Episode 32: Stop Policing Other People’s Finish Lines: Someone Else’s Medal Isn’t Your Problem

The internet has been losing its damn mind over the LA Marathon shortening their course because of heat.

Suddenly everyone’s an expert on “integrity.”
 People arguing about medals.
 People deciding whether runners should even accept them.

Which led me to one very simple question:

Why the hell do we care so much about someone else’s medal?

Because if you look a little closer, this conversation isn’t really about medals at all. It’s about something that pops up in running all the time — gatekeeping, insecurity, and the weird obsession with suffering being the only thing that makes effort legitimate.

So today we’re talking about it.

In this episode we talk about:

• The LA Marathon course change and the internet meltdown that followed
 • Why running culture still has a serious gatekeeping problem
 • Why insecurity shows up so often in endurance sports
 • The strange suffering culture we glorify in running
 • Why race directors sometimes have to modify courses for safety
 • What a finisher’s medal actually represents
 • Why someone else’s finish line has absolutely nothing to do with yours

Running is not a zero-sum sport.

Someone else getting a medal does not erase your effort, your training, or your finish line.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey y'all, welcome back to Dirt Nap Diaries. I'm your host, Brittany Olsen, Trailrunner, Women's Trailrunning Coach, Hype Woman, and Professional Overpacker of the Midrun Snacks. This show is for the everyday trailrunner, the ones training on real-life legs and real life time. You've got work, relationships, laundry, pets, a group text that never shuts up, and maybe a big goal sitting quietly in the back of your head that you're not totally sure you're allowed to want. You're not out here chasing podium spots, you're chasing finish lines, sunrises, and maybe a little sanity. This podcast is about trail running. But it's also about the navigating life. The hard seasons, the joyful ones, and the ones where everything feels like too much. So let's get into it. Alright, but before we get into it, always a little bit of a life update, unless I'm really ranting. And today's a ranting episode, so get excited. Uh did a couple back-to-back runs this last weekend for Cocodona. They went really well. Uh, did five hours on Friday. Uh, that's my Verdi run. The first run will always be a Verdi run, which is like Cokedona. The first couple of days are Verdi. Um, and then after that, it gets a little more flat. Not really easier because you have so many miles on you, but um, so a lot of vert on Friday, and then yesterday three and a half uh more runnable my miles or more runnable hours, uh, not just three and a half miles. Uh so but it all went really well, uh feeling good. And then I worked an event out in Tempe today. I can tell you it raised funds for autism, and I was a lead bike and I did not lead anybody off the route, so yay me. Uh, but uh yeah, so this is not I don't work a ton of events in the spring, actually. They're normally in the fall, but uh I was like, I got up this morning, I'm like, oh man, after all that run, I'm gonna feel like shit. And I actually felt pretty good. So uh so now I'm here, uh about to actually take a nap and I'm gonna record this podcast. Uh excited for it because I'm gonna be a little ranty. I actually have like four or five episodes already ready to go. Um, and because when I think of things, I like to write stuff down. But uh because this has been all of the social media, uh, it's on my brain and it's making me mad. So we're gonna talk about it. So um this is really uh right around the whole LA Marathon metal mountdown that I'm seeing on social media. Uh for those of you who don't know, um I've seen a lot of your runners who are listening uh know about it, but the LM LA Marathon offered a shortened uh marathon course due to weather. Uh so about I think it's actually 18.2 miles from what I've heard. And it's going on today. So uh it might still be going on. I don't even know what time it started. So uh but they shortened just due to some hot weather, which as our uh climate gets warmer and warmer here, and it is they all um this could happen more often. Maybe it won't, who knows? But it is getting warmer and warmer. Um, the internet reaction was super, super immediate and super, super terrible. Uh people are exploding about it. They're like, oh my gosh, they're getting to finish an award. Oh my gosh, these are all these millennials, then they're participant awards, blah, blah, blah. I mean, just so you know, a medal is kind of a participant award. Just so, just so, you know, we're on the same page here. Uh, but people started talking about the credit integrity of the sport, the accountability. Somebody even went so far as said, well, like if Donald Trump like were held with for integrity and accountability, like he we wouldn't be where we are. And I'm like, what the hell does that have to do with giving a medal out at a finish line? It has nothing. I mean, people are going nuts right now. But people are saying runners shouldn't take the medal. People are saying it's like they're not being held accountable to the distance, all of these things. So just a lot of blown up over a little piece of metal. And just a little FYI, if you if you collect your medal, if you collect your bibs, that's totally cool. There is nothing wrong with that. That is your thing. That's okay. I don't even get my medal sometimes. I donate mine or throw them out or just give them to somebody, you know, like they're they're not