Honest Running

The night before running the Chicago Hot Chocolate 15k, my wife, family, and I got into a debate about the surge of marathon participation in the United States. Without disclosing who said what, the familiar points and counter points came up about the glut of runners who either do not train or who take an inordinate amount of time to finish. Now, personally, I think more, smart, participation is healthy for the sport of running in the United States. I understand that many marathon runners are not connected to the truly competitive world of running, and some run the marathon without regard to the very real risks that they are presenting themselves with (not the least of which includes nip destruction and shorts shitting). But is people sign up for a marathon and it takes them 7 hours to finish this, in no way, inhibits faster runners' ability to race and compete.

But what does irk me- very seriously- are people who don't consider that there are runners faster than they are- who take racing more seriously- and they clog up the race by either disregarding race organization and treating the event like a social hour.

Two examples from the 15k. Because I have been traveling so much the last two months, I was unable to submit my half marathon time in order to be placed in the first corrals (A and B). As such I was relegated to corral C. Fine. My fault, I'll take responsibility. Besides, the corrals aren't very densely packed, so I can just juke my way through the crowd once it thins out. I stood at the front of my corral, trying to keep warm, and eyeballing the next corral to make sure my plans were still on track. Lo and behold, there were a number of people in corral C with corral K bib numbers. They were standing around in groups with other runners, who did have corral B bibs, socializing and prepping their iPods for the race. These were runners who were going to be going well over 10 minute per mile pace or slower running in a corral reserved for runners who had submitted a race time that was substantially faster than that. This blatant disregard for the race organization meant I would have more runners to try to work around than originally planned. And this was not just true for me, but for everyone else who was in their respective corrals and following instructions (you know, that thing we are taught to do in kindergarten). Fine. Whatever. The volume of these runners cannot possibly be high enough to warrant my outrage. Just run.

Corral C started 8 minutes behind corral A and 4 minutes behind corral B. I started out the race at six minute pace along with a host of other runners. We approached corral B at Lower Wacker drive just before mile 1. I did not anticipate coming up on the next corral so soon, but that was fine. Where things got tricky. See, the back of corral B was made up of runners who had clearly decided that their starting position was an acceptable one to run with their buddies in lines 4 abreast. And the decided to do this at a pace well below the recommended pace for their corral. So that meant I was greeted with a line of runners who, admittedly, were playing better defense than the Chicago Bears this season. I was hemmed in and unable to push ahead easily. Instead I was required to jump side to side and slip through any available gap in their foosball formation. While I was able to escape this clusterfuck that was this grouping, I came to sympathize, slightly, with people who complain about the surge in clientele for road races.

Now, let me say I sympathize in a very limited fashion. For one, I think anyone who wants to run a race that is open to the public should be allowed to run. This is America, after all. By the same token, when people sign up for a race I think they should be able to do two very simple things. First, they should be honest about their abilities in relation to others in the race. Lying to get a better starting position is something that should never be done. By lying to get a better start position under either the delusion of grandeur or the hope of getting out of the mid-pack congestion people cause problems for runners further up the line. And I'm not talking about people like me who get placed in the wrong corral. I mean everyone who honestly assess themselves and place themselves in the appropriate positions commensurate with their abilities. And second, people should carefully consider their reasons for racing. If the reason is to set a new personal best, great. Get in a good position to do that that doesn't put you in over your head. If you want to race, make sure you're in a corral with your desired competition so long as you have the credentials to warrant such placement. If your reason is to run with your book club and try out for NFL defensive line positions, then please get back in the pack.