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 have a "couch to 5k" training plan. The guy who's been sitting around on the couch doing nothing? Even that guy can do a 5k. This isn't where the stuff of legends is made. Most Americans can’t even imagine how far 5k even is. If you tell someone at the water cooler that you ran a 5k last weekend, the first question you’d get in return is “How far is that?”

“A little over 3 miles”

“Oh.”

For many runners, 5k is the starter race, the tutorial mission, the first rung on the ladder to get a taste of that epic marathon glory.

Once it's completed, many move up to longer distances.

That's what I wanted to talk about today. I want to make a case for staying at the 5k for a while.

Don’t Mistake Accessibility for Ease

Accessibility describes the floor – what it takes to get on the starting line and to complete the distance. Contrast that with difficulty – that is the ceiling. How hard are you willing to go?

For many 5ks, you might be racing with people dressed as turkeys, Disney princesses, Elvises (Elvi?) and at the same time also be running with someone pushing up against their redline for the entire distance. And for “guy on the couch” with zero training? Somewhere between the runners dressed as turkeys and freakishly athletic cross-country kids, couch guy is right in the thick of it.

The marathon, by contrast --- you’ll still see people riding up against their limits at the high end – but the effort floor is much higher since now there are cutoff times and significant injury risk if someone shows up at the start line without any sort of training. There are also significant transportation, hydration and nutrition logistics to plan for.

The difficulty ceiling for all distances is almost infinite. World class athletes tirelessly try to push the ceiling even higher.

Accessibility Means More Ways to Define Your Own Race

For me, racing a 5k is finding my redline and staying there without going over. My legs get heavier with every stride, I’m gasping for air, the back of my mouth tastes like blood, and I’m fighting to keep pace for the next hundred meters. It feels like a knife fight with the course.

it feels exactly like this

What if I lose the fight? Maybe I overcooked myself and blew up halfway into the course and had to walk it in?

The 5K might be intense, but it is also forgiving. If I fail, it’s ok! The recovery after a hard 5k effort might just be a few days. The shortened recovery time allows me to gamble with my efforts. I can continue to experiment with my redline and find exactly where that knife’s edge is on a hard track day. I can do repeats on the track and practice that feeling over and over again until I’m dialed in.  With programs such as parkrun, a 5k race is available for me for free every Saturday at 9am.

In contrast, a poor marathon performance means that training block is done. It will take a month to recover, and then another 16 weeks after that to build up for another marathon. That’s if there is another one in my area 4-5 months from now.

Don’t Tell Me What To Do, Watch Me Run a Marathon Anyways

That’s fair, and trust me, I’ve been there. The branding is too strong and it’s easy to get enamored with marathon glory. The Marathon Majors (e.g. the Boston Marathon) are iconic for a reason and are a bucket list race for many thousands of runners, me included.

I would argue that you’ll be a stronger marathoner if you get stronger at the shorter distances first. I fell into this same trap for years. Train for a marathon in the spring, bonk, then sign up for a revenge marathon in the fall. Bonk again, then sign up for another revenge marathon in the spring, rinse, repeat. Not developing my 5k speed cost me. After 3+ years of bonks, it wasn’t until I dedicated time to doing a proper 5k training block that I developed the resilience to finally break 4 hours in the marathon.

“Nothing new on race day” includes managing your body when it’s nearing its limit. I was only practicing that feeling 16+ miles into my marathon. By then it was too late and I was already spiraling.

Instead, racing shorter distances allowed me to practice those limits in a safer environment. Even though my marathon pace wasn’t anywhere near my 5k pace, pushing myself to my limit gave me more opportunities to understand how “hard” feels, and doing self-evaluations and making decisions to keep the wheels from coming off ¼ mile at a time. These extra reps came in real handy when I was 18 miles into my last marathon.

Don’t Tell Me What To Do, Watch Me Race What I Want, How I Want!

Fair. And that’s also the point. Don’t let the branding (or the lack thereof) make you feel like a 5k is the tutorial mission on the way to bigger and better distances. It’s not. A well run 5k is just as impressive as a well-run 42.195k which is just as impressive as a well-run 400 km finish at Moab.

If you’re more of the party pace type, all the distances are available to you. There are plenty of people dressed as turkeys and Elvi at the marathon start line as well. But again, you can party pace every week at your local parkrun.

Some events already have crazy stories and significance attached to it like the OG marathon or any of the majors. It’s easily recognizable and you don’t have to say much for people to be impressed. But what I hope is that the meaning you get out of any race doesn’t hinge on how recognizable it is in the world.

Whether it be a marathon major or a local free parkrun or even just you by yourself doing a time trial, the most important part of any race is the meaning you bring with you to the starting line.

That’s all I got for you today.

now go run

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actually I was wrong. I have footnotes

The "tasting blood" while running hard is a real thing. You can read about it here. But if you are actually bleeding or coughing up blood, then you should stop and seek medical attention. 

All distances are great in their own way. And it doesn't stop at just 26.2 miles. The Ultramarathoning scene is booming right now with races like Western States (100 miles), UTMB (a little over 100 miles) or even the Spartathlon (153 miles). More on the Spartathlon later. 

please check out https://www.parkrun.us/ for a local 5k near you. They are always free and almost always on saturday mornings