they don't define me in my training. They're just a thing that I don't really keep around. Although when I see people's medals hanging out, sometimes like, oh, that's really cool. That's not the point of this. You can like your medal, and that's fine. It's about what people are saying about other people. That's the big problem here. So I just want to keep that clear. So my initial reaction was first of all, when I saw the weather was gonna be in the 80s and they were like, we're gonna uh shorten it due to due to weather. I'm like, man, I'm a Phoenician, you kidding me? Like, that's not hot, but like at the same breath, I do know that it's actually warmer, especially for LA. But that is very warm temps for people. So, like, part of me, like, of course I chuckle because I'm a Phoenician, but also it makes sense, you know. So, um, but then again, the the people furious about the medals, the people deciding what runners should do, the people policing other people's accomplishments. Literally, I've had seen people say, like, it's not an accomplishment if you only ran 18 miles. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, 18 miles is a long way. So, um, as we go through these ep this episode, though, we're gonna talk about like why people are so invested in someone else's medal. Um, why does someone else finishing 18 miles bother you? And what is about r uh running that makes people want to police the legitimacy? Like, there is so much policing and running. Um, we like to say that uh running is inclusive and it is not as an exclusive sport. There are many things, um, including cost, socio and economic status, just so many things. But part of it is because of how actual runners act, and I am not happy about it. So, and this is not just this is not just road running. I know we're talking about an LA marathon, which is a road run. Trail runners do it too. So just I'll call it out and call it what it is. Um, but running culture really has this weird thing where people feel like they're the finish line piece. Police, not peace. Uh so the finish line police, we're gonna call it the gatekeeping culture. I'll probably call it go back and forth between those terms, but just so you know, that's what we call gatekeeping. Um, so examples of gatekeeping are just like, hey, if you're not, you're not a real runner if you walk during a race. Uh you're not a real runner unless you run a marathon or a certain distance. Uh road races don't count, trail races don't count. The ultra, you hiked more than you ran. Uh, that pace isn't legit. Uh so it's basically saying if somebody does not run like you, they don't run a certain pace, they don't run a certain distance, they walk a little bit, um, whatever it is, if they do something that you don't think is running, you just tell them they're not a runner. Yeah, so it's bullshit, by the way. It's bullshit. But now apparently we're deciding which medals people deserve. So the LA Marathon organization, I don't even know who runs it because I don't pay that as much attention to road races, but they decided because of the weather that they're still gonna do the 26.2 miles and they're also gonna have an 18.2 mile course for people because of the heat. That's what they decided. That's the rule. That's called a modification. Let's talk about another modification before we really jump into the why behind this psychology of like people and their need to be uh for them to make the ones who get a medal if they do 26.2. So, so for modifications, we're gonna put it this way. So I don't know how many of you have ever uh seen an Iron Man or talked to anybody who's done an Iron Man, but sometimes those courses have to be modified. Uh many times, from my understanding, it is the swim, just due to like all of a sudden it rains and the water levels go up to a certain or above a certain point, and then they have to, you can't, you can't do the swim. You have to do you can only do the run and the bike. Sometimes you can't do the bike because it is raining, right? Or there's other dangerous conditions out there. So what happens whenever they cross the finish line? Because then it becomes a duathlon, they still get a finisher's medal. The course, the course people decided they were going to modify the course um due to dangerous conditions. But they, if you still decide to participate, you do a duathlon and you still get a finished award. And guess what? Those finishers' awards are not getting changed. They're not just saying, you know, run bike. That's not how that works. The medals have already been made, so they're not gonna get them remade. So that's a course modification due to dangerous conditions. This is what's going on with this marathon. The hit heat could get too much to people. People are known for pushing through too hard, they are trying to be risk-averse with that, which makes a lot of sense. Um, so this is the decision they have made, and that's okay, and they're not gonna get all new medals for that. Plus, there's always medals left over. People sell these medals on eBay. I mean, come on, guys, come on. Um, again, this will be a ranty one. I can't help it. But so I just want to say, like, there are other modifications that happen in other races. If you're not in the endurance world as much, I just work some different advantages why I hear about these things, but that's that's it. But the more like I've I've seen this whole conversation unfold, the more it stopped being about the LA Marathon. It just started being something about bigger and bigger for me. Um, because it does happen and running all the freaking time, like I said, like people deciding what