105 marathons in 2008

[Ryan]

Texas man will run his 105th marathon Sunday--his 105th this year!

In this age of people making careers out of doing things that, in my opinion, fall short of this and publicizing the heck out of them, it's amazing that this guy who is obviously not exactly a youngster has done what he has done with little to no publicity. He must not be a good self-promoter. Or maybe it's got to do with this outlook:

Larry Macon laughs at the notion that he's a serious runner.

Sure, he plans to run his 105th marathon this year in Dallas on Sunday. But he's not exactly running competitively or getting overly focused on each race, having once held an hourlong conference call while running the Boston Marathon.

[cameron]

i am such a slacker.

[GTF]

It probably helps that Macon's not too worried about his time. He sometimes finishes in the four-hour range but thinks of himself mostly as a five-hour guy. The world record is 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds, and Macon gets a simple thrill from knowing he sometimes runs the same course with those world-class athletes.
"It's like some golfer being able to go out and play with Tiger Woods," Macon said.

Except that it is not, that is a myth.  Tiger Woods would never step on a golf course with the mindset of just enjoying the day outdoors and not worrying about the score, except maybe for an exhibition for charity.  If they teed off at the first hole together, Tiger Woods would already be pulling his ball out of the 18th hole before a golfer of Macon's caliber made the turn.  I have been on the same starting line with Alan Culpepper and Meb Keflizighi yet I am under no delusion that I was ever competing with either of them at any point once the gun went off.  
So perhaps more like a streaker by a different name?  At least one (though often two or three) marathon per weekend for the entire year?  Not a bad personal achievement at all, though not really a significant sporting achievement.  It is somewhat bemusing to see the press giving time and space to an uncompetitive sideshow instead of someone who is actually great at the marathon, though I have become used to it by this point.  That is squarely on the media, kudos to him for following his bliss all the same.  At least he is not following an all too typical trend and blogging extensively or writing a book to draw attention to himself and a self-indulgent pursuit of self-defined achievement.

[Ed]

Looking at the bright side of the press covering something like this is that more young people might look to get into distance running.  This could help improve the depth of distance runners.

Sure that was not the aim of the article or the intention of the journalist - but intentions do not always lead to the expected results.

[Ryan]

Ed, I understand your angle but what's going to improve the competitive depth of distance runners? Articles like this in the style section or articles about Kara Goucher, Ryan Hall, or even the international greats like Bekele, Wanjiru, etc in the sports section? I think that's GTF's point.

To me, it was just refreshing to see someone going out and completing was undoubtedly a difficult personal goal and not overhyping himself and his accomplishment. So many people go out and achieve again difficult personal goals, though ones that often fall short of this, and manage to hype themselves to levels where they achieve even greater public recognition than the people who are actually out winning races.

[runnerinwilmnc]

I don't know, I'm not sure the guy was under a delusion that he was competing with the record and prize chasers. Maybe what he meant was that he just gets excited about being in the race with them. But maybe the Tiger Woods example could lend itself to confusion on that. But maybe you already knew all that and were just clarifying the matter.

It probably helps that Macon's not too worried about his time. He sometimes finishes in the four-hour range but thinks of himself mostly as a five-hour guy. The world record is 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds, and Macon gets a simple thrill from knowing he sometimes runs the same course with those world-class athletes.
"It's like some golfer being able to go out and play with Tiger Woods," Macon said.

Except that it is not, that is a myth.  Tiger Woods would never step on a golf course with the mindset of just enjoying the day outdoors and not worrying about the score, except maybe for an exhibition for charity.  If they teed off at the first hole together, Tiger Woods would already be pulling his ball out of the 18th hole before a golfer of Macon's caliber made the turn.  I have been on the same starting line with Alan Culpepper and Meb Keflizighi yet I am under no delusion that I was ever competing with either of them at any point once the gun went off.  
So perhaps more like a streaker by a different name?  At least one (though often two or three) marathon per weekend for the entire year?  Not a bad personal achievement at all, though not really a significant sporting achievement.  It is somewhat bemusing to see the press giving time and space to an uncompetitive sideshow instead of someone who is actually great at the marathon, though I have become used to it by this point.  That is squarely on the media, kudos to him for following his bliss all the same.  At least he is not following an all too typical trend and blogging extensively or writing a book to draw attention to himself and a self-indulgent pursuit of self-defined achievement.

[sueruns]

everyone's perspective is different.   This guy might influence someone to get off the couch.  I more impressed by his achievement than opening up my local paper yesterday and seeing a large photo and caption about a local boy who runs at the collegiate level running a 3:22 first marathon. .    Now if he were 72  or 12 and running his first marathon, maybe worth writing home about, but really are local sports writers this ignorant???

