I completely understand what you're getting at, and I generally agree. However, for certain people who might be described as having "no business" at a race, th

I completely understand what you're getting at, and I generally agree. However, for certain people who might be described as having "no business" at a race, the longer races are going to lean more heavily on a will to complete the distance than an ability to maximize performance. I would guess that for some people (certainly me when I was starting out) their 400m pace may not be that far off from their marathon pace.