The Times They Are a Changin’

It’s taken several days for me to get around to writing this. In part because I was so exhausted from a great weekend and in part because what followed just made me mad and I wanted to settle down before I said something stupid.

Last weekend was the 13th running of the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego marathon and the 1st running of the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Half Marathon. I’ve been there every year. I was there in 1998 with the Runner’s World Pace Team. I ran the first and several others. My son and I did the motorcycle ride across country and then ran the marathon in 1999 as part of the Run, Rock, Ride promotion. It’s been an anchor event for me and in some ways has become the defining event.

When Tim Murphy, then president of Elite Racing, offered to let me come speak and set up a booth at the expo I was the new kid on the block with a message that seemed completely out of touch with the running community. I was telling people to slow down and enjoy the experience. Turns out, Tim had the same idea. He created an event where finishing fast WASN’T the only way to go. It was a good match in 1998 and has remained so.

Now, of course, both the Penguin phenomenon and the Rock ‘n’ Roll series phenomenon are well documented. I’ve been very fortunate to be the voice of this generation of runners and walkers and the RnR series has become THE most popular set of events in running history. So what’s the problem?

The day after the race I get an email which say in part:

Way back in ‘79, at The Mission Bay Marathon, (San Diego), the number of folks that did 6:52-or-faster-per-mile, (2:59:59 Finishing Time), was 261, out of 1,530, which is 17.1%!

Today was the San Diego Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon-And-Half-Marathon, and the number of folks that did 6:52-or-faster-per-mile was 82, out of 13,561, which is 6/10ths of 1%! … OOPS! … That Stat is for The HALF-Marathon! … The Stat for The Marathon is WAY WORSE!

I DON’T PRETEND TO KNOW WHAT IT ALL MEANS!

COME ON! Aren’t we PAST all that? What it means is that thousands of people have learned to enjoy the sport and activity of running. It also means that the BEST runners are making a pretty good living. It means that folks have gotten up off their sofas and joined us in the celebration of the active lifestyle.

It’s time to stop looking back at how great it used to be when running was this tiny, elite sport. Those days ended when long ago. The running community now is filled with people of all ages, all shapes, all sizes, and all abilities. The runners with talent will always be out front. There’s no reason to worry. We’re not going to invert the starting field.

And the rest of us are going to enjoy being out there for no other reason then that we can.

Waddle on, John “the Penguin” Bingham, Competitor Magazine columnist Author, The Courage to Start, No Need for Speed, Marathoning for Mortals and Running for Mortals.

Have a question for John? E-mail it to thepenguin@johnbingham.com.