This is really nutty.

[Conor Dary]

Apparently these mud races are the new thing. Looks pretty idiotic to me.

I guess this is what happens when you are in a profession that has little social value, but makes you gobs of money. And of course the pressure that comes with it.

• “Having competed in both, triathlons are boring and road races are even more boring,” he said. “Tough Mudder is the only chance for a guy like me to feel like King Leonidas.”
  
  That is no accident, said Dr. Robert Heasley, a sociology professor at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the president of the American Men’s Studies Association. “Obstacle courses like these are the physical representation of masculinity, which is lacking for people like lawyers, doctors, bankers and others in softer careers,” he said. “By associating themselves with the military and military training, these men are becoming masculine by association.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/fashi ... wanted=all

[gm]

Re: This is really nutty.

Sounds like fun to me. Love seeing people overcome obstacles and water and mud. Like, say, cross country, steeplechase, hurdling and high jump...

Which professions, pray tell, have "social value" in your little world?

[Conor Dary]

Re: This is really nutty.

Sounds like fun to me. Love seeing people overcome obstacles and water and mud. Like, say, cross country, steeplechase, hurdling and high jump...

Which professions, pray tell, have "social value" in your little world?

Definitely not Wall Streeters, which is what the article is about.

• Does financial innovation contribute to economic growth?
  
  That became a hot debate at the Future of Finance Initiative after former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker chastised the largely private-sector group for the timidity of its proposals, and said the ATM was the only financial innovation he can think of that has improved society.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 97134.html

And I will ignore your other typical nonsense.

[kuha]

Re: This is really nutty.

Ha! As a matter of fact, my brother in law spent an hour at Thanksgiving telling us all about competing in this very event. He is a Wall St hotshot and apparently did it (in theory for charity) with a group of executive friends.

[gm]

Re: This is really nutty.

Kuha -- did he seem to enjoy it?

Everyone I have talked to who has done one loved it, said it was great fun and super challenging.

[TN1965]

Re: This is really nutty.

"...an extreme obstacle course that is becoming the macho sport of choice for Type A men (and some women) who find marathons too easy and triathlons meh. "

Finishing a marathon might be easy, but racing one isn't. If they find winning their age group in the Rock'n Roll series "too easy," try winning their age group in Boston or NYC. How many of them would find that "too easy"?

And if they think they are tougher than Meb or Shalane because marathon is too easy, they are completely delusional.

[Pego]

Re: This is really nutty.

"...an extreme obstacle course that is becoming the macho sport of choice for Type A men (and some women) who find marathons too easy and triathlons meh. "

Finishing a marathon might be easy, but racing one isn't. If they find winning their age group in the Rock'n Roll series "too easy," try winning their age group in Boston or NYC. How many of them would find that "too easy"?

And if they think they are tougher than Meb or Shalane because marathon is too easy, they are completely delusional.

I am with you. Calling competitive marathon "easy" is beyond ridiculous. Even finishing it at a less than competitive pace is not "easy."

[Marlow]

Re: This is really nutty.

Calling competitive marathon "easy" is beyond ridiculous. Even finishing it at a less than competitive pace is not "easy."

Breaking 4 hours is commendable, but I think anyone under 3:30 (8 minute pace) is a very real (i.e., challenging) athletic accomplishment. Over 4 hours? Yeah, I could do that. :wink:

[ExCoastRanger]

Re: This is really nutty.

I don't know about these events being a "physical representation of masculinity," as there are plenty of women as well as men in my region who participate in them. My take is people do them less as a contest against clock or competition and more as a fun and social challenge against the obstacles. More than once I've seen costumes involved.

[Cooter Brown]

Re: This is really nutty.

These races are huge around here. There's a ton of different ones...Tough Mudder, Spartan, Warrior Dash, etc.

If there's two "sports" I wish I would've invented and cashed in on, it's these races and Crossfit.

[Conor Dary]

Re: This is really nutty.

"...an extreme obstacle course that is becoming the macho sport of choice for Type A men (and some women) who find marathons too easy and triathlons meh. "

Finishing a marathon might be easy, but racing one isn't. If they find winning their age group in the Rock'n Roll series "too easy," try winning their age group in Boston or NYC. How many of them would find that "too easy"?

And if they think they are tougher than Meb or Shalane because marathon is too easy, they are completely delusional.

This is right. The mentality these days is just going through the motions. Nothing on technique, speed or anything like just trying to go faster. All of these things that make running a joy and a never ending learning process, even after 44 years.

I see hundreds of runners where I live and it humorous watching them all plod by. Usually carrying a water bottle, as if they are going to collapse from dehydration any minute. At our town's fitness center, one of the guys who works there is in his 20's and already is running marathons, 50ks, etc. all at about 8:30 pace. He has some speed and I keep encouraging him to try some 5ks and go fast while he is still young, but it really is like talking to a brick wall.

And it is all the follow the herd. In the article there is a race that involves 2 hours of chopping wood. Paying an entry fee to chop wood? I do that every day. Split wood, that is.

The loneliness of the long distance runner back in the 60's is a joke.

Of course this has been going on for years. It just has gotten a lot worse lately. I remember an article Jack Foster wrote about 30 years ago about going giving talks at races and answering questions. A typical one would start with, 'I run 10 miles every day...' which Foster silly. No sense of variety. Just plodding through a marathon. Foster would tell people to enter races that they could race, like a 5k, instead of just finishing another marathon.

[scottmitchell74]

Re: This is really nutty.

The guys at my fire station want me to run with them in one in April. I refuse. First, because like many here I just thinks it's silly and fadish, but I also hate being wet, and especially muddy, when working out. I'll put up with running in even moderate rain, but no mud for me.

[Halfmiler2]

Re: This is really nutty.

As a point of information, USATF refuses to sanction them. I imagine they would pose insurance issues.

[kuha]

Re: This is really nutty.

Kuha -- did he seem to enjoy it?

Everyone I have talked to who has done one loved it, said it was great fun and super challenging.

He enjoyed HAVING DONE it, but saw it as something like a collective, for-charity, waterboarding session. There is absolutely a big macho, "can-you-believe-this" aspect to the whole thing. It's not any sort of "competition" as we normally would understand, but rather a kind of high-level Jackass/"I dare you" thing.