Secondly,when you tell someone great job,you are comparing them to nobody.You are just acknowledging THEIR effort.Why does someone deserve less praise because they aren't as young or as fast as the next person? I don't understand your reasoning.

I run with a big club in SoCal and we have elites and Olympic qualifiers that run times I will never see in this lifetime.The majority of our members are just average runners,working hard for their own PRs.Yet our elites are true runners with no ego,because they encourage all of us to do our very best and never make anyone feel less for their accomplishments.

I once heard somewhere that a real runner will never ask you what your time was.

And it sounds like you need a hug-you are too full of yourself.

And how do you know that everyone that runs in a race puts forth a great effort? Is it possible that they didn't? There are teachers, lawyers, doctors, salesmen, football players, ect. that perform their job and don't do it great or put forth a great effort. Are runners any different? Running a slow time isn't great and running a fast time doesn't make you brave. Your just a person running down the street. You're not curing Cancer or fighting fires.

Congrats on the effort in your race. Sounds like you put forth a great effort.

But hey, I'm just a jerk who's full of himself that has to much time on his hands so he can respond to your posts. Most people that resort to insults in a discussion/arguement usually don't have much of an arguement. Sorry to all the people for getting off the topic.

Maybe the people who think that mp3 players should be legal can tell me this. Just because you run responsibly w/ an ipod, does that mean that most people do?

You took an opportunity here to really diminish what some are SO proud of, what keeps people motivated to stay active and give it their best shot, and this was just a discussion of iPOD use. I've never posted here before and just happened to click on this topic because it was a real source of conflict for me when getting ready to run the MCM (to use an iPOD or not) - but I felt the need to respond because. . .well. . .as a 12-minute miler in long distances who dropped to a near crawl at the end of the marathon. . .I took it personally! And I'm not even that sensitive.:8}

FOR THE REAL TOPIC: I actually asked for advice from more experienced runners before running the MCM this past October. I train with an iPOD and, as a woman who mostly runs alone, I keep it only at a volume where I can hear what's going on around me. This is no different in races. While I am very social at the start and finish, I am not chatting it up with fellow runners during the long haul for the most part. Heck, I'm just trying to breathe and stay mentally focused while my muscles are planning their revolt. I stay to the right edge because I know I'm a slower runner, but there have been times even WITHOUT the iPOD that I haven't heard people coming up behind me. I agree with the safety issues, but as others have stated here, an iPOD just seems to be one asset in a portfolio of potential safety issues. If safety is the reason for the rule, perhaps we should look at any data that's available regarding incidents of injury/death related to in-ear electronic devices or diminished hearing capacity (whether from deafness or earmuffs). And, if I recall from the USTAF rules, it doesn't really state WHY they prohibit them, does it? I think the thread of this whole discussion board points us down a path of recognizing the need for general courtesy when running races (and, face it, in any of life's activities, there are people who just don't get the concept of courtesy - even in blogs/message boards, for example) and being accountable for your own safety. I'm sure there are also antiquated reasons such as sideline "coaching" through headphones, but I'm not sure. I'd love it if just as a recreational runner, I'd have the option of wearing or not. So far, I haven't been pulled off any USTAF sanctioned course for having the earphones in and letting "Born to Run" help me make it up a tough hill, but I hate breaking the rules to do it. I'd love to hear the real reason and see some flexibility here so we don't have to break the rules to maximize our enjoyment of a run (if running to music/books is what helps that).

As for the ipods. I've heard that 10% of the people cause 90% of the problems in most situations. I think that most of the rules regarding safety are for the 10%. We had a race director tell us the reasons for the ipod ban. He was called a couple names for it. I would think that the safety issue is there more to protect the directors of the event from possible lawsuits. I think that we all know what a litigious society we all live in.

BTW, to runner 951. In my run club when we disagree w/ someone we don't call them names (like jerk). I guess all run clubs are different.

Again,apologies for my comment earlier.