My Runpix.com 2010 LA Marathon In Graphs

A website runpix.com tallies up all the marathon statistics and then puts out a USA Today like graph of your race.  Since the are still crunching numbers I couldn't get my final pdf version of my run but I did grab a preliminary results screen grab of my race.  And god am I slow.  It's funny being a person who hates math find graphs so interesting.  I'm the guy who reads USA Today when staying at hotels.  Yup, that's me!

  

I really did die in those lat 4.5 miles.  It's so on for 2011!
 

Comments

[the17thman]

To respond to the above comment.  At first my gut reaction is to say Piss Off.  But there is some truth to the comments.  Requiring close to 6 hours doesnt really constitute running a marathon but at least you participated.  Okay so maybe I didnt run every single one of those 26.2 miles.  Yes, my body shut down and eventually I could be walk it.  

There is an interesting article on Slate.com entitled Running With Slowpokes: How sluggish newbies ruined the marathon.  Here is the link http://www.slate.com/id/2149867 .  I pulled a few quotes that actually talks about how folks like me have no right being in marathons:

Today, the great majority of marathon runners set out simply to finish. That sets the bar so low that everyone comes out a winner. Big-city marathons these days feel more like circuses than races, with runners of variable skill levels—some outfitted in wacky costumes—crawling toward the finish line. The marathon has transformed from an elite athletic contest to something closer to sky diving or visiting the Grand Canyon.

As the popularity of marathons increased, the speed of the race slowed to its current snails pace. In 1980, the average finish time for a male marathoner was 3:32, according to Running USA. Today, its more than 4:20.

So folks like me have ruined the marathon.  Thats like me saying any swimmer who cant swim a 1500 SCM under 20 minutes didnt really swim a 1500.  Cant come under 2:30 for a 200 SCM Butterfly well you really didnt swim that either.

I understand that each sport has elite athletes who look down at the weekend warriors like myself.  I am not the fastest swimmer in the world but I dont think Ive ever said it myself or heard any other Master Swimmer say you didnt really swim that event you participated.  How does one determine what is acceptable.  For running a marathon should it be the Boston Marathon qualifying time?  For swimming should all Master swim meets use the USMS National Qualifying times for entry? 

Ill be the first one to admit that my running is slow and that my marathon time sucked.  I am somewhat embarrassed by my time when people ask me how I did.  I usually start off by saying hey, i finished and comment how it was my first marathon.  A year ago running a 10K was painful and felt like an impossible thing.  So did I only participate is the marathon, no.  I did run it.  Maybe not as fast as I would like or what others claim is running a marathon but I did it.  And well, frankly FUCK YOU!

[Road Dog]

Requiring close to 6 hours doesn't really constitute running a marathon but at least you participated.

[Wendy]

You go Joel! Looking forward to hearing about your training and PB in 2011!