The 5K Has a Branding Problem: Is It Just a Stepping Stone to Longer Distances?
The Marathon has Epic Branding Named after arguably the greatest battle in ancient history and inspired by a guy who literally died bringing the message of victory back to his hometown. This is the ancient version of “Star Wars: A New Hope” where a nascent plucky ALLIANCE of Greek City States fights back against DARTH DARIUS and the EVIL PERSIAN EMPIRE. This is the stuff of legends. George Lucas himself wouldn’t have been able to write a better story. So, being able to run the same distance as the first guy? On some level, it means tasting a piece of that history. Where does that leave the other race distances? Half Marathon? Well, I guess only HALF the distance so only HALF as epic. But still. The name is there so you can still bask in the glory. 10k? it's a clean number. good enough. moving on 5k? it’s the starter pack of races. the "fun run", the "turkey trot" where people dress up as turkeys and Elvis and it’s all around a fun time . They even ...