Really? Seriously?

I know that when I write on this blog I put myself out there for comments, attacks, challenges, etc.  Frankly, there are not enough people reading it to really care enough to comment but I welcome them anyway.  I also welcome comments when they are done in a constructive and friendly fashion.  Today's social world allows for anonymity and drive-bys so that people can be as mean as they want without taking any responsibility.  To me, a drive-by is where someone stumbles onto your blog, reads a few posts and blasts you without knowing anything.  I guess it's their right to do that.  On Saturday, I woke up to comments on two of my blog entries.  The first comment disputed part of an entry that I wrote on January 8.  I was making a point that running 12 mph is really fast (because I inadvertently hit 12 mph on a treadmill) and that today's top marathoners run at sub-5 minute pace for 26.2 miles.  Here is the anonymous comment:

"You're either bad at math or an over exaggerating liar!!!!!! "Top marathoners" don't run at a freaking sub 5 minute pace! For instance the Olympic gold winner from 2012 ran 26.2 miles in 2:07:20 which equates approximately to a 5:25s pace per mile dude. Anyways I like your stort until iread that as I hate added misinformation to an already littered world full of it. Good day sir."

So, let's decipher this message.  First, it was posted as anonymous which shows the cowardliness or insecurity of the remarks he/she is making.  Let's call the person a "He" as I am pretty sure it is a male making these remarks.  Right off, he attacks me, not once but three times in the same sentence - bad a Math, exaggerating and a liar.  Not only does he attack me but he emphasizes it with 6 exclamation marks, I guess 2 for each attack.  I will give him credit for not using the "F" word and substituting "freaking" for it.  He then calls me "dude".  If you are going to call me dude, use your real name because as this point, I think I deserve to know who you are.  I'm also not sure what a "stort" is and I think "iread" is not a word.  He completes his diatribe by saying that I "added misinformation to an already littered world full of it."  It's nice that we wishes me a good day, though.

OK, so let's look at the facts on pace related to his comment.  To run a sub-5 minute per mile pace in a marathon, the finishing time needs to be under 2 hours 11 minutes and 05 seconds.  Here is the image of the pace calculator from coolrunning.

Let's also look at the winner of the Boston Marathon, Meb Keflezighi's official result and please note his pace, that of 4:55 per mile in an official finishing time of 2:08:37.

So, now let me methodically describe the fallacy of this gentle-person's comments.  First he quotes the 2012 Olympic Marathon time which is fine but we marathoners know that the fastest times are not run on an Olympic course, fast yes, but not fastest, so quoting any Olympic time is not representing the fastest marathons.  Secondly, he equates a 2:07.20 finishing time with a pace of 5:25 per mile pace.  So let's put this time in the pace calculator.

What? This is a pace of 4 minutes 51.394517 seconds?  If my Math is correct, this is 8.605483 seconds per mile below 5 minutes. So, the finishing time he quotes is well below a 5 minute pace.  His quote of 5:25 per mile pace is roughly equivalent to the women's finishing times in major marathons.  In 2013, the women's winner in NYC was 2:28 and this year's Boston was 2:18.  Shalene Flanagan's time at this year's Boston was close to the 5:25 per mile remarked and she finished in 2:22.02:

Maybe he has a dispute with "top marathoners".  At Boston, the top 6 runners all finished in a pace below 5 minutes per mile.  I decided to look at the fastest marathon times of all-time.  MarathonGuide.com lists the 400 fastest marathon times ever.  This list only comprises 400 and the slowest of these 400 is 2:07:53, ironically, very close to the finishing time he quotes, which equates to 4:52.653158 per mile pace.

I guess this person should be hating himself because his comment has "added to the misinformation of an already littered world full of it."  I suspect that he also has limited marathon running experience, just doesn't have access to simple pacing calculators or doesn't understand world-class running (maybe running at all.)

I don't pretend to be the most grammatically correct writer or the most interesting writer but when I write with facts, I tend to do my research before I write a fact.  Instead of bullying, why couldn't this person do his research first, ask questions and come to a real conclusion instead of calling me a mathematically incompetent, exaggerating, liar!!!!!!

Days 164-167: 28 miles: 2014: 859 miles