counts, people deciding who deserves recognition, people deciding whose effort is legitimate. I mean, I've seen people just be like, oh, like, you know, like it really it that that that just there's no accomplishment there, no accomplishment. They didn't do anything. It's like crazy because most people who trained months and months and months for these, sometimes even longer, depending on like their ability as a runner and as a person. So, um, but when they really start to look at why this happened, a few things tend to show up over and over again. Uh, people started trying to define legitimacy because it creates order. And if you can draw lines around what counts, I'm doing the quotes in my in my fingers, um, then you know where you stand in that hierarchy. But running doesn't really work like that at all. This sport is messy. It really, really is road or trail. People come to it with different goals, different bodies, different reasons for being there. Period. That's it. Also, that because of all of that, a lot of people, a lot of gatekeeping comes from insecurity. When someone feels secure in their own effort, they usually don't spend a lot of time worrying about someone else's race. They really don't. But when identity is tied to performance, other people's accomplishments can start to feel like a threat to those people. Silly, but it is a thing. Um, and then there's a suffering culture. And just so you know, I'm gonna go into these a little bit deeper too, because I think this is very important to hit on. Um, endurance sports, especially. We love suffering stories. Um, but not even just endurance sports, sports in general love to hear. I can't even remember the gymnast now in the 90s who like broke her ankle and like won the gold, right? Or helped win the team gold. I don't even care. Whatever it was. And like there was so much praise for that. But then when Simone Biles, you know, took a mental health break, people were just dickheads about it. Not everybody. There were people who praised her too, but there were a lot of people who were just dickheads about it. So, like, we love a suffering story. It is what it is. But the harder it was, the l more legitimate it feels. The more miserable the experience, the more impressive the accomplishment. That's what we think. That's how we are as humans. So when something changes, like a race getting shortened, some people react like someone got away with something. Like they didn't suffer enough. They didn't do enough. They didn't do this like specifically as I would have done it. They took a medal that I wouldn't have taken had I had to like stop at 18 miles. So what we're gonna break down here then is um why people define like need to define legitimacy, that insecurity that I talked about in sport, that how their identity is wrapped in performance, and then the whole like I'm suffering more. So um, I'm not gonna go through this quickly, but I am gonna try to not make this a five-hour episode because man, with how I'm feeling right now, I could. I really, really could. So we're gonna start with the legitimacy of all of this. So there again is that weird sitting in sports where people feel like someone has to decide what counts. It's like running needs a governing body of internet judges deciding who earned something and who didn't. Uh, but running isn't some exclusive club. I mean, I just mentioned it was, but it's not supposed to be. It's not supposed to be this exclusive club where a few people get to decide the rules for everyone else. It's huge, it's messy, and it's full of people doing it for a million different reasons, and that's actually why it's super, super awesome because anybody should be able to do it. Able-bodied, I understand I'm not trying to be the ablest person, but if you are able-bodied and can do it and get out, like it's amazing what you can do out there. Again, not everybody has the access, which is very unfortunate, but like the whole point of this is like people are still trying to define the legitimacy of it, and there is no real, like, one reason why people are out there running these races. So sometimes they try to define it because it makes a sport feel more controlled to them. Um, if you can draw clear lines around that, like I mentioned earlier, then you know where you stand. But it doesn't work like that. There's weather changes, there's races that change, there's bodies that change, um, and the experience is different for every single runner out there. So, like, when people think about the legitimacy of a race, they only think a lot of people only think about the distance. You know, half marathon, marathon, 50k, 100 miler, um, 200 miler. That's what they're thinking about because they feel like they can control that. So instead of at least taking a step back and seeing what people have worked for to actually get there, and I'm gonna let you know, there are tons of people out there who I have seen bitching and complaining about this whole metal thing, and they will preach about, oh man, like the the race is just it's just one long finish line, like you've done the work to get there, like the effort, all that stuff. But then when it really truly comes down to it and they're bitching about this metal, they totally forget about the effort that it took for everybody to get there. So, all right, that's like trying for them trying to define the legitimacy of like all this bullshit. Um, then we have insecurity, which I think is a really, really big one here. Um, it comes from like when someone feels really confident in their own effort and their own accomplishments, they just don't spend that much time, like I