Is A Boring Race Better Than No Race?

7 watchers

Damian Mar 2015 7:47pm, 1 Mar 2015 44 posts	0 Damian Go on Dvorak... spill the beans... which race are your referring to?
Dvorak Mar 2015 7:56pm, 1 Mar 2015 9,814 posts	0 Dvorak The Monklands Half Marathon. Not far outside Glasgow. Well over two million people within an hours drive. Field size normally under 100.
Too Much Water Mar 2015 8:59pm, 1 Mar 2015 4,273 posts	0 Too Much Water Would never do a lapped marathon if at all possible (did one last year for a QT for another event), and quite frankly don't understand why people do them at all, other than for the numbers (another debate!) Paradoxically I have done 12 hr track races which involve many laps of a 400m track but that's a different kind of challenge I guess and they were great fun.
Damian Mar 2015 9:09pm, 1 Mar 2015 46 posts	0 Damian TWM... I have one of these "as-many-400-laps-as-possible-in-X-hr-races" hovering just outside of my race list, just so I can see what they are like. So.... twm... what are they like? And, has anyone else done one? And, was it boring?
anthonyj89 Mar 2015 9:58pm, 1 Mar 2015 20 posts	0 anthonyj89 I don't think I've ever felt bored during a race. I'd feel like I was doing it wrong if I did. I do occasionally get bored during solo training runs though. I think lap courses are mentally tougher. Even in a two lap course, at the end of one lap you know you have to do it all again. With an out and back course, there's no point quitting halfway through!
Too Much Water Mar 2015 10:01pm, 1 Mar 2015 4,275 posts	0 Too Much Water They weren't boring for me, they were training runs with mates, for which we had a target distance in mind. I was also in the form of my life at that point, so boredom never came into it.
DeeGee Mar 2015 8:38am, 2 Mar 2015 16,338 posts	0 DeeGee I regularly run marathons which consist of multiple laps of a lake, and organise one that is easiest described as laps of a caravan park - though that doesn't do it justice! I do sometimes have a bit of a mental wobble at the lake if I'm spending a lot of time running on my own, but to be honest, they're more social events than anything else. A training run with friends and a medal at the end. The Maravan course is deliberately varied (there's caravans, or course, but there's a lovely little country road, a golf course, a short muddy section of bridleway) and there are still a few hardcore holidaymakers there who show an interest, plus marshalls and a decent atmosphere at the feeding station because there's a relay on at the same time. To be honest, I've had harder times at big single lap events than I do at the lower-key ones that I do.
Velociraptor Mar 2015 9:16am, 2 Mar 2015 32,162 posts	0 Velociraptor So that part of Lanarkshire is still as dismal as it was 30 years ago, Dvorak? For some reason, Law and Monklands hospitals took students from Dundee medical school in those days. I accepted that gig in my final year in exchange for getting the gynae attachment that I wanted. It was OK - the consultants were good solid physicians and the nurses were decent souls - but the towns and the surrounding area were soul-sucking.
Wooters Mar 2015 10:19pm, 3 Mar 2015 262 posts	0 Wooters Can't say, in my limited racing experience, I've ever had a boring race. I've had plenty of boring runs but never a race, I hope that'll not change when I've complete more races. Emailed my mate about entering Kent Road Runners 2016, bit of a trek for me from Hull but it'll be worth it.
becca7 Mar 2015 10:35pm, 3 Mar 2015 6,116 posts	0 becca7 Going back to the first page, Damian, if you have done Brauny parkrun 44 times our paths must have crossed many times as I have volunteered there over 80 times. Is an event really boring though just because you have done it many times? The parkrun course itself is pretty varied. A boring race is definitely better than no race at all and I agree that lapped marathons can be OK if they are sociable events.