There was an article recently in the New York Times that in essence criticized the New York Road Runner's Club for not having more stringent requirements as to who they let participate in the NYC Marathon. The gist of the article was that the marathon "mystique" is being diluted by slower runners & walkers. To be fair, the article seemed to target folks who were crossing the finish line in 6 hours or more.
Marathon participation is growing annually, most of it coming from female participants. It pointed out that many of these finishers were doing quite a bit of walking, and used the recent slower average pace times as proof.
As stated earlier, marathon participation is indeed on the rise, and some of it comes from people who are relatively new to running that, for one reason or another, have embraced running as the path to a healthier lifestyle. Others run in memory of a lost loved one, and use their marathon as a way to raise money, in their loved ones name, for a charity! All are highly motivated, and have set finishing a marathon as the ultimate goal in their quest. This is all GOOD!
As the article correctly points out, there are many participants who cross the finish line who do not "run" most of the course. To suggest that they be banned or that they some how tarnish the marathon distance is ridiculous!
The author of that article must never have participated in the NYC Marathon. If they did, they'd realize that the NYC Marathon is the people's marathon. The beauty of that fact is that our sport, allows us to compete in runnings premier event. No other sport does that! Imagine being a baseball player, and showing up at Yankee Stadium tonight and asking where Joe Gerardi wants you to play! Won't happen! Furthermore, imagine what the NYC Marathon would be like today, if it were still limited to the elites, as it was when it began. We have the whole WORLD focused on NYC because there are 40,000 of us out there, and almost 3 million people cheering us on! That didn't happen years ago!
The NYC Marathon field consists not only of "runner's" but of people who finish the marathon distance that are facing challenges of another sort. There are countless people who are cancer survivors, have had joint replacements, heart bypass surgery and some are even on crutches! Should wheel chair participants be banned too because they aren't "runners?" Of course not!
At Fleet Feet Mahwah, our customers range from those who are beginner runners, to those who are experienced marathoners. For new runners we have a 5K training program that preps a new runner for their first 5k! These people represent future marathoners and they take their running seriously. They also are the future of our sport!
We also have a marathon training program where our participants range from 3:10 marathoners to 5:15 marathoners. These people train together and respect each other REGARDLESS of how "fast" they are.
Our runners in each of our programs have formed friendships that exist beyond the runs!
Yes, there are, and there will continue to be, NYC Marathon finishers that may take longer than others but, I'm proud of them, and as my late Dad would say to them, "stand up and take a bow!"
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