Yeah, it's true. Walking a marathon or 1/2 marathon is not respected for some reason.
This article talks about a couple training to do the 1/2 marathon together tomorrow. It's great that they are doing it, and I'm sure they are fine people. But they (unintentionally) diss walking, which bums me out.
"This is definitely important for us to do as a family. We want to promote good health for our children.
"And it's good motivation for me because Gavin wants to push me hard to do well."
The two will both participate in the half marathon.
And even though Keri says she's not a runner, both plan on finishing the race, not walking the race and finishing with a good time.
[italics & bold added by me].
Hmmm. Yeah, I know, for runners it can be a big deal to "not walk". But still. I bet there are plenty of racewalkers who can walk faster than they run :).
5 comments:
Tammy, I hear you. But I think of it this way: when I walk a marathon, it is my goal to walk hard enough to get a good time but to avoid having to "street walk"; If I have to resort to street walking then I feel as if that is a minor failure.
So runners who want to run the whole way "without walking": yeah, I get it.
And yes, I know that the world record pace for the judged 50k is something like 6:58 mpm.
Yeah, I get it too, but still... there's just something about some runners' mentality that says walkers can't be fast or can't be real athletes. I like passing runners in races for that reason, and listening to their comments on how a walker is passing them :). It's my little guilty pleasure.
I don't know why they care whether we're walking or running. I mean, the competition after the first 20 or so isn't about winning, it's about challenging yourself. Unless, of course, they need to diminish themselves by appearing to be superior.
So, I love the fact that these people are getting together as a family to do a race! However, they have no right to infer that walking equates to failing. If they ever got into the ultra scene, they will hear this from a large portion of the ultra veterans... WALK UP ALL THE HILLS.
As you stated, Tammy, passing runners who have bonked at the end of a race of ANY distance gives me great satisfaction. Of course I don't act like a jerk about it, and nine times out of ten, the runner you pass is complimentary. They usually say something like, "You walked the whole race???"
The people that think running is better than walking or racewalking and find it necessary to make negative comments, are the back of the pack runners that have no chance of ever coming in first place in any race and are just projecting their negative self image.
Malvis: they have EVERY right to equate walking with failure; what they are doing is defining success for themselves.
True: I don't see it that way. For example, if someone asked me "would you rather "run" a 3:55 marathon and take walking breaks or "run" a 4:05 and not take them" I'd say that I'd rather make the faster time. But that is just me and how I define MY success (or lack thereof).
There is something else going on as well. At a marathon race, what the leaders are doing is a world apart from what the middle to back of the pack runners/walkers are doing; that is just a fact. The leaders probably have run upwards of 80-100 miles a week and are in shape to do the whole thing at a much higher percentage of maximum than the rest of us.
Of course, they don't take planned walking breaks.
So, in some people's minds, if they never walk in a marathon, they have done what the leaders have done (albeit at a slower pace).
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