[cameron]

i dunno, but i get excited about lining up at the major marathons with the elites.  heck, seeing that ryan hall and kara goucher (sp?) are running BOSTON is motivating for me to want to do the training to line up with them in hopkington.

i think there's a bit too much of a "vince lombardi" mentality going on.  if you think like that, there really is only one winner of a race.  i've only won two races in my career but feel much more proud of finishing my first 50 mile trail race or qualifying for BOSTON back in 2001 than of "winning."

[Ryan]

I don't think the argument is that this guy doesn't deserve any recognition or even that he doesn't deserve an article. The argument, at least in my mind, is that in a sports section one should expect to see articles from the sporting side of the event. Three guys finished in 2:22 (must have been a heck of a race) and the women's winner was sub-2:40. The second place woman was someone from San Antonio, just as Mr. Macon is. It would have been interesting to see a profile of Liza Galvan along with the profile of Mr. Macon.

I know that stories like these can be inspiring to people. However, remembering again that this article was in the sports section, why can't a profile of Ms. Galvan also be inspiring and encourage someone to not just get off the couch but try out the racing aspect, the sporting part of the event? I like these stories, they are fun to read. However, do we want our sport to be taken as a sport by the average person or as a semi-athletic event? Do we want to read about the highest accomplishments in the sport or the greatest achievements based on a personal, individualized scale? At the very least, I would like to see the sport get equal billing with the event and those achieving at the highest level given at least equal billing to those who are on personal missions to fulfill some other goal, however fascinating or impressive that goal is.

[sueruns]

I don't think the argument is that this guy doesn't deserve any recognition or even that he doesn't deserve an article. The argument, at least in my mind, is that in a sports section one should expect to see articles from the sporting side of the event. Three guys finished in 2:22 (must have been a heck of a race) and the women's winner was sub-2:40. The second place woman was someone from San Antonio, just as Mr. Macon is. It would have been interesting to see a profile of Liza Galvan along with the profile of Mr. Macon.

I know that stories like these can be inspiring to people. However, remembering again that this article was in the sports section, why can't a profile of Ms. Galvan also be inspiring and encourage someone to not just get off the couch but try out the racing aspect, the sporting part of the event? I like these stories, they are fun to read. However, do we want our sport to be taken as a sport by the average person or as a semi-athletic event? Do we want to read about the highest accomplishments in the sport or the greatest achievements based on a personal, individualized scale? At the very least, I would like to see the sport get equal billing with the event and those achieving at the highest level given at least equal billing to those who are on personal missions to fulfill some other goal, however fascinating or impressive that goal is.

i'm thinking that maybe that profile has been done half a dozen times at the state or regional level.  How unfornuate though that I've never seen her mentioned in a running mag.  She can definitely inspire someone

[Ryan]

If so, then that website needs a serious case of updating on its search capabilities because nothing turns up when searching for her name. Maybe other media around there have but not this one. Either way, the media around here can barely go a day without profiling Michael Redd or Ryan Braun. I have trouble believing they couldn't once or twice a year come up with something to profile her on if they wanted to cover the sporting aspect of the marathon.

[GTF]

Looking at the bright side of the press covering something like this is that more young people might look to get into distance running.  This could help improve the depth of distance runners.

Sure that was not the aim of the article or the intention of the journalist - but intentions do not always lead to the expected results.

That would be quite an optimistic point of view.  Perhaps a current couch potato (young or old) could chime in to indicate just what exactly about some guy near retirement age running 58, 79, 93, and 105 marathons in a year they could draw inspiration from.  I do know that the pedestrian view of people like Ryan who have trained 100+ miles/week is of a no-life extremist.  It seems logical that the pedestrian view of someone like Macon, who basically devotes a large portion of his free time to running marathons, as being similar. 

I am a long-time runner and I consider him to be a goofy old coot, a sideshow.  (Never mind the outsized carbon footprint of flying around the country to serve this personal quest.)  I would expect the typical non-runner (certainly the typical sports fan who does not run) who sees that story to deem Macon an eccentric, extremist kook, not unlike the typical IFoCE competitor.  As with the notion that the swelling rear (pun intended) of marathon fields providing significant support to the sport, I just do not see how the claim that someone doing something like this would really provide inspiration to anyone would hold water. 

In order to be inspired, people would have to see themselves in a similar enough situation and I suspect many would assume what I have, that he has been athletically active his whole life.  I can even see how Oprah has inspired people, but not this guy or his ilk.  As Ryan has indicated, there are people who have done far less at a much younger age who pimp themselves via extensive (if poorly written) blogging and even putting out a book. 

Again, I could not blame Macon at all, he's just doing what he likes and in his position I doubt anyone would turn down the press requests.  It was an editorial decision to do a story on Macon rather than one about, say, a local runner who (perhaps overcoming diabetes or just an unathletic childhood) is making steady progress towards an Olympic Trials qualifier or was picked up by a training group in Flagstaff or Michigan and is returning as a pro to run the hometown marathon. 

