Running Mania

I saw these two stories on that Marathon Investigations site:
https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/2 ... every.html

Cool or Not Cool?

1) Runners forming a human chain while crossing the finish line in Boston?

2) Runner taking an extra medal at the finish line and giving it to his wife for supporting him?

Just finished reading this and I have to say I lean towards the article writer's thoughts, and well of course FB friends of these people will back them up and fail to see the negative in what they did, true friends will call you out on your silliness.

1. Forming a daisy chain towards the finish line is NOT cool and I don't care what their agenda / cause is, they should not be impeding other runner especially close to the finish line. Their act has the potential to mess up other runner's PB

2. The charity entrant who took 2 medals so he can give one to his wife, needs to give his head a shake If he needs to reward his wife with a medal from a race she didn't run in, then he could have just given her his medal. Taking an extra medal is thieving, and whilst the race am sure have extra to go round, that is besides the point

Definitely not cool.


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So not cool.

Nope, not cool

Is there even a question here? I can't see how any runner would say that either of these things are cool at all.

The daisy chain ladies... I mean, as long as they only joined hands in the last 4 or 5 strides before the finish line, who are they bothering? It's pretty rare for anyone to be sprinting in the final metres of a marathon (sprinting the final metres of a marathon: cool or not cool?), so I can't imagine they'd be impeding anyone by more than a fraction of a second.

Medal chivalry husband... Is the marathon investigations guy just scouring the internet for marathon related social media posts? Why does he even know about this? Seems obsessive. The extra medal cost the BAA a buck or two, the guy (possibly a one-time-only marathoner) scores points with his wife who is clearly hotter than him. Nobody got hurt.

Final ruling: cool, don't waste this court's time.

Jwolf wrote:Is there even a question here? I can't see how any runner would say that either of these things are cool at all.

Well, obviously the people who did it thought it was cool otherwise they wouldn't have done it!

In the first example, my opinion is that they were being selfish by only thinking of their own needs (Hey, wouldn't it be cool if...). It likely never occurred to them that they might be affecting someone else's finish line experience. It's similar to a lot of the discussion about whether it's appropriate to have your kids run across the finish line with you at Ironman.

In the second example, I can't for the life of me figure how he thought it was OK to take a second medal for his wife. If he wanted to thank or recognize her, he should have given her his own medal! But again, it likely never occurred to him that it wasn't, otherwise he never would have posted about it on Instagram.

dgrant wrote: The extra medal cost the BAA a buck or two, the guy (possibly a one-time-only marathoner) scores points with his wife who is clearly hotter than him. Nobody got hurt.

Well, he just should have given her his own medal then. Or buy the special "companion" medal that the BAA sells specifically for this purpose.
Are you sure no one got hurt? People in the comments in the blog have said that in the past they have run out of medals for slower finishers for this reason. Likely when they weren't as careful about allowing bandits on the course.

p.s. I'm fully aware that dgrant is playing the devil's advocate. There are plenty of reasons in the blog, that I agree with, about why the first scenario is also uncool and how it definitely could have affected people's finish times and/or finishing pictures.

i'm on the fence about the chain one because i understand their intent, but it does seem like it could dampen the moment for other runners behind them (maybe i'm overly concerned about the finish line photo ).

the second one i think is ADORABLE. i laughed out loud at the comparison to the super bowl ring. yes, i've been in a race that ran out of medals (looking at you, ATB) and it did suck, but i'm still going to vote cool.

Jwolf wrote:

dgrant wrote: The extra medal cost the BAA a buck or two, the guy (possibly a one-time-only marathoner) scores points with his wife who is clearly hotter than him. Nobody got hurt.

Well, he just should have given her his own medal then. Or buy the special "companion" medal that the BAA sells specifically for this purpose.
Are you sure no one got hurt? People in the comments in the blog have said that in the past they have run out of medals for slower finishers for this reason. Likely when they weren't as careful about allowing bandits on the course.

The Boston Marathon is a moneymaking juggernaut. If they run out of medals, that's on them. With a budget in the millions (tens of millions?), spend the 500 bucks to have a good cushion in the medal supply.

It honestly bothers me that the marathon investigations man is extending his scope to publicly shaming someone for a benign, well-intentioned picture.

Both not cool


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dgrant wrote:It honestly bothers me that the marathon investigations man is extending his scope to publicly shaming someone for a benign, well-intentioned picture.

Valid point. Public shaming has gotten out of hand.

dgrant wrote:The daisy chain ladies... I mean, as long as they only joined hands in the last 4 or 5 strides before the finish line, who are they bothering? It's pretty rare for anyone to be sprinting in the final metres of a marathon (sprinting the final metres of a marathon: cool or not cool?), so I can't imagine they'd be impeding anyone by more than a fraction of a second.

Medal chivalry husband... Is the marathon investigations guy just scouring the internet for marathon related social media posts? Why does he even know about this? Seems obsessive. The extra medal cost the BAA a buck or two, the guy (possibly a one-time-only marathoner) scores points with his wife who is clearly hotter than him. Nobody got hurt.

Final ruling: cool, don't waste this court's time.

