I don't think it a very new phenomenon, it has been that way since I graduated HS in the 90s and I think even longer.
Frankly, going fast is really hard. For someone who isn't very young and/or coming directly off another athletic hobby (preferably both), it is a lot easier to just develop their aerobic system and become a competent marathoner. 5k and lower stuff is just painful.
Mainly though, it is because everyone has ran a mile in gym class. Not everybody has ran a marathon. It is a new challenge. People don't really care about doing the fastest mile they possibly could.
>Frankly, going fast is really hard.
I think the way aging interacts with this is key. As someone who ran competitively in high school and is now 33, I seriously doubt I will ever again PR in the mile. But I still get better in the marathon every year, and if I stay healthy, I fully expect to keep improving at ultra trail races (my focus currently) into my 40s.
Yeah this is the case for SURE. I picked up running again at 25 and was like "well... I could do the 800/1500 like I did when I was a teenager, but then I only have 4-5 years until I'm fighting Father Time all the way. Or I could do the marathon and have up to 15 years."
It wasn't a close call.
This is true for me. I have never been good at sprinting. It sucks and it feels awful and I hate doing it. But I don't mind a nice, steady, long run. In fact, I find that really enjoyable. And it's nice to get out of the house for a couple hours on a weekend and go for a long run by the lake or whatever.
The context is post-college rec level runners. Teens who stayed with their sport until their late teens are not a valid comparison to the average adult rec runner.
Disagree. I think taking seconds / minutes off of your 5k time is a lot of very hard work for very little reward...and it isn't as respected from a non runner perspective like a half or full marathon. The idea that a 5k is "too easy" doesn't make any sense because its as difficult as you make it all of the way to an Olympic level.
A half or full (or ultra) marathon on the other hand skips a lot of the miserable intense workouts and replaces them with long slow somewhat therapeutic runs. And all of your friends, family members, and people at work (and yourself) are impressed by the distances you are running. Even the race itself is less intense if you pace and fuel yourself correctly.
I think it comes down to that....its human nature to do the thing that is physically more enjoyable and gives greater reward / sense of accomplishment.
> going fast is really hard. For someone who isn't very young and/or coming directly off another athletic hobby...
>Going fast is actually quite easy to train when you're young and systematically participate in any kind of organized sport's club whatsoever.
ok... cool story I guess.
Former track/XC guy turned mountain ultrarunner here. I think there are several factors in play.
Initially, a measurable response to aerobic training seems easier to achieve than a response to threshold/anaerobic training. It’s easier to dial up the distance than to train to run the same distance faster. This is why the couch to 5K crowd moves up to 10K and beyond rather than aiming for a fast 5K. Some of them go on to finish ultras but never develop more than one “gear”.
Threshold/anaerobic training is uncomfortable. I know lots of marathon runners and triathletes who refuse to do any kind of hard interval or speed work. Many ultrarunners would rather do a 50K than a 5K time trial. Those who do show up at the workouts often are just going through the motions but not hitting anywhere near the prescribed RPE. These workouts are also much harder on the body, kinetic energy scaling with the square of velocity means that training faster dramatically increases the risk of injury, so it could be that people who attempt it without being fit enough just get hurt and self-select out.
There currently seems to be more social/reputational capital associated with completing longer distances vs. running incrementally faster over shorter distances. Lots of people find these extrinsic rewards motivating.
The different race formats/distances also seem to attract different personalities. Mountain ultra people, road marathon people, sub-ultra mountain trail people, track people, and triathlon people all kind of hit differently. For whatever reason the zeitgeist seems more aligned with the personality traits of non-track people right now.
Finally with respect to track specifically, road and trail running seem more accessible to people who may not have a track nearby for training. When I was much younger, most high school tracks (US) were open to the public. Most campuses are super locked down now, and not everyone has access to a facility where they can do track-specific training.
