Marathon Coverage from The Chronicle
I'm just about ready to complete year two as a runner. (One and a half, actually, since I didn't get serious until the summer of 2003.) Anyways ... I think I can voice an opinion about the Chronicle's coverage of this year's hp Houston Marathon.
First, let me be real clear about this: Any coverage is better than no coverage!
Today's story about United Space Alliance employee Stephanie Turner, a part of the training team of the STS-107 [which broke apart during re-entry almost two years ago] who is running her second Houston marathon to honor the crew, draws an A+.
Although the Chronicle's lead off story on Sunday to its 2005 coverage was decent for the uninformed or non-runner [overall score: B], I really object to Dale Robertson writing this article. I think Roberta MacInnis, a runner and HARRA member, would have been more suited for this piece.
Why? Robertson's piece is a fluff job. Is the Chronicle trying to sell all the people that will forget about the street closures and who will flood their e-mail boxes with letters about those of us who will push the 5-hour envelope to complete the course? It would seem that way.
I think the serious runner knows that Houston isn't Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Boston. Don't even attempt to make the comparison. The big table in the middle of the article, pointing out the number of finishers (Houston's 4,699 in 2004 to LA's 17,306 two months later in March), will only serve as fuel on the fire for the event's detractors.
"Each of the more than 16,000 total runners expected to run/jog/walk/stagger/crawl all or portions of the 26.2-mile loop ..."
Ok, leave the stagger and crawl portions out! Again, a runner writing this story, like MacInnis, would never bring those two words up. Realistically, this only occurs near the finish line but lumping the words together with run, jog and walk gives credence to the long-time runners who fear that the influx of walkers and adult-onset athletes will one day force Houston to keep the course open for up to 8 hours.
Again, why feed the negative stereotypes?
Some other sticking points:
+ hp Houston Marathon is not the "peoples' marathon". I've always believed this to be the Marine Corps Marathon's slogan but it is one that even the folks at Disney, run this past Sunday, are trying to capitalize on.
+ "Most races give you an apple and a banana and say, "Thank you very much,' " says Karpas. Again, I would disagree. At least not at the two races that I have been to that are larger than Houston -- the Indianapolis Mini Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon. I never felt that way. I think it is a pretty disingenuous comment. Certainly, I can take one item [let's say, a finisher's medal ... Houston doesn't even compare to Indy or the MCM] and make a case to support my argument, but it's not about being adversarial. I think more qualification needed to be put into Karpas' quote. Maybe compared to 5Ks and 10Ks, but certainly not to other marathons.
One good thing about the coverage? A listing of the street closures! Let's hope they put it on the front page on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe this will stem the tide of the letters to the editors on Monday morning.
First, let me be real clear about this: Any coverage is better than no coverage!
Today's story about United Space Alliance employee Stephanie Turner, a part of the training team of the STS-107 [which broke apart during re-entry almost two years ago] who is running her second Houston marathon to honor the crew, draws an A+.
Although the Chronicle's lead off story on Sunday to its 2005 coverage was decent for the uninformed or non-runner [overall score: B], I really object to Dale Robertson writing this article. I think Roberta MacInnis, a runner and HARRA member, would have been more suited for this piece.
Why? Robertson's piece is a fluff job. Is the Chronicle trying to sell all the people that will forget about the street closures and who will flood their e-mail boxes with letters about those of us who will push the 5-hour envelope to complete the course? It would seem that way.
I think the serious runner knows that Houston isn't Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Boston. Don't even attempt to make the comparison. The big table in the middle of the article, pointing out the number of finishers (Houston's 4,699 in 2004 to LA's 17,306 two months later in March), will only serve as fuel on the fire for the event's detractors.
"Each of the more than 16,000 total runners expected to run/jog/walk/stagger/crawl all or portions of the 26.2-mile loop ..."
Ok, leave the stagger and crawl portions out! Again, a runner writing this story, like MacInnis, would never bring those two words up. Realistically, this only occurs near the finish line but lumping the words together with run, jog and walk gives credence to the long-time runners who fear that the influx of walkers and adult-onset athletes will one day force Houston to keep the course open for up to 8 hours.
Again, why feed the negative stereotypes?
Some other sticking points:
+ hp Houston Marathon is not the "peoples' marathon". I've always believed this to be the Marine Corps Marathon's slogan but it is one that even the folks at Disney, run this past Sunday, are trying to capitalize on.
+ "Most races give you an apple and a banana and say, "Thank you very much,' " says Karpas. Again, I would disagree. At least not at the two races that I have been to that are larger than Houston -- the Indianapolis Mini Marathon and the Marine Corps Marathon. I never felt that way. I think it is a pretty disingenuous comment. Certainly, I can take one item [let's say, a finisher's medal ... Houston doesn't even compare to Indy or the MCM] and make a case to support my argument, but it's not about being adversarial. I think more qualification needed to be put into Karpas' quote. Maybe compared to 5Ks and 10Ks, but certainly not to other marathons.
One good thing about the coverage? A listing of the street closures! Let's hope they put it on the front page on Saturday and Sunday. Maybe this will stem the tide of the letters to the editors on Monday morning.
posted by WalkSports.com | 5:47 PM
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