mentioned, worrying about it. That's what we call secure people. Um, hello, you secure people. Um, but when somebody's identity is tied up about how they stack up against others, uh suddenly every other person's finish line starts to feel like a threat. And you can't control another person's finish line. You can control yourself in each and every moment, and when you're running, that doesn't even mean you get to finish. I've had a DNF, like it happens, but like all you can control is where you are. So you gotta stop focusing on somebody else's finish line. But instead of celebrating people's effort, which is what I was alluding to earlier, people start measuring it. They start deciding whose race counts more, whose suffering is more legitimate, whose accomplishments deserve more recognition. And that's when the whole conversation starts being outrunning and starts being about ego. I see so much ego on the internet, and I'm gonna talk about this in a minute of who I see it the most from. But there is a lot of ego when it comes to mini sports, but I've been seeing it more and more and running. And I have seen so many people just say, like, well, like I ran this fast of a marathon, so I worked harder than this other person. You do not know that other person's story. I mean, people are talking about, and yes, and I'm gonna bring this up briefly, you know, somebody had posted, and granted, she's gotten bullied way too much, but posted about the charity um bibs that Boston and New York. Well, hers is about New York, but Boston, New York, there's a lot of charity bibs into these marathons, and they do cost a lot, and it is a privilege to be able to get one of those bibs just because of how much you have to money you have to raise or come up with to do it. But like her whole point was like, I put all this effort into this run and I ran a sub three hour and I still couldn't get into New York. Well, that's not how that works. Just because you're faster does not mean you put in more effort. What about the person who has beat cancer and decided to run um run or race for a charity and raise money for cancer? That person has gone through treatments, potentially surgeries, all of those things, and probably worked hard to get to that start line and to that finish line. Like they are working very, very hard. Or the person who's grieving somebody who lost um their life to uh some disease that they are raising money for for that charity bib, and they are running through grief and they are trying to figure it out, so nobody else has to go through that, right? So they are working through things at the same time. So like people saying like sell celebr or saying effort is a measurement, it's not like it doesn't it you can't conflate those two. So that's part of the insecurity. Those people are so focused on what other people are doing instead of focusing on what they're just doing in that moment, instead of enjoying their own experience, which again it's kind of dumb. Um, but we're insecure for a reason, y'all. So if you're feeling that kind of insecurity, maybe go get some therapy. I've had it, it's good stuff. Um, I will probably do it again because you never know when you're gonna need it. But third point here identity wrapped in performance. So running can become a huge part of someone's identity. Um, it just happens, it can take over. I mean, I'm out there a lot, I'm a running coach and I and I run trails, you know, long races, but like there's other things out there. But for a lot of people, being a runner isn't just something they do, it's becomes how they see themselves. And when that identity is heavily tied to performance, pace, distance, or difficulty, it creates this fragile, fragile, fragile, fragile, fragile structure where validation has to come from comparison. So you're watching what other people are doing instead of just focusing on your own performance. If someone else can achieve something without going through the exact same experience you did, it can feel like it undermines your own story. Not because it actually does, because your identity identity is so tied to um the idea of that the version of you, like that's out there running, um, that like this is this is real. I'm the real one, like this is real. So then somebody else is not real because they haven't, they don't have your story. Your story's being undermined. So that's when people start protecting the narrative instead of celebrating the sport. And again, that's just a big, big, big, big, big issue. Um, and then lastly, the whole suffering more, which I mentioned earlier, like I won't I I keep mentioning Darren Swords, but it's it's it's everywhere. It's at work too, it's in life. You know, people have this strange culture, and we have this strange culture, especially in the United States, where suffering gets treated like a badge of honor. The harder it was, the more legitimate it feels. Uh, the more miserable the experience, the more impressive the accomplishment seems. So, and there are many times where people they are in pain. There are things that are happening where they should shut down a race and they do not. And it causes bigger issues in the future, or even they don't finish, they just keep pushing through, but they end up being pulled. Like, so the fact that like we are glorifying suffering so much when maybe we shouldn't be suffering, and you're like you're like, Brittany, aren't you in a 250 mile race? Yes, there's gonna be suffering in there. I mean, that's a different kind of suffering, but like there is different kinds, like where you are legitimately hurt, where maybe you're puking, where maybe there's just