Macon's story is better-suited to the lifestyles or personalities section than the sports section.  I would not even say that it should be in a health section, since even though running 58-105 marathons per year requires fitness, running 58-105 marathons in a year is not at all required for fitness and is not exactly a healthy level of activity for the typical reader.  What would be much more likely to 'inspire' sedentary people to get fit is something on a much smaller scale, someone who introduced more gradual changes (which are much more likely to stick) to their lifestyle and persisted long enough to get fit enough to do about anything they want, not just what for most people is considered an extreme event like a marathon. 

i dunno, but i get excited about lining up at the major marathons with the elites.  heck, seeing that ryan hall and kara goucher (sp?) are running BOSTON is motivating for me to want to do the training to line up with them in hopkington.

i think there's a bit too much of a "vince lombardi" mentality going on.  if you think like that, there really is only one winner of a race.  i've only won two races in my career but feel much more proud of finishing my first 50 mile trail race or qualifying for BOSTON back in 2001 than of "winning."

Well, I just happen to see the world a little differently.  Far from there being too much emphasis on competition, there is actually far too little.  This is why average annual marathon finish times in the US are so woefully slow and why in 2008 (by the stats I have been able to find) there were twenty (yes, twenty!) US men sub-2:20 in the marathon, 25 years after there were 267.  Over 90% fewer.  As a sport, marathoning is as anemic as ever in the US in the modern era, not much of a follow-up year after the huge resurgence people were touting in 2007.  The "courage to start" and "finishing is winning" mentality has definitely played a role in moving the marathon and road running from the level of sport more towards the level of uncompetitive/unathletic sideshow. 

So what exactly about the presence of Hall and Goucher is inspiring or motivating?  I would like to understand, please explain it.  I mean, I get inspired by an old goat running buddy who ran sub-2:30 20+ years ago.  No, I would not get much out of a 3:22 debut by a guy (or even a gal) who has run collegiately, either. 

[Double]

Pretty remarkable stuff.  I don't need to read it, I know people who run marathons and ultras all the time.  It has to wear on you. 

I have always enjoyed running, but the one thing that drove me the most was picking a goal and training for it.  I believe even if I didn't compete I would run 40-50 a week just in case.

I figured out a long time ago were my place was.  The drive was to compete well against those in my tier.  For some of us who have been around the sport most of our lives, we kind of know our wheelhouse.  I put high expectations on myself because those who I care about bashing with are training fairly hard.  It's not so much about "breaking through," as it is discovering what the optimal training is for a given day.  That's were the fun is.

I am more of a generalist.  It's winter so just work on running miles.  Then after building a routine begin rounding out the long run days.  When the season is upon us, use specific training, routes, shoes, surfaces, etc., to run your best.  Simple stuff.

I know I am totally off subject, but let's take the marathon.  I can take about anyone shooting for a specific time and tell them one piece of advice for 90-95% of the training.  Build your weekly miles just running as high as you can dream and your almost there.  Why is this so hard to accept?  If someone newer to the sport would just go run for a couple years this way you wouldn't have to worry about all the crap.  Figure out how your body reacts to higher mileage training.

Keep a log.  You'll learn more about yourself than any one of us could tell you.  I know how I react to various forms of training.  My contemporaries use different methods because this is what they have found works for them.  Personally, I don't have a problem getting to my speed fairly quickly, so I work the aerobic engine first and foremost.  I peak rather quickly so I only spend 8-9 weeks honing the skills.  I am not one to incorporate speed/tempo runs year around, but it does work for some.  I don't worry about being fast in the spring, because I can't hold it long.

Try and run everyday if you can.  I'm still working up to this, but this is the goal.  Doesn't mean I don't take days off.  Somedays I am real tired, but still go for a run.  Sometimes, those are the best runs of the week.  You need to decide when rest days are optimal.

[danno]

Imagine how much he,s spent in entries,clothing,footwear, it,s the average golfer that support,s Tiger Wood,s career and it,s Mr and Mrs" I,m slow but i love it" that keeps marathon,s alive so we can get to watch the world class runners like Haile and Catherine Nderaba  , good on him.

[GTF]

Imagine how much he,s spent in entries,clothing,footwear, it,s the average golfer that support,s Tiger Wood,s career and it,s Mr and Mrs" I,m slow but i love it" that keeps marathon,s alive so we can get to watch the world class runners like Haile and Catherine Nderaba

If I am understanding your horribly-written message correctly, you are simply repeating a popular misconception.  Tiger Woods does not take payments from "the average golfer," he is paid by corporate sponsors who use his image to market their products to the entire world.  The slowest marathon runners (everyone slower than the average finishing time) are actually subsidized by all the faster runners and have zero impact on the earnings of elites.  Macon does not spend more on clothing and shoes than any other 70 miles/week runner would.  Entry fees for races do not go into the prize purse.