I recently reactivated my Facebook account… and will be shortly de-activating it once again as there’s too much “noise” in there. But amidst the posts of cat videos, the recipes for food I’ll never make, the political diatribes from all sides, and a moment-by-moment update on a pregnant giraffe, somebody in one of the running groups I follow posted this piece:
It’s from a guy who as a hobby and passion hunts down cheaters at various races — people who have bib-swapped or cut the course, or any number of time shaving activities to I guess get into Boston or claim an achievement they never achieved. It seems to me a crazy way to spend one’s time but everybody’s got their thing and I assume something happened to this guy that burned his biscuits at a race… or maybe he’s just a numbers guy and it’s a stress relief to cull through stats. Whatever the case, I kinda wish his site was called “To Catch a Cheater” but that URL is probably already laterally registered by NBC for Dateline or maybe Maury Povich.
The rambling point I’m trying to make is that I don’t know if I feel validated that this guy had a similar take on this weekend’s snafus or if I feel like maybe I’ve crossed a line into “That Conspiracy Guy” territory, At least I’m not tweeting about wire taps without evidence while North Korea test fires a barrage of missiles seemingly destined to improve a program to hit US bases. But I digress…
Mistakes happen. I make a decision to run a detour distance to make up for the misdirection and miscommunication on the course. I fell and hurt myself pretty badly. But all in all, I ran for me as I always do. I was okay with the day, even if I wasn’t too happy with my time and I was hurting physically and emotionally as a result. Running is a very personal endeavor done in a communal atmosphere; I’d try and do better at the next race for me — not necessarily knowing the course but maybe not tripping and falling or maybe focusing on a slightly different racing strategy. But that’s down to me. I own what happened to me as a personal matter (maybe running two marathons back-to-back contributed to a slow down… maybe I need to be extra careful on roads with embedded reflectors). The wind is a factor beyond anyone’s control — weather is what happens when you’re on the road and we all deal with it. Again, I am my own runner and I take responsibility for my run… albeit I expect the race organizers to do the same given that I paid them $100 for the privilege and therefore expect the support of their organization to help me achieve my goal.
People who used the shortened course to qualify for Boston, well, they selfishly cheat their fellow runners who legitimately qualified, and that’s an egregious, insulting act. But so too is a race organization that shifts the blame and doesn’t at least acknowledge that maybe something needs to be looked at in the future. Mistakes do happen, as I keep saying, and people are generally understanding of this if at times annoyed or frustrated. There is assuredly a need to learn from mistakes but there’s no need to pillory race organization people or runners (well… maybe the dishonest runners who knowingly claim false times or mule their bibs to cheat the system deserve SOME pillory). And maybe the outcome of looking at what went wrong in the lead packs is that there doesn’t need to be anything else done as the signs should have been sufficient and “it was just one of those things.” But there’s enough error here to warrant a discussion over miscommunications and not a blanket, defensive, “Well — the runners should have known better.” That’s not helpful. It’s the cover-up that’s usually far worse than the mistake. People make mistakes, life throws curve balls. But progress and development can only occur when one does NOT take the tact that “it’s not my fault — I’m always right and if you disagree with me, you’re wrong…Period.” That leaves zero room for discussion and/or self examination and that way leads to madness, both anger and insanity.
Harrumph. Now I probably sound like a grouch. But I think I have reason to be annoyed with the race organization as I feel they have shirked their responsibilities to not only their race and runners, but to the sport as a whole.