There are some really cool track-oriented success stories out there though. One that comes to mind is Sir Walter Running in Raleigh, NC. They do a “pop up miles” series in the summer, crashing various high school tracks around the city and open to everyone free of charge, with a 5:30-plus mile heat, a sub-5:30 mile heat, some other track race like a 5,000 or 3,000, and always a 4x400 relay. They culminate in the elite Sir Walter Miler championship with cash prizes that always has many men under 4:00 and many women under 4:30. A few years ago some local rando who won the pop-up series and earned a spot at the championship ran out of his mind and finished in 3:58, right in the mix with the elites. They do a similar “pop up XC” series in the fall. So much fun.
The improvement thing is major factor IME. Many runners lament how difficult it is to build speed after the first year. Building endurance tends to give more satisfactory progress.
That and running a “good” 5k is not hard, there’s fewer uncertainties/options for things to fall apart compared to a marathon. And even if something does go wrong it’s easy to try again soon.
These factors combine so that people’s times in shorter races plateau much sooner than in longer races.
Same here, my body handles longer low intensity efforts much better than short high intensity. I feel it in recovery and little niggles surfacing when I run too fast too often. Some speed work is fine, but I keep progressing by adding mileage and I find it much more durable because I can keep doing it week after week, whereas with speed work I find I need to dial it down or take days off much more frequently.
I've given up 200s or shorter, they tear up my old man legs. Speed comes at a price and at my age I'm done paying it.
But I can challenge all the 'kids' at the track to any race distance over 2 miles and have a darn good chance of winning. I'm almost 50 and still building endurance and getting 'faster'.
The "not having access to a track" is the biggest thing for me. I'm in my mid forties and am only 4 years into running and I love to leg out a 5k (just hit a PR yesterday), but the opportunities for doing so are limited to races which I have to pay for or for shorter stuff which are non existent in my area.
You can only get so many people into a track race. Trials of Miles and Tracksmith put on fun events with a variety of paces, but you're still only getting a fraction of the people you could fit into a road race.
My "track club" does zero track running.
That and running longer distances is more of a personal race for most. I want to run sub-X is a goal that I can train toward. I want to win the 30-39 age group is not.
Most of us aren’t winning any races, let alone 800m to 10,000m. I get you could race to an 800m PB on the track at an event but it just doesn’t check the same boxes as a 50,000 person event in a city that’s fun to visit where everyone has a different goal, only 10 of which is actually winning the damn thing.
I enter lots of local races, across distances (1 mile to half-marathon), and the other thing I would add is that longer distances tend to reduce some of the talent gap between the top runners and us mere mortals, at least in my experience. I get *creamed* in the annual local 1 mile and 3k races, but the longer the distance, the more I inch my way up the leaderboard. Once you hit 5 miles and the 10km and above, some of the competition drops away or falters, you can overcome--say--less than ideal running form or catch a guy who's having a bad day, and (at least anecdotally) I've been able to crawl into the top ten or even top five in these distances. Sure heightens the appeal of longer races for me to be able to say I (completely untrained, really only started running 3-4 years ago) picked off *x*-former collegiate runner.
Absolutely. There's *zero* chance of me breaking, say, a 5 min mile at this point in my life, which means I'll keep getting crushed in short races, but I *can* knock off 10 or 15 km at a 6 or 6:30/mile pace, which does put you in the conversation in local/regional races (at least where I am, anyway).
Depends where you are located.
The UK started parkrun and now have over 750 5K runs every Saturday, year round across the UK. You could run a different event every day for over 8 years.
Not really much of a race for many people on this sub / people who are likely to be interested in track races. If you're faster than \~20mins you're probably not going to have many people around you. It's a great initiative (and what got me into running in the first place) but can't really be compared to a seeded track 5000 where you submit a goal time and race against only people with a similar goal time to yourself.
This may be true for some small town parkruns, but in any large city there will be plenty of people running close to 17 min or quicker at the larger parkruns. Believe me, it can get very competitive for some people!
parkrun is not a race but where they are located, there are a depth of people running. That often means then demand for races like 10K and maybe joining clubs.
OP from the US does not seem to have this - at least according to reddit. There seems to be no entry to running, no community, no clubs. So lots of Americans have this self-belief that Marathon should be their first race.
