Walking a marathon is easier?

I don't know if anyone was watching Sky News last night but it was about the 7.15 hour mark and they were doing a broadcast from the VLM finish line.

The people drifting through behind the journo were people who had walked the majority of the race. In fact I expect a lot of them would have planned to.

It was very noticeable that there was no elation on their faces, no relief, they were just dog tired and, if anything, fed up. 

Now I've never actually seen anyone finishing a marathon after this amount of time but it rather proved to me that walking the whe way definitely isn't the easy option.

What does everyone else think?

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Comments

  • unless you have trained to be on your feet that long.its going to be a very long day out and you are going to be in pain....

    to be honest there can't be many people who do one without being in pain.

    best way is to be trained and fit.....and to do one at a training pace for the fun of it.....or to run with someone slower to help them through their first one.........

    all other ways seem to evolve some level of pain........the faster you are the pain will only be with you for a short time.....if you finish in 7 hours the chances are you have had to live with the pain for many hours

  • the only time ive "walked" that distance is doing the Yorkshire 3peaks challenge, and we finished that in just under 7 hours, the last few miles were misserable to say the least. 

    When i ran it the following year it was harder physically but mentally it was a lot easier, 

  • why pick 4 hrs.any young fit man who puts in effort should be able to go sub 3:30 easily.to be honest 30 yrs ago most clubs would laugh at you if you got over 3 hrs.

     so either make it sub 3 hrs or not bother at all.......anything else david is a just varying degrees of crapnes......

    covering the distance is an achievement,,,,,,

  • WiBWiB ✭✭✭

    Let's be honest seren, there are guys running under 11 seconds for 100m at club level. So that's roughly within 15% of the WR. So the equivelent at marathon distance is about 2:22.

    Even if you allow and extra few percent given that the marathon takes longer to complete so has more variables, chances for issues etc then its got to be sub 2:30 before it is considered to be running fast! 

  • The London Marathon has a few thousand runners followed by many more thousands having a parade. It is what it is.
  • I run a lot and I have completed a few 2hr 1/2 marathons, 10ks etc. Never ran a marathon. I beat my hm PB by 2 mins this year. If I ran a 5 hour marathon I would count that as a major achievment. In my opinion a marathon needs to be ran not walked, not walked at any point. If I walked or stopped even for a minute I would count it as a failure.

    According to pace charts I should be able to complete a 4:30 marathon but I think on the day that would be very difficult. Kudos to anyone who completes one....as long as they dont walk or stop!image

  • Sticking to a plan (whether that plan is to run, run/walk or walk from the start) is easier than being underprepared, and having no choice but to slow down, walk and then finally trudge home.

    But then maybe it's easier to suffer 7 or 8 hours of exhaustion than spend 16 - 20 weeks training? image 

  • David, you are young and, if you'll forgive me, quite ignorant in some ways. Either that or you suffer from a complete lack of human empathy. Most people could imagine running at that sort of pace even if they don't themselves.

    There are, for example, people out there who decide they want to run a marathon at 50 or 60. They may train regularly and diligently but, let's face it, they are going to be pretty slow.

    If you can give me a good reason why a person like that (and that's just an example off the top of my head) shouldn't bother running a marathon then I'd like to hear it.

     

  • Hog-mouseHog-mouse ✭✭✭

    If I hadn't stopped during my first marathon I'd be dead. image Sometimes you have to stop, to cross a road or two perhaps and if the roads aren't closed and there are big bad trucks you do what the marshalls say and stop. Heroics won't unsquash you. That's when I discovered how had it was to get going again 23/4 miles into a marathon. Had to stop and stretch and walk 100 yds just to make the legs start working again. Guess running a sub 4hr marathon just ain't ever going to be good enough for some folk.

    There are enough people on here who have walked run to a sub 3 hr marathon and they aren't ashamed of that. Certainly no shame in walking the hills on some of the trail marathons either.

