THE RUNNING QUESTION
TBC posted that he is running a half marathon. Thats awesome. But it reminds me of THE QUESTION oft asked of long distance runners, "Did you walk at all?"
While this at first sounds like an innocuous question, BEWARE, it is insidious. It sounds like a reason for compliment but it is not. It is meant to belittle your efforts. Its is asked by people who have no concept of long distance running or endurance exercise. These are people that in the future when they overhear a comment, "Did you know Sally ran a marathon last weekend?" will chime in with, "But she didn't run the whole thing." It is as if the effort is marginalized due to a strategic or unplanned slowing of pace.
You could respond as I did after describing a perfect long training run and getting THE QUESTION, "I did ten toe touches to stretch out my hamstring," I responded. If like many people, myself included, you have strategic walk plans whether they be walking at each aid station or a 3/1 split (3 minutes running/ 1 minute walking), you can respond, "I ran according to plan. 26.2 miles is a long way to move. Have you ever done one?" Of course the answer is usually 'No.'
Lets be honest here, those that have done a marathon or seriously consider doing one, will not ask that question. Its absurd. To me its akin to walking up to a soldier whose been to Iraq and asking, "So, you kill anyone over there?"
People who ask are of two camps; the first is complete unknowing of the sport like a family member or close co-worker who is too fearful of the distance to know better and the second are Dreamkillers. Dreamkillers find something you're attempting to do, (marathon, lose weight, etc) and find fault with everything your attempting with humor or peer pressure. Wil once commented on a co-worker who tried shoving a doughnut down her throat because she was eating healthy and he was not. Ultimately the example shows that THE QUESTION, is made to make them feel better about their lazy habits. If the Dreamkiller finds out you DNF or DNS or fall off your diet, they feel superior in that they were 'smart' enough to never undertake such a foolish act.
It's posed to pull you down. So don't listen to the Dreamkillers. Stay strong and be prepared. Some people don't understand how a 3/1 or similar plan can for some people be actually faster long term than straight running, so telling them you have a run/walk plan makes no sense. "Your supposed to be a runner, don't you run the whole way," is the common myth of non-endurance people and almost wholly impossible to change public perception when their only casual knowing of the sport is watching the Olympics or the top finishers of a televised race.
Be brave and beware THE QUESTION.
How did you respond to THE QUESTION or would have responded had you said what you really wanted to say? Let'r rip.
While this at first sounds like an innocuous question, BEWARE, it is insidious. It sounds like a reason for compliment but it is not. It is meant to belittle your efforts. Its is asked by people who have no concept of long distance running or endurance exercise. These are people that in the future when they overhear a comment, "Did you know Sally ran a marathon last weekend?" will chime in with, "But she didn't run the whole thing." It is as if the effort is marginalized due to a strategic or unplanned slowing of pace.
You could respond as I did after describing a perfect long training run and getting THE QUESTION, "I did ten toe touches to stretch out my hamstring," I responded. If like many people, myself included, you have strategic walk plans whether they be walking at each aid station or a 3/1 split (3 minutes running/ 1 minute walking), you can respond, "I ran according to plan. 26.2 miles is a long way to move. Have you ever done one?" Of course the answer is usually 'No.'
Lets be honest here, those that have done a marathon or seriously consider doing one, will not ask that question. Its absurd. To me its akin to walking up to a soldier whose been to Iraq and asking, "So, you kill anyone over there?"
People who ask are of two camps; the first is complete unknowing of the sport like a family member or close co-worker who is too fearful of the distance to know better and the second are Dreamkillers. Dreamkillers find something you're attempting to do, (marathon, lose weight, etc) and find fault with everything your attempting with humor or peer pressure. Wil once commented on a co-worker who tried shoving a doughnut down her throat because she was eating healthy and he was not. Ultimately the example shows that THE QUESTION, is made to make them feel better about their lazy habits. If the Dreamkiller finds out you DNF or DNS or fall off your diet, they feel superior in that they were 'smart' enough to never undertake such a foolish act.
It's posed to pull you down. So don't listen to the Dreamkillers. Stay strong and be prepared. Some people don't understand how a 3/1 or similar plan can for some people be actually faster long term than straight running, so telling them you have a run/walk plan makes no sense. "Your supposed to be a runner, don't you run the whole way," is the common myth of non-endurance people and almost wholly impossible to change public perception when their only casual knowing of the sport is watching the Olympics or the top finishers of a televised race.
Be brave and beware THE QUESTION.
How did you respond to THE QUESTION or would have responded had you said what you really wanted to say? Let'r rip.
posted by Comm's @ 3:13 AM
18 comments
18 Comments:
Dangerous waters here... I'm eager to see the responses though ;-)
My question for you is why are you posting at 3 in the morning? Don't you ever sleep?
Great topic btw. And something tells me I'll be stealing your term 'Dreamkillers' for future use on down the road.
For me, my response is usually laughter with a head shake and nothing more. Depending on who is asking, it may be more of a snicker. Most of the time it's senseless to even dignify such questions with a response. But catch me on a bad day, and who knows what I'll unload.
The non-endurance athlete's question along these lines aren't the ones that bother me. It's the same one from the endurance athletes.
Spend some time on some of the running forums and you'll see the split real quick, even amongst coaches and well-regarded figures in the sport. I'm amazed that some of them, especially those who sell training plans to the masses, completely disregard those who do take walk breaks.
