Yeah, well, for overachievers, perhaps. Call me when you find a .262, 'kay?
Someone who is not impressed by people bragging about trivial accomplishments? Yeah, I’m guilty. String me up.
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Seeing as how most Americans can’t even run a block without falling over from a heart attack (hyperbole), no it’s not a trivial accomplishment.
I see people flashing their personal achievements all around me. Diplomas on the wall, baby pictures on desks, weight loss milestones listed on FB pages. Exotic vacations. All of these are “bragging”. They are also ways for people to express what’s important to them.
Seriously, I’m starting to think some people are bent on viewing the world through their personal inferiority complexes.
Okay… I was kidding, but thanks.
I’m not a fast runner, I never was and never will be. But I can cover the distances and that’s all that matters. It’s one of the things I like about the sport. I prefer to celebrate people’s meaningful accomplishments, rather than judge them.
You need to remember that some people are more or less physically gifted than others.
So while somebody may have to bust their ass to train up to a 2:00 half marathon, another person could half-ass and knock one out in 1:50.
Did the person who came in at 1:50 accomplish more? Not by a long shot. Is the 2:00 runner who trained for a year to get there accomplishing something trivial? Hell no, they’re not.
I’ve learned to not be impressed by numbers, but to be impressed when I know somebody is pushing their limits. I volunteered at a 50k where the first female also won overall with an astouding time for that course. Impressive, but I was equally impressed with the guy in the 10M who must have weighed 350#, and made that race one of his goals on the way to losing weight so he could live. And equally impressed when somebody came through my aid station for the third time, with 8 miles left on their first 50k, on the edge of dehydration, limping from a blister or a turned ankle, bleeding from taking a header down a rocky hill…and NOT turning in 9-minute miles. More like 15-minute miles.
So you can blow through a 5k in 20 minutes. Good for you on your trivial accomplishment.
This pretty much captures my feelings on it, as well.
Part of what keeps me motivated to run (especially when I have to get up at 5:30 a.m. and go out in the dark and cold to do it) is accountability. I have a running partner who will encourage me when she sees that I’ve posted something about my morning run – and will call me out (privately) if she doesn’t. I also know that several of my friends have begun walking or running recently, and have told me that seeing my running posts have been a motivation for them to become more active.
I started running four years ago. It’s made a tremendous difference in my life, including helping me gain good control over my diabetes. I used to be a fat and lazy guy; I’m now in the best shape of my life. Sorry if that bothers you.
I try to not get too braggy, and I try to not overshare. But, hey, if you find the posts tiresome or offensive, block me from your wall. I have FB friends who post all sorts of things I don’t really care about (political rants, pictures of their pugs, etc.); I just ignore them.
A lot of my friends post their runs on facebook and it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I’m glad they’ve found an activity they enjoy. I usually don’t bother reading how far they ran, but it certainly doesn’t annoy me.
I have a friend who “runs” and it’s kind of annoying. She basically jogs slowly for two minutes, then walks a minute. She has done marathons this way. Yes it’s still an accomplishment. But she isn’t exactly “running a marathon.” And of course she has to have all the fancy gear and whatnot too.
It’s all relative, I guess. I am impressed by anyone who jogs, period. So jogging a marathon bowls me over, even if it’s interspersed with walking. But this is because jogging is hard for me to do. Being able to jog 2 minutes is a mean feat in my little book.
However, if I were an avid runner, it probably would be annoying. Just as annoying as it is when a coworker brags about how she gets her exercise every day by walking 0.3 miles to her car. When she brags about this, I give her the perfunctory “good for you”, but she has to know that I don’t think it’s a major accomplishment. She knows I’m an avid walker. If she wants me to be really impressed, she needs to start jogging to her car.
I am not really a runner anymore. But it annoys me because I’ve played sports all my life and I know what she is doing is not particularly tough for someone in decent shape and athletic. I am just being petty I guess.
What I need to remember, is that on this board I need to spend more time writing out my position instead of making a quick comment, because for whatever reason, someone’s going to come along and read way more into what I put there. (The nine minute time, I pulled that out of my ass.) I’m relatively new here. This is largely my fault. I’ll figure it out. I’ll agree that sometimes I like to type all hardass for no good reason. Maybe don’t be a dick immediately is all I’m saying.
Allow me to try again. (Chances are good I’ll dig the hole deeper. :P)
The way I see it regarding the OP, you’ve got three or four groups of people:
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The eXtreme dude(tte)s who do Ironmans or run four minute miles or whatever, and won’t shut up about it. This is impressive. I’m impressed. Really. Personally, I only want to hear about it one time though, and not within the first three minutes of meeting you, but whatever, I get it. It’s your thing and you like to talk about it. Even if you’re NOT Ironman material, but making it a priority and tracking your progress, go ahead and let the world know. Whatever.
