What’s in a name? We need to call races something else.

I’ve done tons of races.  From the 40 yard dash, all the way up to a full marathon.

Fire bad!

But I think we need to make a change. And so I totes wrote an original poem about how I’m going about it:

*I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror.  I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways. And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer. If You Wanna Make The World A Better Race Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change.  Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na, Na Nah*

*©~piratebobcat

I’m in a race.

When I was training for the Disney Dopey Challenge I started wondering.  That’s what happens when you run a lot of miles – you have time to think.  I started wondering why only the ‘Marathon’ has a real name.  As in, “I’m running a marathon.”

And a TBT race.

Now there’s also the half marathon.  And that makes sense because it’s half the distance of a full marathon (coincidentally).

Doin work son.

But what about our other most common races?  The 5k, the 10k, the 15k, the 10 miler, etc.  Why don’t they have names?  Why do we call them by their distances?  Why don’t we call a marathon a “42.195k?”

Trailblazing.

Most of us know the story of the ancient Greek soldier who ran the first ‘marathon’ to relay the news of their victory in battle.  Phidippides supposedly ran just about 26.2 miles to the plains of Marathon to tell the tale, then promptly died.  So yes, that makes sense that we’d call it a marathon since there’s a story behind it.

But what about a 5k?

At a recent Relay Race – We’re totes synchronized.

I did some research and according to the experts at Wikipedia, it’s loosely based on a race from the ancient Olympics called a Dolichos.  Which was about the same distance.  Ok, then, let’s call a 5k a Dolichos.  Deal?

Battle of the lobster backs.

What about a 10k?  Well I couldn’t find crap about it’s history other than it first appeared in the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912.

Running a race with my sis.

Since we name the Marathon after the area it first happened, then maybe we should call the 10k a ‘Stockholm’?

I finished this race despite only having one leg.

But then what about the 5k? Do we call it a ‘half Stockholm’?  Or is the 10k a ‘double Dolichos’?  I think I like the latter better.

Running all the miles.

I still have more research to do about the other random distances, but I think we’re off to a good start.  Until then, I’m getting ready for a Double Dolichos next week.  Bring it!

How bout you?  Any inside info as to why races are called what they’re called?  Any ideas for new names?  Anyone have a Dolichos coming up?

-Scott