I'm with dgrant on this one. In the big scheme of things, giving someone another medal doesn't take away anyone's accomplishment.

Such a sweet and thoughtful guy stealing a medal for his wife. Cheap b@stard. Too bad the 20,000 or so who finished in front of him didn't take an extra one too.


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Ahahahaha.....His wife should make him hand it back to them. Personally, it would carry more weight if he handed over his own medal (he only got in as a charity even runner) to his wife. For those that don't see the issue with both cases, I guess it's easy to dismiss something when it's not affecting you personally.

It's like the old argument of capital punishment...everyone is against it until it come knocking closer to home e.g. someone kills a member of your family

RobW wrote:Such a sweet and thoughtful guy stealing a medal for his wife. Cheap b@stard. Too bad the 20,000 or so who finished in front of him didn't take an extra one too.


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RobW wrote:Such a sweet and thoughtful guy stealing a medal for his wife. Cheap b@stard. Too bad the 20,000 or so who finished in front of him didn't take an extra one too

+1

tayken wrote:Ahahahaha.....His wife should make him hand it back to them. Personally, it would carry more weight if he handed over his own medal (he only got in as a charity even runner) to his wife. For those that don't see the issue with both cases, I guess it's easy to dismiss something when it's not affecting you personally.

Who does this affect personally? It's not like the guy spraypainted "Johnny loves Jane" on the side of the Eiffel Tower. There are literally no consequences to anything or anyone. Nobody's experience is affected.

I think sometimes people assume that everyone is in tune with the fine print of a particular subculture, so that anything that goes against it is seen as an affront. I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.So if he didn't mean any harm, is any harm done?

dgrant wrote:I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.

That's why he needs to be told.

Jwolf wrote:

dgrant wrote:I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.

That's why he needs to be told.

But told what? Medals are "special"?

Jwolf wrote:

dgrant wrote:I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.

That's why he needs to be told.

Told what though? That he ought to enjoy a recreational activity exactly the same as I do? If the star of my favourite team signs with the archrival, should I actively shame a kid who still wears the guy's jersey to a game? "Boo! I boo you! Us real fans hate that player now. Don't you know? You should know. Shame on you." What if this guy had his nice little benign moment with his wife ruined because he didn't do something exactly how I would have done it. (The article says he made his instagram private, so he must have found out he was getting shamed.)

dgrant wrote:

Jwolf wrote:

dgrant wrote:I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.

That's why he needs to be told.

Told what though? That he ought to enjoy a recreational activity exactly the same as I do? If the star of my favourite team signs with the archrival, should I actively shame a kid who still wears the guy's jersey to a game? "Boo! I boo you! Us real fans hate that player now. Don't you know? You should know. Shame on you." What if this guy had his nice little benign moment with his wife ruined because he didn't do something exactly how I would have done it. (The article says he made his instagram private, so he must have found out he was getting shamed.)

I'm not a huge fan of "finisher's medals" in general. But I know that for many people, the medal represents earning something significant.

When you steal something you haven't earned, it's stealing. Point blank.

Quite the analogy eh....the "star of your team" is one entity and doesn't always represent the club they play for. The kid in question might like the star for their service to country e.g. Crosby or Subban playing for Canada vice their teams. Again, why didn't Mr charity runner give his earned medal to his wife instead?

dgrant wrote:

Jwolf wrote:

dgrant wrote:I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.

That's why he needs to be told.

Told what though? That he ought to enjoy a recreational activity exactly the same as I do? If the star of my favourite team signs with the archrival, should I actively shame a kid who still wears the guy's jersey to a game? "Boo! I boo you! Us real fans hate that player now. Don't you know? You should know. Shame on you." What if this guy had his nice little benign moment with his wife ruined because he didn't do something exactly how I would have done it. (The article says he made his instagram private, so he must have found out he was getting shamed.)

Contradicting yourself in your own post...."there are literally no consequences to anything or anyone", well of course you are saying this as a BAA insider right? Then you went on to say "I think sometimes people assume that....", do you fall into this group based on your own comments?????

Taking something you haven't earned will always be wrong. Hopefully he doesn't take the stationary at work home for his wife because she supports him working late

dgrant wrote:

tayken wrote:Ahahahaha.....His wife should make him hand it back to them. Personally, it would carry more weight if he handed over his own medal (he only got in as a charity even runner) to his wife. For those that don't see the issue with both cases, I guess it's easy to dismiss something when it's not affecting you personally.

Who does this affect personally? It's not like the guy spraypainted "Johnny loves Jane" on the side of the Eiffel Tower. There are literally no consequences to anything or anyone. Nobody's experience is affected.

I think sometimes people assume that everyone is in tune with the fine print of a particular subculture, so that anything that goes against it is seen as an affront. I doubt that guy is deeply into running culture or he would have known that giving his wife a medal would draw more scorn than praise.So if he didn't mean any harm, is any harm done?

If finisher's medals have no meaning, then why do they hand them out?

Answer: They're a sign of accomplishment. No runnie, no meddie.

As for impeding flow before the finish line so that other runners cannot pass... that's a no-brained.