Is running bringing out the worst in people?
Over Valentine’s weekend, The Bull Runner (TBR) held its annual early-year tradition: The Dream Marathon, a full marathon that caters mostly to casual and beginner runners who are taking on their first 42K. (The “Dream” part refers to them making their dreams of doing and finishing a marathon come true.)
I’ve covered one or two Dream Marathons, enjoying the crisp early-morning air of January and February, and have always come away impressed with what I saw—runners coming in after four, five, six hours, and all the way to eight when the sun was fully up. As someone afflicted with ADHD, I’ve always disliked the notion of endurance and long-distance running, so everyone who finished the full 42 regardless of the time was amazing to me.
Interestingly, my regular perusal of Threads—my favorite dirt-raking social media app bar none—brought to my attention a couple of issues that spawned from this year’s Dream Marathon. The intriguing part is how much it reveals a strange, almost snobbish mindset among some (not all) people in their running era, perhaps brought about by the high and adrenaline rush of pounding the pavement.
The “champion” of the Dream Marathon
The first issue is a little funny and a bit debatable. The first finisher of the Dream Marathon was hailed by his Alabang-based running club as the “champion” who “defended [their home].”
If it sounds innocent at face value, it kind of is—technically, he finished first, so therefore he must be some sort of winner, right? Normally, he would be, but this macho, competitive framing of the run was a big enough deal to have gone against the thrust of the marathon—that TBR had to issue a clarification that they do not award championships, or even recognize any “winners,” in this particular event.
After all, the idea of the Dream Marathon is to celebrate the whole couch-to-finish line journey of a new runner, right?
The coach who heads the run club eventually issued a clarification to their initial “championship” post, affirming what TBR said, resulting in them seemingly deleting the erring photo. The finisher in question even had to clarify on Threads that he also never called himself a champion of anything.
Everyone’s a champion
Sounds like all’s well that ends well, but the real issue I found here was that other runners didn’t seem to understand why there was backlash in the first place.
Put simply: The TBR Dream Marathon isn’t a hardcore competitive race the way the world’s major marathons are, so there isn’t any real sense to declare yourself a champion of it aside from stroking your own ego. While the first finisher coming in at the shortest time that day was certainly an accomplishment (no one’s taking that away from him, for sure), TBR clarified that there is no one “champion,” there is no first among equals. Everyone who finished the full distance is a champion for having done so.
Some runners don’t seem to find anything wrong with the competitive mindset in this context, but the actual organizers of the race do—and I’ll take their intent over what is honestly an obnoxious interpretation.
But as a professional in public communications, my philosophy is always that words matter. And if the official statement had to clear you up, and you had to clear yourself up, then something you said wasn’t right. It’s really that simple. What seemed like a simple overreaction to many runners was a misinterpretation to the organizers, and those who were dismissive need to think about why, in this scenario, they are wrong.
Honestly, this whole thing tells me a lot about people’s comprehension and emotional intelligence, and until now, I’m still seeing people who are questioning what’s wrong out loud. Words matter!
“Respect the distance”
And speaking of emotional intelligence, this second issue is a lot more annoying.
This runner on Threads—who has admittedly never yet finished an official marathon—put out a snarky hot take judging those who weren’t able to finish within the eight-hour cutoff. You’ll probably see their post shared across most platforms because they willed it to be so obnoxious that it has no choice but to go viral.
They say that those who didn’t finish (outside of cases such as injuries and age) shouldn’t have started in the first place, and even dug their heels deeper by saying that the “proper” cutoff time for 42 kilometers is six to six and a half hours. They even tried to wash their hands of elitism, saying that it’s simply a matter of “respecting the distance.”
Here’s the thing about that: Saying you’re not being elitist doesn’t actually make you not elitist. As I’ve maintained for a while now, expecting people to act a certain, “proper” way often has roots in elitism.
Maybe they have a point in saying that if you’re not preparing properly for the marathon, then you probably shouldn’t be running it—but the fact is that this person isn’t someone’s coach, and this person is certainly not the general public’s coach. Therefore, they have no real stakes in being a dick about it beyond stroking their ego, or maybe making money off Threads (if that’s actually a thing).
As someone else so eloquently put it: Those at the front of a race aren’t worried about who’s at the back of the pack. And in my words, if you’re so concerned about slow runners to the point that you are so moved to judge people whose slow running will never make any sort of real impact in your life whatsoever, you’ve got some major mental issues, dawg. Here’s that attention you asked for.
Too much of a good thing?
Between these issues and certain heated debates like outsider runners trying to claim the UP Diliman campus as their own (over, you know, actual UP students), is the Manila running culture starting to get out of hand?
I’m not sure it’s the culture of running itself, but mixing the endorphin rush and the meritocracy of sports with a lot of the usual entitled (and sometimes arrogant) middle-class attitudes may not be a great combo.
I wouldn’t want to point solely at running for this because I’m sure it exists in virtually every sport, but the current boom will certainly draw attention to them. (We’re already dealing with some tennis controversies thanks to the rise of the sport locally by way of Alex Eala; I’m sure we’re about to get a pickleball issue in the next few months.)
So, what to do? It feels like I’m always concluding so many articles like these lately, only for the words to fall on deaf ears. The next steps are simple: Just be good to each other. Listen when someone is telling you, nicely, that you’re wrong or that you could do better.
Most importantly, worry about your own damn run and pay no mind to who’s maxing out the full eight hours.
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