Seriously speaking, stepping out of the crap talk for a minute.

I just posted a triathlon forum of how posers are viewed, and why people are called that and why it is used.

My uncle was a local endurance guy in the 70s and 80s, this is back when marathon running and cycling went through this huge boom. There was no internet to promote races or to know about races, and you had to really be a part of that circle, as well as going to cycling and running stores to know about races.

Back then, local athletes really competed and you had to have certain times in order to get into the races. You couldn't just register just to participate. It was similar to how the Boston Marathon still is. You have to have a qualifying time in order to participate in the Boston marathon ( which is why you have a lot of people lying and cheating about their time just to get in, instead of putting in the work.) This is why running times were so much faster for local athletes back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. In this age, The avg runner has actually gotten SLOWER. You would think that with SO many people hopping into these races, that they would be faster, quite the opposite.


Also, back then there were no participation trophies. You got a medal if you finished top 3, and a tshirt as well. There were no goodie bags, or race swag, etc. There were no posers.


Now, you have tons and tons of endurance events every week, with a participation trophy for everyone, constant photo taking and posting online, and slow, slow times. And you will see participants decked out with the latest gadgets and gear, and the industry is making millions from them. These events have moved away from substance over to a foundation of glam sports.


However, your local athletes or participants of substance are not posting photos with their participation medals, or times, or talking about it. They do maybe a handful of races a year ( because training takes time, and they are serious about it), they don't cheat or lie about their runs. They don't need to be decked out in the latest item or gadget. They go to the starting line, compete hard, finish, and continue on.



The main problem is that endurance sports have turned into huge campaign drives for some movement or motivation, which has really tainted the sport. So people are always saying I'm going to race for this person or run to heal the world, etc, and those are the people who have been caught cheating about their goals. It's like everyone wants to be seen as a champion, or be pictured as a warrior just to get approval or appreciation.


Every endurance sport has posers. In the races I would do ( except for track races...hard to have posers there, because you will get blown off the track if you are not serious), from 1 mile races to half marathons, there would be tons of runners in the corrals just taking photos of themselves, posing, and posting on facebook, etc. And most of the serious runners were usually in the faster corrals, and every last one of them would just roll their eyes, because it really diluted the event. In one race, I had to tell people to stop talking photos of the corral that I was in because my image was be captured as well.

so that's the whole perception of a poser, just in it for the recognition and not for the true spirit of the sport.


peace.