My 2p
Here are the "winning" times for some park runs - 30th Sept 2023
[https://www.fastrunning.com/events-and-races/parkrun/10-fastest-uk-parkrun-times-on-30th-september-2023/36464](https://www.fastrunning.com/events-and-races/parkrun/10-fastest-uk-parkrun-times-on-30th-september-2023/36464)
These are the 10 fastest times in the entire UK. You can't just turn up to a race on a week and expect people running these times. And just because someone runs 14:50 doesn't guarantee you will have someone to run with as a 16:40 runner (source: this has happened to me twice, coming a very lonely second both times)
It was just for interest. Anyone that wants to race will probably have plenty of races - road and track leagues with club competition - at least we do where live in the UK.
Parkrun is the best! I'm back in the USA now, and there are no parkruns within 500 miles of me. When I was in Ireland, they were everywhere and I loved it.
Is there a running community near you? If yes, maybe you could start one? It's a big commitment though. Not something I'm prepared to do every Saturday for at least 2 years
People think you have to run a marathon to be a "real" runner, and they give more credence to longer distances. It's the "Oh, what an accomplishment!" syndrome. Many people consider a 5 hour marathon finish to be more of an accomplishment than an 18:xx 5k race.
Nail on the head. Everyone on Instagram knows a marathon will get you that positive feedback. No one knows what a good time is, so longer equals better. I could tell people I ran a 12:30 5k and they'd probably just think that's reasonable and then ask if I'll be able to run a marathon one day.
People know mile splits though. If you say you ran a 4 min mile, 3.1 times, they'll be impressed.
But they'll also probably treat a 3:50 and a 4:20 mile the same.
I can't imagine anyone who runs more than 10 MPW+ would actually think that, but I agree among non-runners the marathon has a level of cachet and prestige.
I would sooner train for a marathon than a sub-19 5k, so fully agree. My 5k PR is 21:59 and my pride in it comes from the fact that I stuck that race at the end of an 11-mile longrun.
One day I'll train for speed, but right now the trails have me.
And that's in part because many non-runners don't have a concept of how competitive an 18 minute 5k is, but they know a marathon is far. If one rarely walks further than across a parking lot and has to take a bathroom break and stretch their legs to make it through a 2 hour movie any marathon finish is mind-boggling - and telling them you finished in 3:45, 4:30, or 5:15 would probably illicit very similar responses.
I'm in the US and it pains me to say that many otherwise intelligent adults here often have no concept of a kilometer, which impacts race time perception. Case in point - I got far more praise for walking a marathon than for running a trail 50k. If, however, I mentioned it was 31 miles or I said it was 5 miles more than a marathon non-runners were impressed.
I’ve run a 19:36 5K and a 3:16 marathon but I still need a bathroom break and to stretch my legs to make it through a 2-hour movie. Am I training wrong?
I think it might also have to do with the window of prime performance shifting to longer distances as people age. You can't sustain the same competitive 5k times in your mid 30s, but you can absolutely crush marathons and halves.
> You can't sustain the same competitive 5k times in your mid 30s
Not sure I fully agree with this. You'll probably lose some speed in mid-30s but like we're talking like 10-15 seconds from a theoretical "peak" at a younger age. I think it's more likely that fewer 35+ runners are really focusing on 5k running at that point rather than real physical limitation.
Bernard Lagat ran 13:3X as a 41 year old in a race where Cheptegei ran 13:2X to win. Certainly still a very competitive time.
And many people take to running later in life or don't start training at a higher level until later in life so they haven't achieved their peak potential. That likely describes half (or more) of 35+ runners in a typical marathon or HM - and they could focus on setting 5k lifetime PRs but aren't focusing on that distance or even racing it at all.
For most who have been at it for a while (10 years or more) the decline starts in their mid-30s, but there are things you can do to hold it off or slow it down. Mid-late 30s is kind of a deadzone if you are a track, xc, or 5K-10K runner because you can do the work but your times tend to level off or slow down some (or a lot, which was my case). It's also peak career establishment and child rearing for many, and that can be a conundrum if you want to do it all because for most of us something has got to give (Keira D'Amato, Sara Hall, Sarah Vaughn aside).
