5k* at the 2002 MCM -- not so long after
he had run record marathon time in Chicago???

He ran in that MCM-5k, and so did his wife. The start-
announcer also mentioned it. bj

onemarathon said:

for example, when i went to register for my 5k race last
Friday (to run it on Saturday), i was directed to the
timing chip activation station. somebody asked me: "which
race?" After i answered, he replied: "you're just doing the
5K?".... as though that was just not good enough, whether i
was a beginner or a pretty seasoned runner (got five years
under my belt now). hell, was i not to be considered a
runner just because i chose the 5K today? but i let it go
quickly, not caring to explain that i had just done a
triathlon the week before, and had completed a marathon
before, a few halves, and many 10k's as well.

I get a variation of this. I'll occasionally race in an IM
singlet and I'll get the comment that this 5K or 10K "must
be easy for me."

Well, no. EVERY race is hard if you want to push your
limits. The fact that I've done 7 Ironmans doesn't make a
hard 5K any easier. If those around me in a 5K are hurting,
you can be sure I am, too.

To the original poster - make sure in your mind that you are
doing the marathon for the right reason. YOUR reason, not a
non-runners. We've seen too many runners move up to the
'thon too soon, only to have a miserable experience.

Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"

Way too funny - Linda
"Tim Downie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

frank-in-toronto said:

Then those words came.

'Tis a sad fact of life that it is completely impossible
to impress non-runners with speed. They just don't
understand. I could tell some

of

Quoted message said:

my closest friends that I had run a 5K in 12 minutes and
they wouldn't be impressed. If however I were to tell them
that I was going to run a 5 hr marathon, they'd be
impressed as hell.

(Actually, I'm pretty impressed myself by anybody who has
the guts to keep running for 5 hours) ;-)

The only answer is to smile sweetly and put salt in their
sugar bowl next time you're visiting.

Tim

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