Why we need government intervention to help slow runners and penalize fast ones

[Paul Petersen]

Sasha - I still enjoy the headband I won at the TOU Half raffle last year...with your number. I ran slow and placed poorly too, with little training. It was great. My goal this year is to win the treadmill. I can double my chances if you give me your bib number again.

[Sasha Pachev]

Except I am not running it this year.

[Paul Petersen]

Sigh. Then I blame you for my lack of success in raffle drawings.

[bencrozier]

Sasha's point exemplifies what I am talking about.  Rather than focus on what is important (better running performance), many race directors choose to deflect the obvious into a cesspool of what makes people “feel good.”

I started out this thread with an analogy that explains why running is such a beautiful sport at its core.  The individual is responsible for their results.  No short cuts, no B.S.  You reap what you sow.  We live in a society today where people don't want to pay the price for success, but would rather focus on “raffle tickets” instead of running performance.  This makes it so that runners who don't pay the price for fast running times can still feel good about themselves... regardless of the fact that everybody ran the race to cover the distance or get the best time possible.  I alluded earlier to how this mentality has infiltrated most of our society.  People like Neil confuse themselves by not realizing that ultimately we are all responsible for what we reap, and not somebody else.  The government can't run the marathon for me, just like the government can't make better decisions for my life than I can.  People who think like this are unwilling to address things head on because they occupy themselves with things that distract them so they don't have to deal with harsh realities.  This is similar to me focusing on bench pressing more so I don't feel bad about my poor running performance.  Perhaps benching more is a good thing, but it doesn't make me a faster runner.

[Dallen]

I don't run for the money, but if I do happen to win something I really don't want the government to come and take my money away and give it to slower runners. I don't mind paying my entry fee for the road I ran on, my police protection and the gatorage at the aid stations. However, should I have to pay more for the raod, police etc just because I ran faster and won a prize? I didn't use the road any more than the slow guy.

[Neil Price]

Here, here!!! Those slowpokes should just pull themselves up by their own shoelaces.  The FRB is the Fox News of running blogs. 

[Michelle Lowry]

The government does tax the fastest runners, because the fastest runners get prizes, and those prizes are subject to income tax.  But there is a tax break (itemized deduction for medical expenses greater than 7%) for couch potatoes who do not run and need a triple bypass or other expensive medical care due to their poor health.  So that is a redistribution of wealth from the fastest to the slowest, in a way.  Kind of makes you want to eat a bacon burger, doesn't it    

[Sasha Pachev]

More thoughts. As many of you know I grew up in the Soviet Union. I am old enough and do have good enough of a teenage memory to remember some things about the system. I remember Brezhnev speaking on TV for hours when I wanted to watch a soccer or hockey game.  I remember being taught that American population consisted of drug addicts, homeless, unemployed, prostitutes, and very rich people. I remember waiting in line to buy food and wishing that the store would be positioned in such a way that you had to walk or run a mile to get to it so that I could outrun everybody and not have to wait in line. I remember being very excited when I saw the speedometer of a bus go over 80 km/h ( that is only 50 mph) for the first time. I remember wanting to puke when I had to summarize Lenin's writings for a Soviet history class twice a week for the whole semester. I believe I do know something about socialism.

What I learned from the experience:

a)  In a system that fails to reward performance (Everyone is a winner!) about 5-10% perform anyway because doing well is deeply part of their nature. They try as hard as they would had they been rewarded properly. They may not have the opportunity to truly reach their potential due to the lack of support, but they do a good job of getting around it.

b) The remaining 90-95% sit on their bums, do the minimum required to get through the day, and laugh at the 5-10% that are honestly trying.

c) Once in a while somebody in the "honestly trying" group gets tired of being laughed at and joins the laughing group. But the laughing group does not have anywhere near the same level of desertion.

Now here is something that many people might have missed. The reason United States did so much better than the Soviet Union did not come from the differences in the "honestly trying" group. The Soviets "honestly trying" did OK - any task that did not take a whole lot of people (relatively speaking) to do they did well - space research, scientific breakthroughs, music, dance, sports, etc. Where the difference came out is how motivated your average Joe was.  Any time you depended on the average Joe to do a good job, it did not happen for the Soviets. Thus you had food shortages, antiquated machinery, dysfunctional medical equipment, etc.

Note that "the average Joe" here does not necessarily fail in the area of talent. He might do quite well on talent. Where he fails is that he does not have the gumption to do his honest best when nobody cares if he does. Now we might be tempted to call that Joe a loser, give him motivational talks, tell him he needs to do better, etc, but the reality is that 95% of the people will not do their best "for intrinsic rewards" when we time and again communicate to them that we absolutely do not care if they do.  When we implement the Soviet system of rewards in 99% of our road races, is it a surprise that we get Soviet quality results 99% of the time?

[bencrozier]

Sasha, thanks for sharing your experiences.  I found your posting very powerful and insightful.  Most Americans have no clue that what you're talking about is very real.  We are too dumbed down by our distractive media to ponder such things while we get sold further and further down the river.

Why do I love running?  It's freedom.  It's rebellion.  It's addictive. It's a great way to "stick it to the man".  It keeps me healthy and out of trouble.  When I am on the road, I am the master of my destiny because I control how fast I go... where I go... and how I go!  Bikers only get a fraction of what runners get on the road 'cuz they don't get the real high, baby!  Hard training helps me erode all the crap from my life and have a clearer perspective on what is essential and what is not!