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IGNORANT SLOWER RUNNERS
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Sorry the posts are flying so fast I got left behind there!
Hi Kwilts, I agree that is rude. I've never had that experience myself, and I am not fast as you know,but I'd be hacked off too if that happened to me.
@Slo Sho - that's the thing though isn't it? I've not experienced any inconsiderate 'slower' runners because I am always at the back of the field
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Like Slo Sho said , I have put my view across and am now starting to repeat (and boring) myself so I will shut up
Really want to flounce out now and accuse you lot of bullying and being a clique, but I love you all really!!
Melodra, I think that you have missed the point.
Chris made it quite clear in his original post that he was not having a go at slower runners, I'm a newbie, middle-pack runner, would consider myself one of the slower ones (as against say, KK, cougie etc) and I'm not remotely insulted by his point - I think it's very fair.
Races have staggered starts for a number of practical reasons and to make sure that everyone gets a good start: it's just as difficult for the faster runners to weave in and out of the slower runners as it is for the slower runners to avoid being jostled or mown down from behind by faster runners. Not much fun for either group.
The races are not about raising money for charity - they are organised so that runners can complete the distance, for whatever reason they want. Of course a hell of a lot of people enter specifically to raise money for the charity they support, but the races are not just a fund-raising event.
Noone's "having a go" at the slower runners (and I include myself as one), just stating the fact that it would be helpful for everybody if runners could be put in the right starting pens and we're just debating how we could achieve that. And the comments re bras/shoes etc I'm taking to refer to people who are presumably less appropriately dressed for the occasion through lack of experience, hence probably a first-timer/slower, walker etc, so would have been better off in one of the later starts - a reasonable comment.
I almost feel as if you feel that it's wrong to run a race if not to raise money for charity. FWIW, I shall be running in one race later this year for which I'll be trying to raise some money, all the rest will be for myself - to get race experience and as part of my training to run better and faster.
Apologies Joolska, got you confuised with a lady from Reading, similar name.
However don't know what you're missing not doing the Slog.
@ Slo Sho - hope that was directed at me
<turns round swiflty, nose in air, flounces off>
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<returns with empty wine glass>. Large glass red, please
Schmunkee - I should also add that a number of smaller club-organised races have ceased to exist in recent years because they can't get Police sanction. The bigger "events" however can afford to pay for Policing, stewarding and road closures.
In other words, the existence of a big "event" could well force a number of the small club-run events, which mid-packers like me are expected to run at, to no longer exist.
However, there's always the "event", isn't there? Where I can pay an exhorbitant entry fee; be unlikely to run a PB; but take some kind of solace in that "it's all for charity".
Sorry, I'm not having a go at you. I'm having a go at how running has been hijacked in this country. The points you make are most valid. I think my outlook and your outlook is different. I treat running primarily as sport. I have no problem with people raising money for charity, and I have run for charity raising >£2000 myself. My major gripe is that I feel the mid-pack runners have been sidelined and the sport taken away from them. This image is perpetuated by the media as I stated earlier where there are only "elite runners" and "charity fun runners"
I am disappointed that running has been hijacked in this way in this country and the situation seems to be getting worse. like "Sprint For the Line" very eloquently puts it - it doesn't happen in other sports.
It doesn't appear to happen in other countries either. I've run in France, and I have friends who have also run in Holland and Germany, and all report the "charity fun running" thing is close to non-existent.
Yes, many people on this thread take themselves seriously.
Too seriously, though, is a matter of (highly debatable) opinion.
Why shouldn't people take their sport seriously? For many people (and I am one of them despite being pretty damn slow myself), the only way to enjoy their sport is to take it seriously. That doesn't mean being po-faced or snobbish or "elitist" or whatever, it means caring about what we do, about doing it right and about doing it to the best of our ability.
I think the majority of posters here are absolutely right in being annoyed by those who can't be bothered to understand or comply with the etiquette of the sport (and that's those who are slow or fast). Whether someone runs for a charity or not is utterly irrelevant.
If you don't want to take it seriously, that's your choice, but don't criticise those who do take it seriously and don't obstruct their pursuit of their goals.
<pours red wine>
Mr Bump's got a very good point there, you know.
Cute !
and so has the Moose.
I'm a slow runner, but I love my running. My job is physically tiring and means it is hard for me to train for races, so I really have to dig deep to find time and energy to work towards a PB, and can't make the attempt more than a couple of times a year. My PBs are nothing to an elite runner, but I've sweated blood for them, and when it all comes together in a race and I think, this time, just maybe, I may be able to shave off that tiny bit of time to take me through another time barrier, I'd be devastated if someone else's behaviour prevented me from reaching my goal.
Bang! Splat
Whoops, too late even for the wine
too late for wine CJ, never. *opens another and passes it around*
Cheers Slo Sho.
Mr Bump - very eloquently put and non-inflammatory. Points well raised and not ever considered by me because I have no experience of club races because I need the larger field to lose myself in.
Edit: <waits for the good natured puns to kick in re needing a field to get lost in>
I was at a half on Sunday with 4250 runners and no separate starting pens. 10 minutes before the start the announcer asked everybody to please start in a reasonable place according to their estimated finishing time. That meant if you didn't expect sub 1:10 for men or sub 1:20 for women you shouldn't be anywhere near the line. There was lots of 'holy sh*t' and shuffling away from the front rows. LOL!
We started in the middle and still managed to overtake loads of people. No chance of a PB but it was a great race. Fabulous goody bag too and all for 8€.
Running for charity doesn't exist in Spain. You just go, run, get a goody bag and go home.
What a nice thread this has turned out to be.
<beams fondly at one and all>