    I know that I'm going to walk run Giants Head. I have every intention of still being able to run afterward. Really don't care. It's down to the individual.

  • "I would doubt someone was so slow that they could run (ie not walk at any point) a marathon in over 5 hours"

    Then you are wrong. That's all there is to it.

     

  • "I wonder how many people who finished over 5 hours in the London marathon yesterday never stopped once during the race. Not many I'll tell you that much".

    You don't actually know anything of the sort.

    Tell me you're not going to turn into one of those people who spouts a load of codswallop and then states "FACT" afterwards?

  • people do a marathon for themselves..........if they manage a time that they are happy with then its great.

    If others are noit happpy with their own time then go out and train harder and wiser and then get a time that you are hapopy with.why on earth do people try and put down other peoples achievements just to feel better about themselves......

    and david i know one person at least who didn't walk a single step yesterday that came in at 4:55..so I imagine there are others who could walk over 5 hours.............

    but it doesn't really matter as no one on here is going to win the olympics.we all do it for our own reasons and our own satisfaction........

    so be happy or not in your own achievements without trying to belittle others.....

    walk/ run, stagger or crawl.it doesn't matter.a marathon is about getting form point A to another point B which is 26.2 miles away on your own feet....

  • So there you are DF3 - Seren has already given you a solid example to counter your idle speculation.

  • yer majyer maj ✭✭✭

    I didn't walk a single step in my first marathon - it was one of my goals.  Time was 4:56

    I was supporting in London yesterday and at the 23 mile mark there were plenty of sub 3:30 runners doing a bit of walking

  •  

     

    David Falconer 3 wrote (see)

    I have every intention of walking part of my marathon. The point being is that when I get to the finish I won't have a false sense of achievement over what Ive done. I know I'll just need to do better next time, and this is really about doing a 'Mo' (ie testing out the course, learning things for next time lol)

     

    You say that, but I bet you'll be pretty damn proud of yourself when you get to the finish line image 

  • DF3 you are definitely wrong - finishing a marathon is in itself an achievement.  I have run 45 marathons in my time and finished in all sorts of times from 3:48 to 5:30. Never walked. I was however passed by a couple of speed walkers in the Berlin marathon, I couldn't keep up with them even though I was running.

    On the subject of actually walking - my SiL trained for a whole year to fast walk VLM with a friend of hers in memory of the friend's mother. Walk it they did, and were not last. They did not stop once.

    Sadly I won't be running any more marathons.  Maybe I should switch to walking fast?

  • That's 3 examples now.

    Come on DF3, are you going to admit you're wrong for once?

  • a very close friend of mine runs average 12 min miles, shes a slow runner, but she runs full marathons, without stopping, regularly, 

  • Screamapillar wrote (see)

    David, you are young and, if you'll forgive me, quite ignorant in some ways. Either that or you suffer from a complete lack of human empathy. Most people could imagine running at that sort of pace even if they don't themselves.

    There are, for example, people out there who decide they want to run a marathon at 50 or 60. They may train regularly and diligently but, let's face it, they are going to be pretty slow.

    If you can give me a good reason why a person like that (and that's just an example off the top of my head) shouldn't bother running a marathon then I'd like to hear it.

     

    Well said Screamapillar. I am all for trying to stir up feelings to generate a debate, but he is talking a oad of old cods. I don't see the problem, especially as the VLM goes off in waves so 'faster' runners can keep outof the way of the slower participants. Completing a marathon is the achievement; completing it in what ever manner is a personal thing

  • 4 examples.

    Game over! image

  • Maybe there doing one of those "dad runs" that dads do that aren't actually any faster than walking. Like when they cross a road and a car is coming. Kind of shrug their shoulders and get up on the balls of their feet and then move at much the same pace. Do that for 26.2 and there you go.
  • MillsyMillsy ✭✭✭
    On my way between pubs yesterday at about 5pm there were loads of walkers on the Embankment. They didn't look like they were enjoying it at all.
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