My answer? I will walk, when necessary, planned or not. Moving forward toward the goal is better than stopping completely and not achieving it.
I love that "everything went accoring to plan" response. Thats perfect, without saying walking was in the plan.
And you are right about dreamkillers - they are always out there waiting to comfort you when you fall off your dream a little and then tell everyone you know about it. They suck.
Great post.
I've not experienced very many dreamkiller comments. Maybe because I'm a large man, and obviously slow. It's amazing that I could even walk a marathon let alone run portions of it.
But, I see more "dreamkiller" comments coming from the higher ranks in running, than the non-runners. as if someone who takes 6 to finish are doing some sort of dis service to the sport. They will point to things like average times getting longer over the last few decades, and the dangers of being out there that long, etc.
anyway...
If anyone ever questions the difficulty of what I'm doing, I usually invite them on a long run. Haven't had any takers yet.
i always say i walked the water stops. that's my plan going into every marathon. sometimes i walk more - and sometimes less - but my deal with myself is always the waterstops - no matter how many there are. :-)
"Listen A-hole" you ever run a marathon? or a 5 or 10 K after swimming and biking your a** off? You bet I walked. Look at me dumba**, I weigh 220 pounds, imagine the beating my body is taking, with that impact. And yes, I planned walking into my race. That's why I'm, a 12 minute miler!"
That would be my response.
Thanks for encouraging me to vent Comm. Have a good day my brohta.
A.
Love this post... dreamkillers ;)
I remember when I told my beefy Marine husband I was going to run/walk 13min miles during my marathon. I got what could almost classify as a sneer & a that's so slow. He just ran his first 1/2 and he's since been eating his words... (is it evil that I'm smiling as I type this?)
I think the couple of times I have had the question it was moreso a question about my race plan. At least that's how I've treated it.
Ha! Great essay. My response is usually not terribly polite. :-)
The flipside of this is when OCD folks are sure to point out in their race reports whether or not they took A SINGLE WALK STEP in their training and racing. That is VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT to some people. Like, important to a fairly unhealthy degree....
Bill touches on a good point. I've heard the run-walk debate more often from serious athletes than those who have never done a marathon. I've actually heard an x-min/mile rule to determine whether or not you are really a runner as opposed to a walker/jogger, I guess. I don't think I've ever heard a non-runner put someone else down for going 26.2 miles by any means.
I did a 5/1 run/walk for my first marathon and finished in 4:40 and felt great. Didn't even need any time to recover and actually felt like I cheated myself by not going harder. However, I know some people who have run a marathon the entire distance and finished 4:40 or slower. Ironically, even though they were so beat up at the end of the race they swore they would never do another marathon, they still think their effort superior to mine, since I walked and they ran.
On the flip side, I see a lot of overweight people run/walking with fuel belt's full of gu and sportsdrinks. If they are training for a marathon to scratch that off their list of life's goals... kudos to them. Everyone should do a marathon, I believe. But, if the run/walker's goal is fitness, and they are still overweight, they need to re-evaluate what they're doing. Run/walking is great and I highly recommend/practice it, but I think sometimes it's really cheating people out of its benefits. I've heard that intense shorter workouts are actually better at burning calories than LSD.
Finally, I find it ironic that most of the people who claim to "Run" a marathon actually walk the water stations. That's a run/walk my friends.
I know the dreamkillers of whom you speak. What is it about humans that we need to keep others down with us so we can stay loved?
I can think of two answers to that question.
Here's an answer i am teaching myself to ask (in polite conversation):
"what was your intention in asking that?"
here's an answer I might leap to without thinking about it:
"uhh....huh?"
I like to say, "I always walk the water stations - don't you?" Then they have to fess up to never having run a marathon and then I can chuckle and change the subject. If they persist with the "but you didn't RUN a marathon" I respond with "I propelled my body for 26.2 miles in x time. Call it what you want." And then I INSIST on changing the subject. The worse thing you can do is buy in to their dreamkilling ways and get defensive. It only validates the attack.
Ok, I have Dreamkillers at church. Ironic, huh? But I do. So when I walked into church the Sunday following my 4:45 death march, they were all smiles!! "Tell me about your marathon?!" "What happened?" "67 degrees isn't that hot no matter what the humidity!" And no, they've never done more than a 5k. I knew that, so I just smiled and explained what happened and took note of the extreme levels of ignorance and laughed about it with my mom.
So I walked into church the Sunday following my 3:56, and guess what..they didn't mention it.
Dreamkillers don't really bother me too much, though, because you can just see the ignorance and envy oozing from their pores. They gotta be miserable.
I would just say..."Join me next time and you can find out! Until then, it's a secret!"
You're all much nicer than me, I'd probably just say "you don't look like an idiot!"
a) Most folks look at me and ask what kind of car I drove for the marathon.
b) weight and fitness levels have little to do with each other. over weight people can be very fit and vice versa. Overweight people tend to be SLOW, making LSD events more enjoyable and more competitive.
c) Never heard anyone say, "I ran/walked the marathon". Let go of whatever guilt you feel - it is not a lie to say you "ran" a marathon if you had to walk even half the dang thing. Lighten up, Francis....
Thank you, great post! I am going to remember that about dream killers. I don't plan to always be as slow as I am now and in the mean time I won't let them stop me. :>)
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