something really bad going on. But because we celebrate that suffering, um, and then if we celebrate and got to the finish line, we think we are more deserving. Instead of somebody who's like, I've got something weird going on, this is not good, and they pull the plug and people are not celebrating that. There are some people celebrating that. When I talk about people aren't or aren't doing things, it's normally the general, you know, the we'll say the general piece of it, more people are celebrating that suffering than what people are when they actually pull the plug and do the right thing. So when people see a race get short and our condition change, they sometimes react like someone did get away with something. Uh like they didn't have to suffer enough to deserve that same recognition. But the truth of suffering isn't the point of running, it's just something that sometimes happens along the way. Like it does, and it will the further you run, probably. Um, and it can happen in super short distance when you're pushing as hard as you can, but that should not take away from another person. And if the only way we validate effort is by measuring who's suffering the most, we miss the whole point of why people show up to these races in the first place. Like, that's it. Period. I'm gonna say period a lot in this, maybe too. I haven't decided. I was told today, hey Jeremy, that I say y'all um quite a bit in this in this podcast. So that's something that can't change. I think it just comes out of my mouth. So uh enjoy, enjoy it, y'all. Um, but once you see this pattern, these patterns of these four things, like defining legitimacy, uh, the insecurity, the identity wrapped in performance, and like that you suffered more, um, you're gonna see you're gonna just see that pattern over and over over. And that metal debate starts to look a lot less like a conversation about integrity and accountability, and a lot more people and a lot more um people, uh a lot more it looks a lot more like people who are like projecting those insecurities um and those legit and that legitimacy and all that suffering, right? So, how should running look? This part's gonna be a little bit brief because I've talked about this a lot, and because I think a lot of us know this, like it should be inclusive, everybody, everybody type, every single race, everything. It shouldn't matter. Running should be inclusive and it is not. Um part of it is gatekeeping, but there are other reasons too. But gatekeeping is a huge thing that keeps people from coming, coming out for a run, or even like or even like coming back if they've decided to come out. It is my strong belief that um endurance sports uh attract should attract everyday people doing hard like because it's about doing hard things and hard can look different from one person to another. I've been running for a while, and my heart is gonna look different than somebody else who's a brand new runner. Um, just like there's somebody who's been out there who's been out there, you know, 20 years, they're way faster than me and they've had more experience. That's gonna look harder too. But this should attract everyday runners, everyday people out here. Um But instead we have these weird, weird, these weird hierarchies that mean absolutely nothing except for the people who are insecure in that, who only care about performance, who act like they don't care about performance until something like this comes up. So, why do we feel the need to decide who belongs? That is a great question, Brittany. Thank you. Um, but before we like get into more in deep in that, I do want to talk about the people who I've seen complaining the loudest. And this is typical with anything um or any running complaints that I see. And please remember this is like a generalization. It is not every single person like this, but this is who I'm seeing it from the most. So the loudest complainers are rarely the elites. And I think I think like a lot of people think it's elites because with the hearing elitist, elitist is not the same as elites. Elitists to me are the gatekeepers of this. Um, and elitist are elitists for different reasons too, but um, they come from people who are very fast, but not elite fast. The one they're the ones whose identity is really wrapped up in being a serious runner, quotes again. And when your identity sits there, you start protecting it. So usually they're super fast recreational runners. Uh, you could see a lot of my C are like sub three hours. Yes, those are the people who have their times all over the place, so you know what they're running. Um, it could be a person chasing a B BQ time, and just so you know, people who are running the 18 miles cannot qualify for an award and obviously cannot qualify for another marathon, like that has those timing things, just so you're aware, okay. Um people who just strongly identify, like I said, being that I'm a serious runner. Like if you just jog, you're not serious. Um, I'm gonna let you know, joggers can be serious runners too. Because how people define joggers are people who are just running slower than them. So running is running. Um, and some people may not take their self so very seriously out there when they're running. And I've had a whole episode about stop taking yourself so seriously when running. So go and check that out, but it will be in the notes, in the show notes, so you can see that. Um, but yeah, they're kind of that again, the the middle tier. Just kind of like, okay, like you're not, you know, you're not you're not one of the slower ones, you're not one of the average runners, but you're not in that elite, you