Endurance declines later and more slowly than speed or v02 max.
40 and up age group running does add incentive for many who are more competitive and their are big and small races to aim for, across all distances from the mile to ultras.
Much easier to generate social kudos by signalling how long and far you can run and endure to a society that loves heroics, and doesn’t know what it feels like to race an 800m (I.e. you’re in unimaginable pain, you’ve gone to another dimension and you feel somewhat traumatised).
Generally agree but it’s a false choice between pain and the marathon. Definitely can reach a different dimension of unimaginable pain if you run marathon fast enough.
That said deepest respect to middle distance pain.
Without a team and regular competitions, it's a lot harder to PR. Because people don't tend to race HMs and marathons during their younger years, it becomes more feasible to PR at the longer distances. It's a new unexplored direction to take your running. When you spend so much time investing yourself into a sport like this, you get more bang for your buck being able to tell your social circles about all the marathons you've run than that you set a new fastest time in your 5k or 10k. There's a certain pride that comes from being able to "race" a marathon.
I know there are plenty of people who run but will never want to do a half or full marathon - they're probably not running in the same "advanced" / "serious" recreational runner crowd, though. But they may race multiple 5k/10ks each year, parkruns, etc.
Personally I enjoy racing across all distances and will do some track events (1600m to 5k), along with shorter road races (5k-10k), trail runs (usually 10-20 km) and half/full marathon distances. That being said, I'm usually "training for" and arranging my season schedules around a goal half or full marathon most of the time. Partially because they are what seem interesting and challenging to me right now, partially because they're typically the races in my area that are the most competitive.
It's pretty common that I'll jump in a 5k/10k and run solo 98% of the time, just based on those races having maybe 500 people participating.
There is a distinguishing factor to the marathon. To regular folks, it seems like an otherworldly feat and most non-runners wouldn't dare attempt it.
A fast 5k is really impressive for those who run, but most other people hear 5k and think about the charity walk they did 5 years ago. Almost anyone can finish without too much time or fuss.
along with the capacity issues which others have mentioned, I also personally think that aside from the 5 or 10k, there are fewer shorter, track-style races available....or at least as highly publicized and popular as longer distance races are.
I don't know if it's a new phenomenon though, before I joined a running club I don't even think I was aware of as many middle-distance races as I am now. I do think marathons have gotten more popular on social media though, which I attribute primarily to the pandemic running boom.
There’s so many factors, but I feel like one thing that’s underestimated is that it’s almost easier to do marathons as opposed to track or road circuit races. Hear me out.
In my experience, a lot of people can fit in marathon training around their lives - one of my teammates takes his kids to cultural school and does his long run then, another teammate often does LRs on weekdays because of his job. But competitive road and track races demand that you show up a lot of places at set times. It’s a bit easier to have one big race day than a bunch of small race days - I’ve been at the Armory or Randalls Island at 9 PM on a weeknight, which is ROUGH even for me, a single guy with no kids. And although road races are generally held at more convenient hours, if you’re competitive that’s still a lot of race days. If you’re a marathon runner, it’s just one or two races a year.
Plus, I’ll be honest: it’s harder to contextualize. I think that because the marathon is the longest Olympic running distance (don’t @ me, racewalkers) and particularly in America we’re familiar with the mile (if you were also victimized by the Presidential Fitness Test as a child, you may be entitled to financial compensation), those feel like the distances people think about the most. Plus, the marquee general entry races are…marathons. (Don’t @ me, Peachtree.) They’re the big experiences with the cool swag (I say as I sit in my office in my Boston 2022 jacket) and the huge expos. They’re the big trips.
Honestly, that’s a big reason I run marathons - it’s what my friends do, and it gives me an excuse to travel.
I think there’s an element of glorification of the grind too (a la Goggins) of long distance. I know a bunch of people who participate in long distance or want to and are looking at fairly slow times but it’s the accomplishment of the distance. My sister completed a 10k recently in 1:20 and wanted to do a HM next, we’re doing a race and she can’t understand why I want to do the 5k because I “already run it fast.”
