I just received the emails below regarding my post/email about Jacob who did a 9 hour bandit run at this year's Boston marathon.
"Wow! I’m appalled that you would support anybody who “participates” in an event as a bandit. That type of behavior should never be encouraged directly or even indirectly, and you just sent a message to the entire RaceAthlete community that suggests it is perfectly fine. I don’t care if you lost 300 pounds and did it on 1 leg, it undermines the whole challenge of QUALIFYING to run in one of the most prestigious sporting events in the world. Do you know why I haven’t run in it yet? It is because I have not EARNED the right to do so. Someday, maybe that dream will come true for me. But until then, I will continue to RESPECT the Boston Marathon, and respect the other participants – knowing that they would not want the integrity of the race cheapened by people who support bandit runners."
and this email
"I always look forward to raceAthlete news; reading the stories and seeing the results of hard work paid off. Unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed with 'Dead Last.' I found it both uninteresting and uninspirational.
It's sad that some fella is stealing both the thunder and the resources of people who have both earned and paid for the right to participate in Boston. There are countless other marathons he could've legitimately entered without any need for qualification. Why rain on the parade of those who earned the right to toe the line...
many who worked years to get there.
I've got more than 50 marathons in the bag (including Boston) and hundreds of triathlons (including Ironman), and at each and every one, I hear multiple, incredibly inspirational stories (some featured on your site) that touch my heart and keep me coming back for more.
Focusing on someone who went about it the wrong way isn't one of those stories."
FYI: I've omitted the names of the senders out of respect for their privacy.
But I have to say with all due respect that I completely disagree.
I'll give you one name to prove my point:
Kathrine Switzer or K. V. Switzer as she was registered in 1967 was the first women to do a "bandit" run of the Boston Marathon.
You may recall that for the first 75 illustrious years of the Boston Marathon women were not allowed to run the race because it was thought that their ovaries would fall out if they ran that far...or some such silliness.
In a well photographed moment in the history of the Boston marathon, race official Jock Semple tried to rip off Switzers numbers and eject her from the race.
So no...I don't worship at the feet of the Boston Marathon, or the Kona Triathlon, or any other race. If Jacob wants to run/walk/crawl the race in nine hours well after everybody has left the course I say...more power to him.
I have no illusions about the Boston Marathon. It is a lot of things, among them a well oiled business run for the benefit of a bunch of insider Yankee old men.
We need more Kathrine Switzer in the world today willing to bend/break the rules to show us the way.