Pace: 11 minute miles
Wine consumed: yes
Woot woot! Finished a four miler around the neighborhood, and I was pretty happy with just about everything about the run. I had a slow warm up mile, then miles two and three were both exactly 11:09. How's that for keeping a pace? My last mile I kicked it up a little and got a 10:50.
Now, if you have Toe Shoes Tina as your training buddy, you might feel like these numbers aren't that amazing, since readers of this blog know that she generally breaks the speed of sound at the track. But guess what my wonderful Nike watch told me after I plugged it into the web site:
And then look at this one:
(Boom.)
Look at that. I'm putting in miles. Those other slow runners are SLACKERS.
This made me curious. Is there an "average" pace for runners? I spent a little time on Google, and I narrowed my search to average marathon times. In this funny article from the NY Times, the author (who proudly finished 619 out of 625 runners in the NY marathon), says:
"In 1980 the average marathon time was about three and a half hours for men and about four hours for women, according to Running USA. Today, the averages are 4:16 for men and 4:43 for women. About 20 percent of the participants in the New York City Marathon take longer than five hours to finish."
Why is this? Because running has become more popular, and "average" runners like me are entering. This affects the averages.
The article also says that some of the faster marathon runners (those we slow pokes think of as "real" runners) resent those of us in the back of the pack. They call us "plodders." I really prefer the term trudger, if they wanted to slow down long enough to ask me. One reason they don't like us is that marathoners don't feel so special anymore if anyone can earn their 26.2 sticker by jogging along and throwing in the occasional walk. To these elite racers, I offer this considered, well-thought-out response:
I mean seriously? There are elite runner elitists? I think that one of the great things about running is that almost anyone can start to do it. You put on some shoes and go. I know so many people who turn to running when they decide they are tired of sitting in the gigantic buttocks-shaped print they've worn in their couch or who have grown alarmed at the size of their jeans. And a marathon, or half marathon, or 5K, gives the runs a purpose beyond just a new pair of jeans. It is rewarding to finish a race, to be part of the crowd of fit, happy people, and to have put in the work to accomplish a goal.
(Oddly enough, we plodders, or amateur runners, are getting criticism from another group--the couch potatoes. What? How can you resent a runner? But in an article in the Wall Street Journal, one writer told us runners to "get over it." Guess he wouldn't be a reader of this blog. I mainly bring this up because the response in Runner's World was hilarious. Read it here. I had no plans to put one of those 26.2 or 13.1 stickers on my car until I read the WSJ article. Now I'm gonna sticker that sh*t up.)
I suspect the plodder critics are a very small percentage of the running population (and the couch potato population, I suspect, does not give a crap about this issue). I have found runners to be 100% supportive of my attempts to run, and some of these runners are really amazing athletes.
So I say to you, fellow plodders: Keep on plodding! We are runners, and we are slow. We are the Trudging Majority. They cannot keep us down. They cannot make us feel bad about our 13-minute miles. Sometimes it takes 13 minutes. That is okay. They can outpace us, but we'll get there eventually. We are like a very very slow and tired army. We can do this--and we're going to wear crazy outfits and have some fun while we do it.
Fist pump!
Yes!!! - fellow plodder
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