Frickin Fun Runners
GHarv
Posts: 456
in General Chat
Ok so Gary R thinks the forum is tailing off so here's a rant from today.
Forget swim nemesis - fricking fun runners do my head in.
Take today i did the Leeds 10K (Jane Tomlinson run). 11,000 participants.
They have sections for sub 30 mins, sub 40 etc.
Ok so i was a but further forward than i should be (220m from the front) but hoping to beat 43 mins, but get chatting while waiting to start as you do and this guy asks what i'm aiming for well my PB is 43 i say. Oh and i'm 200m from the front surrounded by numpties who are hoping just to get round or do sub 1 hour - 200m from the front.
Gun goes and get to the line and people are walking!!!!!!!!!!!! F### of to the back you dick heads.
Spent the first 2k as did many other dodging arseholes who should have been miles back are they mad.
Actually saw one who stopped to walk and told them that they should've started at the back the dick.
I've no problem with people running for charity or fun running but it's like idiots going in the fast lane at the pool and breastroking at 1mph. Tommitri etc. will kick my ass at running but at least i started roughly where i should. i must have overtaken 500 in the first 1k.
Good for them having a go and raising money but train, run and start where your ability warrants or f### off.
Rant over.
G
P.S. Got 45mins
Forget swim nemesis - fricking fun runners do my head in.
Take today i did the Leeds 10K (Jane Tomlinson run). 11,000 participants.
They have sections for sub 30 mins, sub 40 etc.
Ok so i was a but further forward than i should be (220m from the front) but hoping to beat 43 mins, but get chatting while waiting to start as you do and this guy asks what i'm aiming for well my PB is 43 i say. Oh and i'm 200m from the front surrounded by numpties who are hoping just to get round or do sub 1 hour - 200m from the front.
Gun goes and get to the line and people are walking!!!!!!!!!!!! F### of to the back you dick heads.
Spent the first 2k as did many other dodging arseholes who should have been miles back are they mad.
Actually saw one who stopped to walk and told them that they should've started at the back the dick.
I've no problem with people running for charity or fun running but it's like idiots going in the fast lane at the pool and breastroking at 1mph. Tommitri etc. will kick my ass at running but at least i started roughly where i should. i must have overtaken 500 in the first 1k.
Good for them having a go and raising money but train, run and start where your ability warrants or f### off.
Rant over.
G
P.S. Got 45mins
0
Comments
I know they're a pain in the ass but i bet the organisation was poor and they weren't even aware of what was going on?
Was diappointed with 45.42 until i saw it got me 337th out of 11,000.
Hoped to beat 43 today and get a PB but it was a lumpy bugger of a course so i think it caught a lot out. If i had gone sub 43, would've been in the top 150 so not bad really.
G
I am so in awe off JT, and what she stands for - the supreme struggle against adversity, against all odds. But this event is such a travesty. I don't care about all the money raised. That's great. But.. what does it represent...
The whole thing is a waste of time.. you might as well get sponsored for drinking a cup.. no, wait.. make it TWO cups of hot chocolate. It's a walk. And not even a walk in the park. At least you might see a couple of squirrels with that.
Compare and Contrast. The Abbey Dash (November, entries open now - get in!) - 5000 starts, 300+ people sub 40 mins. I was about 400 with a time of 41 mins last year. I would have been in the top 90 with this one. Out of 11,000. So, it doesn't attract the club runners.. what about the people who are just trying...
I had about 4 or 5 Jackettes running in this one. They've done a couple now. A high profile one, then a club one. Were going, great - getting the buzz and really doing well. PBs each time. Learning how to try hard, and really race. Then they enter this one. And they are so disappointed. 10 mins before they can get going. Times well (5 mins+) outside the PB (which, given where they are in training and experience, should be happening every run for this season). They are so demoralised. Really disappointed. Frustrated with the whole thing. Now I've got to spend the next few weeks rebuilding their confidence etc. Sigh.
11,000 runners. Doing nothing but a gentle stroll. That's not achievement, and it's a dishonour to do it in JT's memory*.
*OK, I'm being somewhat provocative... anything to fan the flames of the forum and get it going again!
I agree with Jack entrirely. I fully applaud people getting off of their arse and doing some excercise. But don't expect me to be impressed by someone walking a 10k run. If you walk, then you have not done it. Simple as. Good on you for having a bash - but now go out and do some training so that next time you can run it. And then the time after that run it a bit faster. Don't walk it and then pat yourself on the back for having 'done a 10k'.
And let's face it..there's quite a big obesity problem in this country so anything which encourages people to get off their butts and do a bit of exercise shouldn't be discouraged.
The run (or walk if you like) is about raising money for a worthwhile cause. It's not really about PBs. But if you want one get to the very front.
Next you be banning people who do breastroke from Tri's, or hybrid bikes, or mountain bikes. For some it's the taking part, and everyone has to start somewhere, and in all fairness, no one, no matter how unfit they are ar useless they think they are will ever choose to start at the back.
I did a pool based Sprint on the weekend, and the slowest swimmer took 26 minutes to do 400m, I bet he never put that on his form, but he did it, and the bike, and the run, so yes he too is a Triathlete, and I bet his family cheered him on, and he went to work with the biggest smile and the numbers still inked on his arms and legs.
