Why are fast runners so miserable?

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  • well they can be sportsmen while they are running as long as they turn into humanbeings when they've finishedimage
  • some elite sportsmen look like right miserable bleeders though...
  • often seems to be golfers...image

    although whether they should be classed as sportsmen is another debate entirely

  • I hate it when a runner makes a point of looking in the other direction when approaching me on the canal towpath. I don't see much justification for this. But I do have some sympathy for the incommunicative competitive athlete as he/she bears down on the finish line. Even if they're not going to win, it may be that every second counts towards a league placing or towards a PB. Leave well alone!

    That said, one of my most memorable moments in any race was being lapped by Haile Gebrselassie towards the end of a half marathon. I warmly clapped him as he went past, and he looked over at me in acknowledgement, which was reward enough. He looked as if he was making no running effort whatsoever. What a natural athlete. He went on to win in 1:01. I finished in 2:15! 

  • Johnny Blaze wrote (see)
    some elite sportsmen look like right miserable bleeders though...
    Kimi Raikkonen?
  • Hmmm, having read some of the replies on this thread, I obviously don't put in enough effort in races, as I often smile and thank the marshalls, have even been known to exchange a bit of chat during a race, and in the last 2 races I've done this year, I kept seeing friends amongst the spectators, so I shouted and waved at them!
  • I have known/trained with/raced quite a few top runners and in my experience they are no more or less miserable than any other group of people.
  • JWrunJWrun ✭✭✭
    agree with whoever said it first, not miserable - just focussed, you wouldn't expect Paula to be waving as she's speeding along ...................you'd expect her to be crying but not waving image
  • & don't forget...if it's a guy in the lead (which it usually is) he is unable to multi task!

     (waits to be shot down! image)

    Seriously though, when Ive marshalled races, I've whooped & cheered the leaders & they've flown by without a glance, but it doesn't bother me, they look in pain & focused & I'm seriously impressed!

  • Goodness me....what a lot of debate I have started.  I would like to clarify.  I don't expect any of the fast runners to acknowledge me and agree that they are so focussed and I am after all in a complete different league. 

    However, what really got my goat on Sunday, however, was having been lapped, the guys that finished probably a good 2 mins plus before I finished my first lap, had already left by the time I came through. They were finished, whereas I still had a lap to go.  I appreciate they were probably all knackered having given their all, but having taken the time to clap them, they could not be bothered to give me a little spurt of encouragement.  This is not being focussed, this is being just too darn rude and too concerned about themselves. 

    Every time I go out, even though I am not fast, I always try for a personal best.  I run at my optimum (albeit slow) level and am always exhausted at the end.  But I always have time to say thank you to the marshalls or give them a smile.  I have also been known to ask people in races if they are OK it they suddenly start limping in front of me or suddenly stop and start stretching.  If they needed help I would give it without any thought to my time.  It is just common decency.  One day (in my dreams) I may become a faster runner but until then I will have more fun in the back of the pack and run for the sheer enjoyment rather than to beat the clock.  Having said that, in the club I run with, regardless of whether someone is fast or slow, we always wait at the end of a race cheering on the last of our group and there are always encouraging words to the slowbies from the fasties as we are being lapped. 


  • Here's one for you.
    It really bugs me when people try and strike up a conversation with me during a race. I am trying as hard as I can and I don't want to talk! I may be toward the slower end of the field but that's because it's the best I can do not because I want to amble round chatting. I do always thank marshalls though, even if I just wave a finger. I'm naturally a polite person and I don't want to offend so normally gasp something like, "sorry no breath to talk" and then they move on. I'm still having fun - just not the smiley chatty kind.
  • That's not clarifying, that's completely changing your story. 

    Judging by the combination of your posts it was 3 laps of 2 miles.  I don't know about you but I would still have been on my cool down when you were finishing - maybe that's why.  Or should they stop immediately after the race and stand still for all the finishers and not cool down?

     Then you say: "I run at my optimum (albeit slow) level and am always exhausted at the end" and then "run for the sheer enjoyment rather than to beat the clock". 

    Sorry, you are starting to sound like someone with a bit of a grudge.

