This post was written with the intention of being satirical, if it offends you or you are bothered by it, remember; I wrote this as a tongue in cheek observation with no intent to upset anyone.
I sometimes feel like Rip van Winkle, I was active in the road race scene and coached a college cross country and track program in the 80’s and first half of the 90’s. Then my children were born and I became a “weekend warrior” running three, four or five miles a couple times a month. I did not run with anyone and definitely did not race. Then in 2017, when my children were older and in college, I decided that I would start running again. That first year, I started going to the Montour Trail (crushed limestone, rail to trail path not far from my house), and I saw a lady with a belt that held two water bottles and she had a banana tucked in the belt. I asked her who far she was going to run (figuring the answer would be somewhere around 20 miles), she responded “three miles”. By the way, it was March, and about 60 degrees.
I decided to join a local group for a trail run. They posted on facebook that the run would be six miles that evening. I showed up and met the group of 15-20 runners, most had hydration vests and the ones that didn’t were carrying water bottles. I asked to make sure I was with the group that was running six, they all said yes, six miles. Before we started, the group leader instructed everyone to meet at her car for a “bumper shot”. I thought that this is outstanding, these are my people, we are going to do a shot then run trails. NOPE! Everyone met and she set her phone on her bumper to take a group photo.
My friend, Malcolm East (see earlier post, #9 most influential person in my running) works at Fleet Feet Running in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, he was someone who regularly ran 100-140 miles a week in the 70’s and 80’s. A customer asked him which was the best water bottle to run with, Malcolm answered in his most proper English accent, “I don’t know mate, I never used one.”
In July of 2018, I ran my second race since the 90’s (the first was Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, 35.5 miles). It was a Thursday evening 5K, as the race director gave instructions, I started doing a few striders (which was commonplace in the 80’s), I was told by the top runners to stand there and listen to the pre-race instructions. Okay, “when in Rome” I thought, the first mile sucked because I went from standing there listening, to a sub six minute mile. The course was basically an out and back layout, with just over a mile to go we started seeing runners still running out, the strangest thing was that they were stopping to take selfies, DURING A RACE!
There is a woman (social media influencer) that actually created a blog called Run, Selfie, Repeat. During a half marathon in New York City, she stopped to take selfies, and started the blog.
However: my favorite phenomenon of road/trail racing and triathlons today is the finisher’s medal. People proudly pose with them for pictures and post on social media. I stumbled across a website called; marathoninvestigation.com, there are actually people who cheat (cut the course, get a ride etc.) mostly in marathons, just to get a finisher’s medal and post the picture on line. Runners World, along with several other sites has written about this. https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a25727611/bigger-better-finisher-medals/.
Whatever the reason that motivates you to run, just remember to enjoy every step and make yourself the best version of what you are looking for.
In the words of Bob Dylan, “For the times, they are a changin”.
N of 1 Running 