know, range of like, you know, 220 and below, 225 and below, whatever, to maybe even 230 and below, but you're seeing the two and a half to like three fifteens. They're the ones that are out there bitching about all this stuff. Um, and why do I say it's not elites? I'm gonna let you know, elites respect the work. Um, I'm not saying there's not one elite who isn't against this, but elites respect the work because they know what it takes to get to where even they got and they know other people are working hard too. They know that races change, they know that weather impacts things, they see all the challenges, they've been in the community, they know. I'm not saying None of them are gatekeepers again, but it's not the elites that are doing this. It's these just like everyday people who need some therapy. So, um, but when your identity is built around being that serious runner, like we're talking about, suddenly other people's accomplishments do feel feel threatening. Um, and also like it's not just even with the metal, like it's with like the Strava culture. Holy cow, like people will see what somebody does on Strava. People will look at people on like ultra sign up, which is where we sign up for a lot of our uh ultras, by the way, not even betrayal races in general and other ultras, but like people see other people's times and their ages, and like, oh my gosh, like I should be able to do that, or like they see on Strava somebody doing something, and there's so much comparison here. So, um, but again, I see it most from these, like they're not elites, they're not your average, they're just like fast, but not quite fast enough. So um, maybe somebody can break that apart for me. I didn't have time to do all that, but like it is, it's just an observ, it's just who I'm seeing complain the most. Um, okay, but let's let's bring it back. So what what does the metal really represent? At least how I think it represents. So, y'all, before you get to that start line, the work has already happened. You've tapered, you've done all the work, you've worked on your fueling and hydration. I hope, I really hope you have. You've done weeks, months of training. Maybe it's your first marathon, maybe it's your 50th, you know, maybe you start running marathons in your 20, maybe you're 65 and it's your first time running a marathon, but whatever it is, the work has already happened. Um, months of training, early alarms, maybe late alarms because you work a different shift, long runs, strength training. I've talked about fueling, juggling all of life's responsibilities, juggling work, juggling kids, juggling pets, all the things, you know, trying to figure out when you get a little pain in your knee, do I need to shut down or run? Do I need to go see my PT? Like maybe seeing a massage therapist. All of these things have happened, right? So the metal represents all the things that you have done to even get to the start line, in my opinion. So remember, and remember this, guys. Like, most runners aren't pros. They're parents, they're professionals, they're caregivers, there's people with full lives. Like they're squeezing runs into busy schedules, they're running tired, they're balancing responsibilities. We're trying to figure it all out without burning out. And normally that running time is our, I don't want to say it's our it's our alone time because it's not always, but it's time to like be away in a space that we love, whether it's with other people or whether it's by ourselves. So, you know, how many 20 miles do people do? How many early mornings, how many skipped social events, you know? Um, and I'm saying miles now. I know you guys know I run time on feet, but this is a road marathon. But, you know, how many miles even before race day? Like the the call of miles to get to even that race, like that is such a big deal. Like, that is what those metal represent is all the work that you've done out there. Um, the medal didn't start at mile one of that marathon or the first step of that marathon, it started months ago. Um, so so you may be thinking, like, people have done all the work and they still don't finish. Or, you know, maybe they finish and they feel like shit, that's gonna happen. Like, I had a DNF in September and I hate that I pulled the plug at mile 60 and I was so pissed off and I wanted to keep going, but I had been puking. I was seeing double, I had black spots in front of my eyes, I had a massive headache, all of those things, and I was like, this is part of it. Like, you suffer in endurance sports. Granted, I still pulled the plug, but it was very, very difficult. And part of that is the suffering that I mentioned too earlier. So why am I coming back to this? Because we're talking about like finishing this marathon, and the things that we celebrate is pushing through injury, collapsing out, finish lines, vomiting, heat exhaustion stories. I almost died, but I finished, right? You've heard that before, and people are like, oh man, yeah, cool, cool, cool. Why do I sound like a bro right now? That's just what I think they sound like. Um, but things we aren't celebrating, which I mentioned was like backing off, adjusting plans, listen to your body, smart decisions, all of those things. What's crazy though, the irony is someone running 18 miles, that is still so hard. Why is that? Why is there a debate about integrity on that? Like, it makes no sense. I'm really worried that people don't actually know what integrity means. So for me, like integrity it is. It's it's being honest. It's but it's like being honest about your effort and your actions. So, like, just because like someone running 18 