  • I think the mistake you make is that you think there is some sort of "running community" where all runners support all other runners but I don't think that's realistic.  It's a bit like greeting other runners whilst training.  Some people just don't.  It's not necessarily rude as you're still a stranger after all.  I know what you're saying...  you're busting a gut as well and had the grace to cheer on the fast peeps as they fly past you, and like you said some cheered you back and some didn't.  Some of those who didn't encourage you back were probably really busy catching the guy in front which at the time was a tad more important, but I guess some also won't give a shit and they are entitled not to give a shit cos running means different things to different people.  In general runners are encouraging to newbies, slower runners etc .  I myself have had much support as a back-of-the-packer.  But having said that there will also be some runners who have little interest in what running means to others, they are in it to win it whether you cheer them or not.  I doubt it even makes a difference to some. 

    I have also met some very nice elite athletes.  When I was in Switzerland trying (and failing - LOL) to become an ironman, some elites shouts on the bike ranged from "stay the fuck on the right!" to "well done pirate keep going".  Nice to have a nice shout but I don't hold it against the good ones to tell me to get the hell out of the way.  LOL

  • Moraghan, it was a 10km race - one small loop followed by 2 bigger ones not three laps of 2 miles each. I counted my "first" lap as the first of the bigger ones so by the end of that had done just over 4 miles.  Don't want to sound like someone with a grudge either.  It is possible to try and do one's best but still have fun too.

    Nam, I am starting to agree that it's unrealistic for all runners to support other runners which I guess just makes me sad.  Loved what you said about the ironman comments though.  It made me smile.

  • I sort of know where you're coming from Yaffles but I think you need to develop a slightly thicker skin. I've been a plodder for 9 years or so, and unless someone was deliberately rude to me (which has never happened to my knowledge), I wouldn't bother feeling too upset about lack of communication in a race.

    I've done plenty of races as nothing more than fitness runs and am happy to run at the back, chatting. On rare occasions when I'm feeling strong and going for a PB, I find conversation off-putting.

    As someone said, people run for many different reasons, and I respect that. I wouldn't expect all the fast runners to stop behind to wait for me -- why should they? They have places to go and things to do. But I do appreciate the few that do, and clap in the slower guys.

    I still get a bit fed up with the non-communicators on the canal towpath though. I never see a runner going flat out  there, so a nod or a wave shouldn't be too much to ask.

  • Jokerman wrote (see)
    Yeah I agree, you don't put in enough effort.
    Having said that I put a lot of effort into training!  image
  • spannah wrote (see)
    Here's one for you. It really bugs me when people try and strike up a conversation with me during a race. I am trying as hard as I can and I don't want to talk! I may be toward the slower end of the field but that's because it's the best I can do not because I want to amble round chatting. I do always thank marshalls though, even if I just wave a finger. I'm naturally a polite person and I don't want to offend so normally gasp something like, "sorry no breath to talk" and then they move on. I'm still having fun - just not the smiley chatty kind.
    Although i said I sometimes chat in races, I don't strike up conversations to annoy people, I just respond to other people talking to me, and I definitely don't 'amble'.
  • To be honest when i lap a slower runner in a 10K race their just another obsticle to get past whilst in pursuit of the fastest possible time, if they clap or make a comment I'm not going to notice, Its all about geting to the end as fast as possible. I'm more than happy to cheer clap slower runners during my cool down. AND I'm not that quick usually finishing somewhere around 20% down the field.  IMHO if you can talk in the last 1K or so of a 10k race you aren't trying hard enough
  • Some runners are so in 'the zone' working hard they don't take in what's going around them. A couple patients I'd worked with did FLM this year and I saw one of them at mile 13 - I yelled his name, waved literally in front of him and he still has no recollection of this! He got a pb image

    The chatting thing would really piss me off if I was in a race. I'd be tempted to wear an ipod...

  • what a most intersting thread

    at least it based on running, and not a social aspect which all the talk in the world won't improve anyone especially towards the marathon for example

    i recently coached my friend in her second FM, and stayed with her all the 26 miles

    online chatting and pre race jibe and chatter was great she said, really felt part of it, but she soon admitted it had no bearing on the race or helping her at all

    But in the race itself , once she knuckled down after a few miles she had no breath spare to do anything but focus,

    try asking HG to respond when in the last few miles of a World PB

    don't think so !!!!  

