5 ms·

Yeah, it's a little frustrating to have some person say to me "Oh yeah, I ran a marathon too!". Ok, yeah, you completed it... six hours slower than I did. You w

Yeah, it's a little frustrating to have some person say to me "Oh yeah, I ran a marathon too!". Ok, yeah, you completed it... six hours slower than I did. You walked a marathon. I'd disagree though that the grit/toughness thing to me is too emotional. My marathon time is 3:38 - reasonably fast for an amateur, but nothing blazing. ~8 minute pace. I know that getting that time faster is 100% about my commitment level. I know I could be faster, but I just don't want to invest the time and pain in it. I enjoy running, but I'm not trying to be super competitive. So I think it is emotional for 99.9% of people. Only those .1% of people you mentioned are hitting the physical limits, as you said. In other words, I agree with your facts, but I think the interpretation is wrong (or I'm misunderstanding). The key ingredient is the willpower, the consistency, and that comes from an emotional place.

ErikAugust 9y ago
It may be semantics - I think I agree with your statement. The desire to not only know what it takes to be great, but to execute on that has its origins in emotion, at least. There has to be motivation for it as it's obviously not necessary to survive, haha.
rimliu 9y ago
I walk a marathon in about 6 hours and 12 minutes. Do you run it in 12 minutes?
proee 9y ago
Well then I'm sure it's frustrating when a professional who runs a Marathon in close to 2 hours, hears you say the same thing.
- LeifCarrotson 9y ago
  I'm no 2-hour-marathon pro, just a has-been mediocre collegiate runner, but there's some understanding of the effort levels and dedication that are required, no matter the accomplishments. But there are runners, and there are joggers, and there are joggers that call themselves runners and post "26.2" stickers on their cars. By analogy, there's a difference between an HN celebrity, someone who does programming for a living at a typical skill level, and someone who claims to be an engineer - but cannot complete FizzBuzz.
  - proee 9y ago
    Perhaps, but from my own personal experience, I missed out on some big entrepreneurial opportunities because I considered people below my skill level to be insignificant. The Arduino platform came out years ago, and I continuously dismissed it because I did not consider it a "real" embedded development platform. Yet, the platform exploded and lots of neat things resulted from the platform. In hindsight, I should have embraced the platform and realized that not everyone is a professional hardware designer. Now that my outlook has changed, if someone tells me they used an Arduino, I'm going to refrain from judgement and instead look at the bigger picture of who they are and congratulate them on taking the first step into hardware.
  - mnm1 9y ago
    I'd hardly compare someone jogging a marathon to someone who can't complete FizzBuzz. There's no way in hell most people who aren't in shape are even going to walk that, let alone jog 26.2 miles. It clearly takes a lot of training to jog, run, or even walk a marathon. Some people are slow. That in no way detracts from their accomplishment or the work they have to put in to get there. I'd say the winner of the marathon and the jogger accomplished pretty much the same thing. As long as they fulfilled their own goals--some of which might not include a set max time goal--the finish time is irrelevant.
  - bitexploder 9y ago
    Marathons are harder for people who run them in 4 hours (assuming they tried as hard as they could). They are on their feet longer, and have to coerce their mind to push that much longer. It is just a different race for mid and back of the packers. Further, training is much the same. You might run 50-60 miles in a week because you can go faster. A slower runner might dedicate 30 or 40% more of their time to achieve that many miles. It takes the same mental effort to run at a 4 RPE (RATING PERCEIVED EFFORT on a scale of 1-5) as it does for an elite. The elite just has genetics on their side. I used to feel much the same way you do, but truly those "joggers" slogging out a 4 or 5 hour marathon giving it their all after months of running 9+ hours per week. They are runners too. Ultras are also far less populated by folks with an elitist running mentality. It is more about being in nature and a personal journey, which is why Ultra appeals to a certain crowd. Olympians and the guy down the road have more in common with their running experience than not.

ErikAugust 9y ago

It may be semantics - I think I agree with your statement. The desire to not only know what it takes to be great, but to execute on that has its origins in emotion, at least. There has to be motivation for it as it's obviously not necessary to survive, haha.

rimliu 9y ago

I walk a marathon in about 6 hours and 12 minutes. Do you run it in 12 minutes?

proee 9y ago

Well then I'm sure it's frustrating when a professional who runs a Marathon in close to 2 hours, hears you say the same thing.

LeifCarrotson 9y ago
I'm no 2-hour-marathon pro, just a has-been mediocre collegiate runner, but there's some understanding of the effort levels and dedication that are required, no matter the accomplishments. But there are runners, and there are joggers, and there are joggers that call themselves runners and post "26.2" stickers on their cars. By analogy, there's a difference between an HN celebrity, someone who does programming for a living at a typical skill level, and someone who claims to be an engineer - but cannot complete FizzBuzz.
- proee 9y ago
  Perhaps, but from my own personal experience, I missed out on some big entrepreneurial opportunities because I considered people below my skill level to be insignificant. The Arduino platform came out years ago, and I continuously dismissed it because I did not consider it a "real" embedded development platform. Yet, the platform exploded and lots of neat things resulted from the platform. In hindsight, I should have embraced the platform and realized that not everyone is a professional hardware designer. Now that my outlook has changed, if someone tells me they used an Arduino, I'm going to refrain from judgement and instead look at the bigger picture of who they are and congratulate them on taking the first step into hardware.
- mnm1 9y ago
  I'd hardly compare someone jogging a marathon to someone who can't complete FizzBuzz. There's no way in hell most people who aren't in shape are even going to walk that, let alone jog 26.2 miles. It clearly takes a lot of training to jog, run, or even walk a marathon. Some people are slow. That in no way detracts from their accomplishment or the work they have to put in to get there. I'd say the winner of the marathon and the jogger accomplished pretty much the same thing. As long as they fulfilled their own goals--some of which might not include a set max time goal--the finish time is irrelevant.
- bitexploder 9y ago
  Marathons are harder for people who run them in 4 hours (assuming they tried as hard as they could). They are on their feet longer, and have to coerce their mind to push that much longer. It is just a different race for mid and back of the packers. Further, training is much the same. You might run 50-60 miles in a week because you can go faster. A slower runner might dedicate 30 or 40% more of their time to achieve that many miles. It takes the same mental effort to run at a 4 RPE (RATING PERCEIVED EFFORT on a scale of 1-5) as it does for an elite. The elite just has genetics on their side. I used to feel much the same way you do, but truly those "joggers" slogging out a 4 or 5 hour marathon giving it their all after months of running 9+ hours per week. They are runners too. Ultras are also far less populated by folks with an elitist running mentality. It is more about being in nature and a personal journey, which is why Ultra appeals to a certain crowd. Olympians and the guy down the road have more in common with their running experience than not.