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People who are severely out of shape and trying to get in shape. If you’re 400lbs and even go out and walk a mile, I’m impressed. Proud, even. I understand that you might not have the highest self confidence, that this is a big deal for you, and you may need encouragement. You’re excited about any and all progress. You can talk/post about it all you want, sticker the shit out of everything. I am in your corner.
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The people in the middle, who aren’t exactly out of shape, but not beach body ready either. They decide they’re going to make a statement and run a half marathon. It’s a decent challenge. They’ve never done anything like it before. Ok. I am not amazed, and don’t really want to hear about it, but ok. I get that this is a big adventure for you.
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This is kind of a subset of group three, but I’ve seen a few from the other groups. The people who are all Look At ME about it. The people who are more about being seen as a runner than they are about running. They’ve got all the latest books and magazines, the newest high-tech fad sneakers, the snazzy $500 day-glo outfits and carbon fiber water belts and neoprene-unobtanium-mesh turbosocks, and they tell you all about how they’re TRAINING, and then they casually drop into every conversation how they JUST RAN A 5K, and you humor them and ask what their time was and they say thirty-seven minutes.
I don’t like these people. These are the people I immediately thought of when I read the OP (because I interact with one every day in my offive), and who I was directing my comments towards. If you feel that’s unfair, we probably shouldn’t go have beers together.
The Ironman, I can see. It’s far more doable for the average athlete than a four minute mile. Four minute milers are at such a high level (only appx. 1200 men have run one, no women yet) that they tend not to hang around us mortals and bragging will get you nowhere in the world class levels as everyone already knows your times. And a four minute mile, while still an accomplishment, is no longer world class.
I agree with runner pat on this one. I would guess that if your co-worker had run a sub-4 minute mile, you would never hear about it from him. Someone else might bring it up, but I doubt that he would. At least that is my experience with people who have been national class (or nearly so) runners, unless they are still in the sport as a sales rep or coach or whatever.
Then there are those athletic liars who are all too eager to tell you their fake athletic credentials. The more easily someone tells you that they used to be a great athlete, the more likely that they are lying.
As far as the over sharing and bumper stickers, I merely do an internal eye roll. Mostly the people are bragging about something that serious runners find to be fairly mundane. I don’t say anything, though, as they seem proud of it. And people exercising and trying to be fit is a good thing.
You think a person being able to walk, not even jog, but walk 26 miles in one continuous session isn’t a little impressive for most average people in the US? I cycle way more than run and I can ride a century or ride shorter rides at a fairly good clip but to go and try and jog 26 miles? Fughetaboutit. Are you saying someone of decent shape should be able to cycle a century at a respectable speed? Or, are you saying that someone that prepares for a particular event (marathon, bike century, etc) should be able to get to a point you can do it at fast pace?
Me: I don’t care if they walk, crawl, skip, whatever. They did a marathon. Good for them. Yeah there are tons of people that can do it faster but I bet there are tons of people that could do it faster than you ever could. I’m looking down my nose at you too. 
I guess I forgot how insanely out of shape the average person is. But yes you are right. It’s a big accomplishment regardless of how they did it.
Cosign!
Also, I’m glad that people have extra compassion for overweight folks. But fat people aren’t the only ones who deserve to cheer extra loud about themselves. There are lots of amateur athletes out there who have invisible challenges and hurdles. Physical as well as psychological. The woman who is jogging and walking a marathon may seem like she’s “half-assing” it, but maybe she has a pretty good reason for this.
Granted, bragging can get obnoxious after awhile no matter who is doing it. But every person needs to be judged against a standard that makes sense for them. Since this isn’t always apparent, it’s probably best not to judge too much.
Unless things have changed over the last 20 years, they lie too. When i was a long distance runner, (3-5 miles /day) my runner friends all claimed to run faster and farther than I did. When I’d invite them to run with me, they’d either be sooo busy they couldn’t or if they did come along they couldn’t keep up or couldn’t complete the distance.
I think they believed they were running faster and farther than they were. I used a pedometer, where they didn’t.
GPS watches and apps have changed that a little bit, I think. Most of my runner friends who post their runs on FB are posting the output from their Garmin watches, or the RunKeeper smartphone app. Yes, you can go in and modify the data, but at least there’s a veneer of “actual data” to be seen. 