LOLZLetter 143 | Social Media Running vs What Happens in Real Life
No, not "everyone" is training for marathons or Boston.
Welcome,
Last week on Instagram, I reposted a graphic about running times. It shared how the average female 5k time was around 40 minutes. I loved the reminder that not everyone is training high volume or for marathons.
My issue with the post was there were no sources cited and credit of where the information came from. It was shared hundreds of times with many people believing it was the poster's study. After talking it out with good friend and incredible writer, Jen, I realized I needed to say something.
With it being so easy to post and reshare things, it's equally as easy to give credit where it's due. We also do live in a world sometimes where it's like the blind leading the blind. Just because someone has a lot of followers doesn't make them an expert. Anyway, it might seem petty, but plagiarism is still plagiarism.
Back to the theme of this newsletter, this week is about social media running versus "real life" running. We have the power to curate our feeds to show what we want. If we only want to see those running faster, we can! The downside is it can get overwhelming or feel like "everyone" is crushing it.
Social Media Running Versus Run Specialty Running:
When I first started running in 2010, there wasn't a lot of social media with running. In 2011, there was dailymile, but most people didn't take selfies, and GPS watches were still very new. For the first few years of my running, I didn't have a GPS watch. Things like Instagram running shots, Strava, and all of that good stuff didn't exist.
I knew about local runners that I saw at races. I didn't know about people in California "crushing it." I learned about the same 20 people who lived in Upstate, NY, crushing it. In the last decade, running and social media have exploded. Now, if you didn't post about your run, did you even do it?
Last year I joined Strava. Before joining, I only used my GPS watch for races and workouts. Never easy runs. Now I use my watch most days to upload to the Strava.
People have said often, "Wow, I didn't know you ran so slow." They didn't mean it as a bad remark, but they were surprised that I ran 9:45 miles. 9:45 miles isn't slow. 10 minutes isn't slow. Neither is 12 or 13 or 14.
I log a few runs a week around that pace. If you only follow fast or professional runners, then yes, it might seem slow. If you follow people that are training to break 30 minutes in a 5k, that's about PR pace.
Here is some current information from the Run Repeat Study in 2019:
The study looked at 3,446 unique races worldwide, with 32,335 events in total between 2008 and 2018. The total number of participants was 19,614,975.
Marathons:
Average Marathon Time: 4:32:49
Average Men's Marathon Time: 4:21:03
Average Women's Marathon Time: 4:48:45
Fastest Country Average: Switzerland (3:50.23)
Slowest Country Average: Philippines (5:25.35)
Where does the USA rank? 25 out of 30 countries studied.
Most marathon participants: USA (456,700), UK (97,254) & Germany (86,032)
Running Popularity:
5k: 2.9 million participants in 2018
10k: 1.8 million participants
13.1 miles: 2.1 million participants. (half marathon participation declined by 25% from 2016-2018)
26.2 miles: 1.1 million participants
As you can see, the longer the race, the less popular it is!
A few years ago, I wrote a post about how social media skewed my thoughts of running "fast." Social media makes it easy to compare yourself to someone else running faster, stronger, or further. When I worked in run specialty, I saw maybe one person every other week that said, "I'm training to break 3 hours in a marathon". One person out of 100!
On social media, you might think everyone is! But you're looking at a subsection of runners. You are looking at who you follow. I've always thought it's important to follow people of all races, times, and abilities. People who aren't like you, including better than you, faster, slower, or training for different things.
So yes, it can be easy to think "everyone" is training for a sub-three marathon, OTQ, BQ, or is crushing it, but that is far from the case.
Case and point: I have not PRed in 3 years nor do I have any interest in running another marathon right now.
Just remember this, social media is only one subsection of running.
Not everyone who runs has an Instagram.
Not everyone, even half of the population, is training for a marathon, BQ, or OTQ.
All of those goals are incredible, but they aren't the goals of the majority of the population. I encourage you to follow people training for all sorts of things.
What is Keeping Me Entertained?
Obviously the Run Repeat State of Running where I got this information
Which Carbon Plated Shoe is Best for Me
Which is Better: The Nike Alphafly Next% or the Nike Vaporfly Next%?
Spacerock Trail Half Marathon (2:30.04)
Back From a Break, Weini Kelati is Ready to Contend for U.S. Title
If you are enjoying the newsletter series, I appreciate you sharing. Sharing helps new people discover it!
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As an older runner, I have had to come to terms with not running as far or as fast as I have in years past. I was late to the game, only starting to run seriously when I was 49, but in the subsequent 8 years I completed 7 full marathons and 6 ultra marathons and many more half marathons and relays, etc. All this eventually caught up to me with a knee injury in 2017 and I was sidelined. Now that I have come back, I find that I cannot run the distance or the speed I used to. I have had to make peace with the fact that I would rather run more slowly and shorter distances than to not run at all. Social media makes such a transition harder, but you have to be yourself and do what makes you happy. Right now, that is slower and shorter for me.
Happy Holidays -- Starting my training for the North / South Gettysburg Marathon on April 10, 2022 -- I ran 1 marathon last year Oak Island Marathon in Feb 2020 just under 6 hours so I am hoping that I will be able to complete the Gettysburg marathon in 5.5 hours. Have 17 weeks -).