Lunch for 99 Cents?... With Ramen you can do it!
An A in Mr. Mathews class? Get real, it's in the bag.
Complete a Marathon.. With Galloway or Team in Training, you can do it!
Run a Marathon? You... might be able to do it.
Run a 100? You CAN'T JUST DO IT!
Lucy, let me 'splain something to you. You can run a marathon, and you can run a 100 miler, if your will to train is as great as your will to enter. Jeff Galloway and Team in Training have messed up long distance running. Jeffey has convinced people that walking along and talking on your cell phone for 26.2 (25 1/2 if your a Canadian Team in Training Member at Marine Corps) means that you ran a marathon. It's gotten worse. Do me a favor, go run the Sunmart 50 someday. The cell phone walkers have hit the ultra trail races. Yes, I saw a lady walking the 50 K in the woods, talking on a cell phone. "Oh, I did an ultra once, it wasn't that bad." Shoot, this biddy didn't even know what lap she was on.
Hey, this isn't to say that walking and having goals are bad. These things are good. It's just that there is a right way and a wrong way.
Right way: My friend Barb is going to run the Disney Marathon in January. It will be her first marathon. She is training. She runs almost every day. She is taking it seriously. She is doing great. Her body has changed, she will do well and she will deserve to feel as if she has accomplished something. That's the right way.
Wrong Way: A gentleman I met recently was asking me about running a 100 miler. He wants to do it. He's 5'6" and probably goes 230. He has never run a marathon. He is 47 years old. He was in good shape... in college.
Now, I'm not saying he can't do it. I'm saying that right now that should be an unspoken goal for him. How about this as a progression: #1: lose some weight. #2: run a 5K. #3: run a 10K . #4 Run a 1/2 Marathon #5 Run a Marathon. #6 Run a 50K. #7 Run a 50 Miler. #8 Run a 100K. #9 Attempt a 100-mile Trail Run. If you complete 1 -8 you should be ready for #9 in 18 months. Sorry Jeff, sorry TNT, no Marines Corps short cuts here!
Hey, it's not the dude's fault, It's this thing, the Jeff Galloway and Team in Training scenario that make me go all Earl Pitts: Here's that rant:You know what really ticks me off? You know what makes me so mad? You know what makes me mad as a wet hen? You know what makes me mad as a hornet? Well, you know what really makes me mad? Charity groups and Jeff Galloway. Greedy biscuit eaters are ruining my sport! Just quit lying to people. Quit telling them that it's easy. If it was easy it wouldn't be special! Now Drop and give me 20 you, you, err, you. SALESPEOPLE!
4 comments:
Won't the 30 hour cut-off time take care of the problem? Shoot, I've done a hundert. Just took me a couple of months, is all.
(By the way, I'm six foot, not 5'6", and wouldn't dream of running an ultra). I'm crazy, but not that crazy. (But I was in good shape in college).
What they need to do is go to a 6 hr cutoff in marathons ... even a slower person who's really trying to do their best would finish, but'd it'd cut out the 8-hour strollers ...
As for being in shape, I'm in much better shape than I was in college.
GO TEEEAAAMMMM!
Sorry...had to do it.
Rant on; better you than me. And I totally agree. Nike and Gallowalk may say "Just Do It", but I say "You might want to train first!".
And I am also in better shape than I was in college.
Common theme for you successful distance runners, You are in better shape now than you were in college. Well so am I!
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