Weekend WTF: The Louisiana Marathon

Friday's Runner's World Daily post clued me into a piece of clever marketing from the folks at the Louisiana Marathon. They've put together a list of signs of running addiction:

While I recognize this is just a bit of cheeky marketing, I have a few quibbles with it.

First, these are not signs of running addiction, they are signs of racing addiction.  Notice how each of the 10 refers to racing?

I know plenty of folks who run daily but rarely if ever race--the runners you see in the park every morning at the same time, logging miles rain or shine, in extreme heat or in a blizzard. They are likely prime candidates for a real Runners Anonymous, true running adicts.

Now that I've clarified that little detail, I'd like to go through some of the individual "signs."

1. Are you signed up for more than one race right now? Umm, yes. At least here in NYC, you have no choice but to sign up for races months in advance. That means at any given time, most members of the local running community have several races on their calendar though we may be talking about an entire season.

2. Do you start to feel down if you haven't run a race in a very long time? I made that question better. The answer is now obviously yes.

3. When asked about your racing from non-running people, do you find yourself talking with great passion to the point that the person that asked the question regrets ever asking? This is rookie mistake. The true running addict has his addiction under control to the point where he can hide it from others.

4. Do you plan all your vacations around a race? No, but I plan races around my vacations.

5. Are your closets and dressers filled with race t-shirts? If you've been racing long enough, you've learned to dispose of crappy race tees or perhaps you've turned them into a Race Quilt.

6. Do your thoughts switch to the next schedule race immediately after finishing? No, my thoughts switch to pizza, nachos, and beer proper post-race nutrition immediately after finishing. I don't start thinking about the next schedule race until at least a few hours later.

7. Has anyone ever asked if your running buddy is your significant other? I can't commit to just one "running buddy."

8. Have you run out of room on your medal rack for your medals? My medal rack is a large shoebox under my bed; it still has lots of room.

9. Do you drool at someones medal and immediately sign up for that race? Why this stupid obsession with medals?

10. Have you run races on back-to-back weekend or better yet, on back-to-back days? Back-to-back weekends? I think I did two 5ks 8 days apart once. Back-to-back days? No--only someone who doesn't care about his performance would run races on back-to-back days.

Alright, so I think I have proven that I'm not a race addict though I may be a running curmudgeon.