I don’t necessarily disagree with the points they are making, but is there any data to suggest that the marathon has become the benchmark for the majority of runners? That’s the premise behind the entire article, yet it all feels very vibes-based off the back of a major marathon. I have been running at Parkrun on and off for many years and almost none of the ordinary runners I’ve met there have a) run a marathon or b) have plans to run a marathon. I’ve only ever done a single half-marathon and I only know a couple of others who have pushed to that distance. Within my family, only one person has run a marathon (my mum, who ran a couple much later in life) The author also seems to be making the assumption that because people ran a marathon once, they must therefore spend all of their time preparing to run marathons and never run or enjoy other distances. The author compares the marathon to climbing Mt Everest, but then acts as if people are only ever climbing or preparing to climb Mt Everest year after year and never doing anything else…that’s just not how it works. From what I have seen, for most people this is a thing they target once or twice in their life as a major goal and never train for or run outside of that year. And I’m really not convinced at all that people who are brand new to running are thinking “I want to run a marathon”. The first-timers at Parkrun are intimidated by the 5k distance, a 42 km run is not even remotely in their thoughts.
This isn’t an “article,” it’s just from somebody’s blog where they are free to post their hot takes. I don’t think it’s particularly click-baity either.
I shared it here because I also don’t agree with it, and I was curious whether it would resonate with anyone here. I’m in a bubble where the thing many people aspire to is to go beyond marathon distance, but there are also plenty of folks in my running club who say then run 10Ks and that’s it, and they don’t feel they have to justify that.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the points they are making, but is there any data to suggest that the marathon has become the benchmark for the majority of runners? That’s the premise behind the entire article, yet it all feels very vibes-based off the back of a major marathon. I have been running at Parkrun on and off for many years and almost none of the ordinary runners I’ve met there have a) run a marathon or b) have plans to run a marathon. I’ve only ever done a single half-marathon and I only know a couple of others who have pushed to that distance. Within my family, only one person has run a marathon (my mum, who ran a couple much later in life) The author also seems to be making the assumption that because people ran a marathon once, they must therefore spend all of their time preparing to run marathons and never run or enjoy other distances. The author compares the marathon to climbing Mt Everest, but then acts as if people are only ever climbing or preparing to climb Mt Everest year after year and never doing anything else…that’s just not how it works. From what I have seen, for most people this is a thing they target once or twice in their life as a major goal and never train for or run outside of that year. And I’m really not convinced at all that people who are brand new to running are thinking “I want to run a marathon”. The first-timers at Parkrun are intimidated by the 5k distance, a 42 km run is not even remotely in their thoughts.
This isn’t an “article,” it’s just from somebody’s blog where they are free to post their hot takes. I don’t think it’s particularly click-baity either.
I shared it here because I also don’t agree with it, and I was curious whether it would resonate with anyone here. I’m in a bubble where the thing many people aspire to is to go beyond marathon distance, but there are also plenty of folks in my running club who say then run 10Ks and that’s it, and they don’t feel they have to justify that.