BTW are you the same lot that told me before my first tri last month that I shouldn't let having to walk the run put me off and were so reassuring and supportive?!?
The point is that it should be a challenge. Something hard to do. That could be just finishing, or racing, or trying hard, or even a PB.
Walking 10K will be a challenge for a few people. Which is great, I'm all for that, really! But not for 10,000 people.
I've spoken to a few people who did the event - and the unanimous view is that it _wasn't_ a challenge. Just a great big disappointment.
There were too many people, and it was too badly organised. Imagine what you would feel like if the money wasn't going to a good cause? You'd feel pretty cheated, I suspect.
But the serious point is that you are not spoiling the event for other people when you are walking.
I'll continue working on my 10 km walking time then - not sure that at 1 hour 20 it isn't actually quicker than my run time!
I'm no great runner but I still wouldn't want to participate in these big things, even found Blenheim Tri almost too big for me and that's why I don't do London Tri! Still there's enough of these things around for everyone to find their niche!!
Happy debating....
And while I'm ranting: Fun runners is a term that i hate! just because someone is not an elite they are not automatically a fun runner. Bloody Tv coverage of the FLM has given all not elites the tag of fun runner, and so that mentality has made its way to all the 'larger' events.
um, sorry... just realised i went off on one there
I guess the OP's only real problem is people starting in the wrong bin. I think the fun running public deserve more praise for starting at all than they do criticism for starting in the wrong bin.
Anyone who would find running, jogging or walking 10K a challenge, shouldn't bother and should stay away.
Anyone else who doesn't find the idea of doing it in anyway challenging whatsoever should turn up and mindlessly amble round the course.
I guess I was confused about what a fun run meant. Sorry and everything.
Perhaps you'll want to sponsor me to go to the pub tonight. Nothing challenging, just a short walk and a pint or two. How about it?
Feeling tired and extra grumpy today. Up at five to spend 6 hours on the motorway - didn't arrive til nearly mid day for a 9am start. Not good. Also, hassle with the hospital over the impending op. Not what I need. Ho hum.
I also suffered the frustration of doing a run where slow runners and walkers were asked to start further back. The horn went and as soon as the track started going uphill, which was within 100m, loads of people started to walk! But not only do they walk, the chat to each other whilst they do so, forming a nice long barrier which is extremely difficult to get past! I am by no means a fast runner but I know where i should be in the pack and I wanted to run it, not walk it behind a load of chatterers! In the end the only way I could get past was to go right off the track and run along the rough verges, up against barbed wire etc. Luckily I train over rough terrain so it didnt cause me a problem but someone who has no choice but to train in the towns or cities could have ended up in trouble.
I cannot see why they want to start at the front. It doesnt make me feel good to have hundreds of people going past me, so why does it to them?
blurredgirl
They're about bringing running/exercise to the masses and raising money for worthwhile causes.
And many who start haven't run a "race" since school so it's not like they're going to be aware of "etiquette".
Sorry, but if you enter this type of run enjoy it, raise as much cash as you can and don't take it too seriously.
If you really want a quick time and you're aware of what happens at fun runs and the like get to the very front..simple!
Comination of poor marshalling/organsisation and entrants not reading the instructions/switching brain on.
If an entrant was aksed what their target time was they could be directed to different sections at the start - just like pool swim starts. Even better if their bib numbers had diffeernt colours.
That way the gazelles can leg off, competent but older/slower/fatter ones i.e. me can chase and then followed on by those who reckon they could run it followed by those pushing prams.
At the Lincoln 10K I was 25m from the front and had to fight my way through some who had started to walk - I was a bit more restrained and instead of shouting something rude simply shouted 'coming through'
On subject on language I was the one swearing on the bike leg of the Sth Cerney tri - did not like the route 3 roundabouts and what crap inconsiderate drivers. - Bah grumpy old fart harrumph
I think you're missing the point of these runs. Predominantly they are about raising money for good causes/ people whose lives have been touched by tragedy/disease etc and introducing activity/exercise into the lives of those who don't do any.
If you take them seriously and want to run the best time you can you know what you have to do. Otherwise enter events which are more suited to running PBs.
I entered one last year and went to the very front. I wasn't the quickest by a long shot, but I ran a PB.
Unless it is a 'Fun Run' a Race is a RACE - it just so happens that in many events competitors of all abilities also take part. It is a question if simple manners - if you dress up like a clown or do not anticpate finishing in the top 25% and start from the front do not be sursprised if you get shoved, pushed past or even shouted at as you are being inconsiderate and selfish. Start at the back if you are walking, in fancy dress or will turn in a slow time, start in the middle if you think you are going to be in middle third but leave the front for people who genuinly think that they will turn in a decent time.
Well done you if you are raising money for charity but there does seem to be this thinking of 'it's for charity so I acn do what I like and if you object you are a meany'. Jade Goody and her not even half arsed marathon attempt was lauded at for raising money for some childrens unit at a hospital yet because she 'needed' an ambulance the money raised was probably negated by the cost to the NHS/Taxpayer for her medeavc.
I am not anti charity or fancy dress runners or those who will not be very fast - far from it I am heartend when I see anyone get off their bum and do something but PLEASE show some consideration and make an effort to learn what the etiquette is.
Otherwise enter events where everyone takes it seriously. We triathletes are competitive folk.