miles, they get a finisher's medal. Yes, if they were like, hey guys, I finished my I ran 26.2 miles, and I did and like they didn't say they ran 18, of course that's a lie. I'm gonna let you know. I don't think too many people are gonna be doing that. That's just not a thing. They're gonna listen to their body, they're gonna run their race. Maybe they get 26.2, maybe they get 18.2, but they aren't lying. Like they're not lying. They are they're that they took the action that was allowed by the race, and they crossed the finish line at 18.2 miles and they got a finisher's medal for doing that. Period. There is no integrity debate there. There is nothing, nothing about integrity there at all. So, um, but then you have someone destroying themselves that equals inspiration. Like, why why is that okay too? You know, you've got David Goggins who's always like, stay hard, do this, keep pushing. That guy's got some fucked up relationships and probably a pretty fucked up body at certain times. Um, but why is that so inspirational to people? Literally, like, like email me, whatever. Like, I'm curious why why people find that so inspirational, because I do not at all, not in the least bit. But why do we glorify that suffering but care? Let's let's actually, you know what? Here's the question now that it hit me. Yeah, just hit me right now. Why do we glorify suffering but criticize common sense when it comes to these events? We know our body's shutting down, we know something's bad's happening, but why do we glorify suffering but criticize common sense? All right, you guys have to email me, whatever. Tell me about it, comment, do something, because I'm very curious now. Um, but here's something else that I'm gonna touch on it lightly because to me it's not this isn't the psychology, this is just what the race directors, the race organization decided to do. They're managing reality. Um, so like they do. They have to think about medical capacity, they have to think about emergency response, they have to think about hospital training, think about thousands of runners. Like for a trail run, like we do have a lot less runners, but there can be remote places to even get to, like that they can't get to right away, right? So they have to think about all those things. And for a road race, you have to think about how all of those runners that are out there. You also have to think about volunteers. Um, they can get hot out there, they have to be able to take care of themselves too. Uh, and then there's also the different safety thresholds for people. So there's and they have to, so that's like they think about all that, but then they also have to think about like the weather variables, the heat, the humidity, humidity. May I not have humidity here, I almost forgot how to say it. Um, just medical um incidents that can happen in the heat and humidity. They even have to think about the cold at times. Like, I don't think about that here, but like they have to think about all of these things. It's not just like they're here, like, let's just give we have extra metals. How can we give them all out? That's not the point. The point is keeping runners safe, and that is their job to do that. So be grateful for them. Um, and the reality is races sometimes change because of all those reasons. Courses get short and storms happen, safety decisions happen. And I'm not saying it's good, uh, and I'm not saying that the like whole when races have been cut short or people have messed up, like in the Atlanta, like half marathon, the USATF stuff, like that was a bunch of crap too. But I'm talking about sometimes shit does happen out there when it comes to all these variables and the fact that people are so focused on somebody else's race and how it impacts them is a dumb. So um, but like reroutes happen, aid stations um might have to be moved, cutoffs might shift, all of these things happen. So, what I'm saying is these race directors and organizations are doing their best to let these runners have an amazing race. The privilege of racing is so big, guys, but letting them have an amazing race while also being safe at the same time, that's a big deal. So it's not just they're like, oh yeah, like let's just give out medals. They thought about this. And they didn't say, hey, this wasn't like when people signed up, like, hey, if you come out and do 18 miles, like you're gonna get a medal. It's like, nope, like these are the race conditions, this is what's happening. We're gonna be thoughtful, and we hope that people listen to their bodies and not get hurt so they can run again another day. So running outside really just means conditions aren't always gonna be perfect, and racers and organizations have to make some decisions at times. So honestly, and probably the only reason this thing is like so big is because of social media. You know, if this happened years and years ago, this wouldn't have blown up like this, but now people are on there being assholes and their egos are so big that we have to hear about it, and now you have to hear about from my podcast because it made me mad. Um, but all right, let's talk about the metal itself. I am really trying to stay on my bullet points, y'all, because I could really I just wrote this right before I started because it was just on my mind. So um, let's talk about what it is. What is it? It's a symbol, it's a memory, it's a memento. I've already told you, I don't normally keep and I have a couple sitting around. I keep my buckles, by the way. But like, again, if you want to keep it, that's fine. But it's a piece of metal or plastic or wood, whatever that metal happens to be. I don't know