Fast runner, high-school classmate, and recent correspondent JWG observes that triathletes and marathoners he has met seem to be extraordinarily friendly people. He speculates that part of that cameraderie might be the "shared suffering" that they experience.

Maybe so. I've seen the same happy attitude, the same helpfulness toward newbies and wannabes, and I agree with JWG—but beyond a brotherhood (and sisterhood) of pain, I suspect that big factors contributing to the fellowship of marathoners and ultrarunners with newer, slower participants in their sport might be:

• they can remember how it felt for them when they were just starting out;
• they can anticipate getting slower themselves as they get older, face injury, etc.; and
• above all, they know that there's virtually no money to be made in distance running—so there's no need to be negative toward potential competitors.

TopicRunning - TopicLife - TopicPersonalHistory - 2005-08-11

(correlates: PartOfTheProverb, GrayGreenGap, RunningOnTheSun, ...)