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Sasha Pachev
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« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2008, 03:29:12 pm » |
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Which is exactly why I would not make a big deal about the blog going to Boston this way :-) The blog is not going to Boston, you are. I do not want anybody to think that I want them to spend $1000 on a trip to support the blog or feel obligated or encouraged to do so in any way. I do encourage people to qualify for Boston, though. But once they've qualified, I'd much rather seem them save their money for something else that they will probably need more in the future than a trip to Boston and place in the top 50 of a local marathon instead. Unless, of course, they are set for life as far as money is concerned, and feel very secure in their financial future. Which I highly doubt is the case for most bloggers.
I wish we had better commonly acknowledge standards of fitness than just a BQ and an OTQ that do not imply that you have to go somewhere to prove that you've accomplished something. Somewhat similar to what they have in Russia. There is a standard applied to all sports, and you get a ranking based on your performance. They have the following rankings: 3rd, 2nd, 1st, master of sports candidate, master of sports, international master of sports, and merited master of sports. What is nice is that this allows you to compare how well you do in different sports, and when you talk to somebody, regardless of what sport you are in, when you tell them your ranking they have a decent idea of what you have accomplished. For example, when I told my dad that I got a master of sports candidate, he immediately understood the significance of this even though he hardly knows anything about running. He said: "I did not think my son could do that" One of the greatest compliments I have ever heard because I knew he understood. Contrast this with in response to the same performance: "What? You qualified for Boston? My neighbor who I see running all the time has been trying to do this for years!" Or, if you qualify for the trials, "What are the trials?" or "Are you going to the Olympics?"
So for example the standards are (for guys):
3rd degree - to finish a marathon, 1:21 half, 38:00 10 K, 17:45 5 K
2nd degree - 2:50 marathon, 1:15 half, 34:40 10 K, 16:35 5 K
1st degree - 2:37 marathon, 1:11:30 half, 32:30 5 K, 15:30 5 K
candidate - 2:28 marathon, 1:08:30 half, 30:35 10 K, 14:40 5 K
master - 2:20 marathon, 1:05:30 half, 29:25 10 K, 14:00 5 K
international master - 2:13 marathon, 1:02:30 half, 28:06 10 K, 13:25 5 K
To get a merited master you need to win something serious, like a world championship or the Olympics and do it more than once.
The standards are based on the percentages of the people reaching the norm, I believe, or at least somewhat correlated. You can tell that the longer the distances get the easier the standards become. I suppose this is due to heavy drinking in the general population which spills into runners as well. It is hard to run a good marathon with a trashed liver. But while the standards may have a glitch or two, at least they have a nationally acknowledged and general population understood standard that one can achieve.
Maybe in that spirit we should create our own FRB standards, and start promoting them in every way we can. Eventually that may result in a wider adoption of some meaningful standard on a wider scale. Suggestions are welcome.
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