what all are made of. Um, but it is like it's it's a memory, it's a memento, and it's cool. But what is it not? It's not proof of your worth, it's not proof of your suffering, it's not proof that you're better than someone else. Period. Oh, I said period again. But like that metal is not that at all. It is not. If a metal can take away from your work, you need to go talk to somebody about that. Because you got some insecurity issues, you got an ego issue, you got something going on that you need to work on, go work on it. Yes, I'm calling you out. Go fucking work on that shit. Because it somebody else getting a medal cannot take away from your or it can, it should not take away from your worth. Um, and it is not pro it's not it's not proof of your suffering either. You could have had a great day and got a medal, you could have had a terrible day and got a medal. Whatever. It doesn't matter, right? What other people are doing should not matter to you. And I'm gonna let you know, getting a medal does not prove you are better than anybody else. It proves you might have been faster than some people that day who did DNF, but that's it. That's it. So um, and you know what? Some people do frame their medals, some people throw them in a drawer, some people lose them. Um, some of them hang them up on a display, which I think looks really cool by the way. Um, some heck keep their bibs. None of that changes the effort. It doesn't. None of them changes the decision to pull the plug, none of them changes the decision to finish, whatever that is, none of that changes what went into that race, which is all the training, um, all the early, early wake-ups, late, late runs, fitting in two runs in a day because you couldn't get an entire long run in one day, all of that. It doesn't change that. A medal is a fucking little piece of whatever it's made of that that race, and that's it. So stop putting so much emphasis on it, first of all, for you, but then don't worry about other people getting a medal either. I'm gonna let you know I see a lot of people give their kids medals. Those kids didn't run that damn 26.2, but they got a medal, didn't they? How does that make you feel? So, and by the way, if that makes you feel bad, you get it. You gotta go talk to somebody. So, but really I hope you can see the heart of this message, the core of this message, is someone else receiving a medal does not erase your race, it doesn't diminish your training, it doesn't reduce your accomplishment. These people aren't like getting on the podium, these people are not getting a finishing time for a 26.2. And even if they did, it still doesn't impact you. Like, running is not a zero-sum sport, someone else's finish doesn't take yours away. Period. I don't know why people cannot get that, but the amount of arguments going on online will have consumed me a little bit too much, which is why I'm raging. But like, it's just dumb. So we gotta stop acting like all like this this medal matters so much. It is important for um just people in general, humanity in general, but for the inclusivity of our sport, like I would love the sport to be so much more inclusive, and it is not. And the more people see these arguments online, either whether it's non-runners or people who have been running for a while and have been thinking about like jumping into a race or maybe stepping up their distance, they see these things and it makes them start to question things too. So stop being assholes. That's what I'm asking. Stop being assholes, how about that? Um, so if you're an everyday runner here, you know, juggling life, training before work, squeezing miles into busy schedules, your effort matters, your race matters, and your accomplishments matter. Period. That's it. So even if the course changes, even if the weather shifts, like the race doesn't go exactly as planned. It's messy, life is messy, and showing up still counts. So running is already hard. Training is hard, life is hard, right now. Everything feels so much harder because our country is on fire and it's making other countries on fire and it's just a bunch of shit right now. But most runners are out there doing something incredible just by showing up and trying. And the idea that someone needs internet permission to feel proud of running 18 miles in a marathon race is honestly ridiculous. If someone trained for months, if they showed up, if they ran their race, if they paid their fucking money, by the way, they earn the right to feel proud of that effort. And if you're spending your time worrying about whether someone else deserves a medal, maybe the thing to examine isn't their integrity. Maybe it's why their accomplishment bothers you so much in the first place. Because running should not be about policing other people's finish lines. It should be about effort, community, and movement. And celebrating the fact that people are out there doing hard things. So if you ran that race, trained for months, and crossed whatever finish line was there that day, take that goddamn medal. You weren't it. And the internet doesn't get a vote. Alright. Share with a friend who needs to hear it. Screenshot it, tag me on Instagram, uh, send it to your training partner. Uh make sure you subscribed or you follow this so you don't mix mix uh miss the next one. Uh download it if you've got a minute or two, or love it if you could leave a review or rating. Um, that would be super, super helpful because it gets out to more people. Now, go move your body, drink some water, stretch your calves, and if you're listening while running, loosen your shoulders. You're welcome. Good effort, positive attitude.