Yesterday's article, Plodders, Slow Athletes and the Beauty of DFL, received over 2,000 page views in 24 hours. This is the largest number of page views I have received since posting an article on how, when we compare our training or results to other athletes, or even to ourselves on a different day, we rob ourselves of the joy that we get from training and racing. I posted yesterday's article to a triathlon Facebook group and two running groups and, while the article seemed to resonate with both the running and triathlon groups, the reaction from the triathlon group was very impassioned.
One reader wrote:
“This is so true! My first Sprint I was talking to another Athena and she was so scared of the swim and wasn’t going to do it. So we sat in the water watching everyone else prior to us and I basically talked her back and said the bike is what I am afraid of. That lady passed me on the bike and cheered for me and saw me while she was on the Run (whilst I was still on the bike 😣) and cheered for me from there! Triatheletes are super empowering and it is amazing!”
This sentiment was echoed by several readers. Another response:
“Yes! There was a lady at a local race that was REALLY slow at everything. When she finally made it back to T2, everyone cheered for her. She was the last and only person on the course, but she finished.”
This is entirely consistent with the triathlon spirit that I had observed and experienced at races in which I participated both as an athlete and as a volunteer. One reader pointed out that at her IRONMAN race in Santa Rosa, California, Mike Reilly, the famous announcer of IRONMAN races, comes down to the finish line from his announcer booth for the last hour to personally greet all the 16-17 hour finishers:
“At my IMSR [IRONMAN Santa Rosa, formerly Vineman] finish (16:25) I was whining about how if I could’ve pushed harder on the run I maybe could have finished under 16 hours when my 8yo daughter reminded me I wouldn’t have got to hug that guy (Mike Reilly) if I finished sooner because he only goes down to the shoot for the last hour or so.”
It is stories like this that motivate and inspire triathletes to endure the long training sessions for a full distance IRONMAN and have that chance to cross the finish line and have their name called out by an announcer, hopefully Mike Reilly, with the famous "YOU ARE AN IRONMAN" line. Although I have also witnessed a lot of camaraderie in the endurance running community, there is definitely something unique in my experience about the triathlon community.
Me and my close personal friend Mike Reilly at the swim start while volunteering at IRONMAN Chattanooga in September 2017.
Although IRONMAN is famous for imposing strict course cutoffs, there are still a ton of people waiting at the finish line for people to come down the chute past the 17 hour mark. These athletes will all get an official "DNF" (for Did Not Finish) in the race results but are greeted with huge cheers as they traversed the same 140.6 mile course like everyone else. And even at small, local sprint and international-distance triathlons, there is a lot of respect and cheering for the last athletes to come down the finisher chute. Even the fast athletes seem to know how hard it is for us slow athletes to finish these races.
Why the vibe feels different in running, I'm not sure. I've never seen an article in triathlon that criticized the slow triathletes, like I have seen in running. There is even a well know article in the New York Times, on how slow runners were ruining the sport of marathon. One article even blamed Oprah for ruining the sport of marathon. I think there is a sense that slow runners are, at best, tolerated by the marathon community because they add the numbers that increase the registration and, consequently, the revenue for race organizers. In triathlon, I feel that us slow triathletes are not just tolerated but are recognized for the huge effort we put in to being able to just finish a race that can transcends many miles and three sports (plus transitions and in-race nutrition).
One more quote from a reader that sums up my own experiences quite nicely:
“Very inspiring (& true article). I’m often the last person out of the water & out of T2. Every Tri I’ve done the Elites ALWAYS give encouragement (& show respect). As a runner I make it a point to always encourage those at the back of the pack because even the ELITES were once novices”
My podcast partner Josh and I will be recording the fourth episode of our podcast tomorrow and we will discuss our experiences of the differences between our triathlon and running communities when it comes to pulling out the stops to make slow and beginning runners and triathletes feel welcome and encouraged. Meanwhile, I would love to hear peoples' experiences on slow athletes in endurance running races and triathlons and welcome your comments below.