Are Running Race Times for 10Ks and Half Marathons Slowing Down - Diet?

Not long ago, I was discussing the overweight nature of Americans after I read an interesting piece in a popular magazine which suggested that if we have American Males take off their shirts and stand alongside any other nations' males we not they are heftier, have more fat, and are generally just a little bigger on average (height). In the past being bigger and fatter was a sign of wealth, and maybe it still is to many in other parts of the world, but it is also a sign of wasteful eating and unhealthy living - that is to say - too little exercise and too much food.

Yes, let's talk because I feel as if you are sitting there nodding your head, but also thinking; tell me something I don't know. Okay then, I will and I plan on taking this conversation to a higher level. You see, an acquaintance asked me recently;

"Lance, I know that you have run lots of races so maybe you can inform me of why these stats are like they are. Amateur marathon runners seem to be slowing down and the median time rose 44 minutes from 1980 to 2011. The running "experts" are blaming "performance related apathy" among Millenials who they think believe racing against a clock isn't "cool." I wonder if it has something more to do with the additives in food or other issues than apathy as it seems if they didn't want to run against the clock they flat out would not run."

Yes, I've read the same things about slower times and millennials - I concur that is some of it. Specifically because times should be speeding up - better shoes for one - lighter head phones allowing people to run with music thus, forgetting pain or having to deal with the mental toughness needed to stay on pace. Still, I believe there is more to it. It takes focus, and people today have less attention span. Diets is another issue most people even runners have an additional 5 lbs. minimum, that adds time.

The final issue being the one that most have stated; I read an interesting piece in the WSJ weekend edition that addressed this same issue you brought up - I didn't buy all of it, but see that we are attempting to eliminate competitive thinking in our society in our schools and culture, it's amazing - even adults have no sense of get-up-and-go or stick-to-it-ness anymore. If something bad ever happens, most will just roll over and die instead of fight to survive. Too bad for them! Evolutionarily speaking "Weakness is not a human trait" and that's my position on this topic.

Also when it comes to running races if you have more participation, better marketing, and more people then you have more folks in the general population who are NOT runners, running, thus, that brings down the average - see that point - and also remember figures lie and liars figure. What I mean by that, is that it could be quite possible that someone doing this study for a social sciences class somewhere attempted to put in their own explanation of it all - rather than addressing some of the other issues I cited here in this article. Whatever the reason, I ask that you please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow. Lance also writes eBooks on all sorts of topics including this one, check out the selection.

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