  • 2Old2Old ✭✭✭
    i get miserable when i get to mile 2 or 3 of a 10k and realise yet again i am not going to break 40mins and that im gonna have to endure the same pain to miss it by half a minute or so and its only at the end when recovered i feel able to talk or smile.
  • Yaffles - I am a miserable runner because I am a miserable person. I have have not had smile bypass surgery as has been suggested by some, I just never learnt how to smile in the first place. As for saying thank you, I haven't learnt that form of etiquette yet, nor to speak while running.

    At the same time I am not a fast runner either. Though if anyone does offer encouragement while I'm out there I do appreciate it. I know we are all people and sociable by nature to some extent, just that quite often it takes several moments for me to recognise that anyone has spoken to me, a few moments more for me to form a response and by then it's too late. I am a very slow thinker. Watching paint dry is faster.

    I'm not really a sociable person but I still don't like offending people, I'm not being rude, I'm just the way I am. We are all different.

  • Interesting thread image

    I'm often too focused on trying to breath when I'm racing to change my expression from a grimace to a smile, but I do try and manage a thumbs up when I'm cheered on.  This is definately more pronounced if you're at the front or trying to catch someone infront of you to win.  I'm sorry this guy or guys didn't acknowledge you (the OP) but tbh they prolly didn't even notice your praise past the thoughts in their heads to ignore the pain, and run faster and not get caught in the last 100m.

    It can block out everything around you till you start hearing things that aren't actually there, like the breathing or footfall of the person chasing you being closer than it actually is, but I'm sure that a 'well done' or 'good job' afterwards would be much more appreciated, and you'd be thanked in return.

    As for talking during a race, I can barely manage a nod so a conversation is entirely out of the question, unless I'd totally given up and was just there for the t-shirt.

    I've been second to last, finished mid-pack and I've won a few races, so I know how it feels, but every time I race I try to put in 100%  and I still couldn't manage a thankyou till afterwards.

  • That's odd. In many races I could manage a few words, or sentences without it affecting my run pace. Maybe it's years of rugby training where working flat out and communicating are important. I do have big lungs so it is not oxygen intake that limits my output. (Therefore oxygen transport, waste product disposal, or leg power are the limiting factors).

    So just because someone can talk and run don't assume they are sandbagging.

    DG

  • A liitle bit off topic, aren't you. Very technical! However, i have talked quite often in races. When i was first running i was not breathing deep enough but very shallow. But i was a similiar speed to later, when i was breathing better. However when breathing shallow it is pretty easy to talk at the best pace you can do. I talked at the first mile once in a 10k race (oddly they had mile markers), i went through 1m in 5-35. Of course, i didn't get much of a response!

    I am actually pretty amused when i hear coaches say run at a conversational pace, actually that is any pace i can do. I could even talk in a 1500m race on the track, ok i wasn't that quick compared to most(about 4-53)- but believe me, i couldn't run any quicker. But its not breathing, it is legs. Of course, i couldn't talk in the finishing sprint even in a marathon.

    On another matter, i quite often have to respond to comments i get from pedestrians and motorists and as i set off at a pace that is as fast as i can go-well i know i can still talk at my pace.

  • Jokerman- I don't see why 'big lungs' should be totally dismissed as a reason for being able to chat in the earlier stages of a race. I also have a large vital capacity (having grown my big lungs through a lot of sport when I was a teenager), and my FEV1 is about 40% greater than would be expected for a woman of my age. While it's true that vital capacity on its own isn't an indicator of fitness, because it varies by the size and sex of the person, it does tend to be greater in fit people.

    Going further off-topic, but maybe my lung size and function is a reason why I can chat in a race, and it's my legs that are the rate-limiting factor in me not being a great runner (although i do a reasonable amount of exercise I only run between 4 and 17 miles per week). I have a friend who runs at least 2 or 3 times further than I do per week in training, but she finishes only about a minute ahead of me in a 10K race.

  • I ran a race that was jokingly called a half marathon but was a 10k. It was mainly cross country. I made the mistake of starting with the leaders. Ran as fast as I could for the first mile and crashed. The only problem was that I was on a very narrow path with a drop on one side and a barbed wire fence ont he other and single file only. Absolutely knackered I had to slow down. I didn't want to slow the leaders down so each time I heard somebody behind me I stepped off the path. Every one thanked me.

    Mind you. I don't know if they were just being polite to a lesser runner or a potential psychopath who could push them off a steep hill.

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