Re: Annoyances
 

That won't work. He'll have to get a whole new wardrobe.

TM

Re: Madness
 

I don't get that either. If they actually enforced only elites at the front they don't even need a stagger. the real problem with that would be for the next group. they'll be pissed that they lost 10 seconds at the start.

Re: Annoyances
 

plus a second woman.

Re: Annoyances
 

2. Tell her the truth. She's an adult. Don't stay in something just to spare her feelings, and don't keep stuff from her because you think it'll hurt her. There's no point in staying in this thing if you're not into it anymore.

Re: Madness
 

I don't understand why the elites start any minutes before. As long as they have their own corral, no one will catch them. And so what if they do? Both Chicago and Boston use the corral system. I usually cross the start line 45 seconds after the elites start (not because they hold you back, but b/c everyone jogs up to the start line, and it just takes time for each corral, which is crowded before the start line, to make its way up there).

It makes sense for the elites to start a few minutes earlier in triathlons, but not for running races.

Re: Madness
 

So they don't have 50 Coltranes mugging into the camera for the first 100 yards while they lead the marathon?

TM

Re: Madness
 

Exactly. I finished in the top 2% of finishers in 2002. And I would only be able to keep up with the true elites for one mile. They are so many levels above even a decent amateur runner.

Re: Madness
 

Chip timing.

Re: Madness
 

Well, with corral starts, those people would still have to catch them. If they have a 30-45 second head start, I don't think anyone is catching them, even sprinting.

But yeah, that was definitely part of my plan: to wave at the cameras and get my name in the paper as the leader through two miles.

I never said it was a good plan.

Re: Madness
 

Isn't that the same problem? It's fine for an "unofficial" time, or even qualifying purposes, but you're back in the same situation if you use it for determining the winner.

BTW, I thought Boston now sent off the elites, or maybe it's the elite women, 1/2 hour earlier.

Re: Madness
 

Yeah, but even with chip timing, isn't the "winner" determined by the time from the starting gun, not the time that the runner crossed the sensor at the starting line?

*Hank caveat: I've run a grand total of one (1)** half marathon in my life. I believe my chip crossed the starting line 4:45.7 after the starting gun went off. In order to "win" I would have had to shave off 4:45.8 from the time of whoever came across the finish line first. Since none of this is ever, ever going to happen, I've never really thought about it much.

**I just started training for my second, which is in about three months.

Re: Madness
 

One issue: if you use chip timing, it's probably very tough to monitor non-elites to see whether they are cutting through alleys or otherwise cheating a la Rosie Ruiz.

I last ran Boston in 2004, so it may have changed. Actually, the elite women may have started early then, too, now that I think about it.

Re: Madness
 

Doesn't the same problem exist without chip timing? I'm pretty sure Rosie wasn't chipped.

Also, aren't there random/hidden chip test points to prevent the Ruiz problem?

Re: Madness
 

But Rosie ran before they had designated "elites" at races. That's probably one of the reasons why the elites get their own start corral/wave. So they don't have to monitor thousands of people. I wasn't saying that chip timing prevents cheating. Rather, I meant that creating an elite corral/wave does.

Chip timing actually allows non-elites to compete against elites, just like our Arien did. I don't think chip timing solves any of the problems; I was just commenting on Hank's post that the non-elites "lose 10 seconds" because a later start. They don't.

I think all of the time points are open and obvious (and labeled as such).

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I want out. Someone make it stop.