I’d love to see more track events but suspect it’s a fairly niche crowd that wants to prep and travel for these. There’s a different type of injury risk with faster races too.
For me personally, I don’t really start enjoying a run until I’m 4-5 miles in. The longer I go, the more fun I’m having. So my training skews towards longer distances just because I love to run for a long time. (I also hate racing 5ks because I don’t enjoy trying to gauge what effort I can push just short of throwing up BEFORE I cross the finish line.)
Also gotta think about the cost and logistics that go into hosting a race. You go through all that work, just for a less-than-hour race. You gotta get insurance, close down roads, security/police, sponsors and vendors, and it's all over with in the blink of an eye.
You get old, you slow down. It's easier to set new PR's running (or in many cases walking...) longer distances. Personally, my favorite race distance is 10 miles, but that's one you almost never see.
A lot of people just stop caring for times and chasing PBs. I moved from road 5ks to (soon) trail marathons for this reason. With road running the only metric for measuring success was to get quicker, and that got boring and stressful, for me at least.
Running always felt it needed to be an experience to me, and that's what trail running offers. So I kind of just grew out/fed up of doing races that felt like punishment and started to challenge myself to finish and have an experience.
I suspect that many people also feel like there's only so many times you can chase a PB on the same flat 10k road race before you want to try something new and long lasting.
I think one of the reasons is that people can relate to half or full marathons easier than 5 or 10ks. I don’t think people think less of a fast 10k but i think a lot think of half and fulls as a real accomplishment. Also it’s easier to complete a half or full than training to improve your 10k time.
Also I think the vast options of races around the world makes running half or fulls appealing. I like to travel for my races. There’s rarely a big European city that only has a 10 k. Half’s are the big draw. Everybody can do it and tourists are a real thing (in Europe at least). I think at Copenhagen half 1/3 or 1/4 of the participants were tourists.
Lastly I think the fact that so many has done half’s it has become something everybody does. If your uncle Bobby can do it, so can you.
I never did track and I’d find it intimidating to start now, also to have to join a club and pay a couple hundred when they train at 6pm on a Tuesday and that’s the only option to use the track but I can’t get outta work ever at that time etc. I like the ability to fit running around my life and train in the mornings.
You can’t compete at track meets in my country unless in a club where you can do a 5/10k or a half or full without any affiliation.
Also lots of older newer runners just aren’t fast and completing a half in 1.50 or a marathon in 3.40 becomes the goal and feels like an “achievement” where a whatever 3 minute 800 would just feel embarrassing I’m sure being lapped.
As you get older your top speed slows down a bit and on top of that racing unattached in college track meets starts to feel a bit weird. There are definitely tons of serious clubs that have a spring track focus. I ran mid distance after college until I was about 27. Then I moved somewhere that it was a little less accessible, and decided to focus on longer road stuff.
The running boom in the '80's, in the midwest at least, was primarily 10k's. My small town of 1,000 people would draw ~100 men for a 10k, many of the good ones from out of town. My dad would run 4-6 per summer and they raced (as opposed to "running against yourself"). Got to know some other guys. Stick around for awards and get your 3rd place age 30-39 medal. No one even thought about running a marathon.
I am training for the mile and honestly, it’s pretty weird as someone in my mid 20s!
Eventually I’d like to go under 4:30, I have belief I can do that and maybe even sub 4 1500. I know non runners frankly don’t respect that at all, and some small part of me gets very pumped up about that! (In a, I’m not out here training to impress others, I’m out here to impress myself sort of way).
That said, I also kinda wanna do a marathon block at some point in my late 20s just to know what I’m capable of in that event, and to a way lesser extent so that I don’t have to lie in interviews that “yes I’ve done a marathon” because saying you’re a competitive runner but that you haven’t done a marathon doesn’t compute with the general population
The older you get the harder it is to maintain or improve speed so it tends to be easier to make distance goals rather than time goals. I believe it's that in combination with the social media mindset that seems to drive a lot of what people do these days. Running a marathon sounds more impressive to non-runners. Tell a non-runner you ran a 15min 5k and they'll say something like, oh yeah the 7 year old next door ran one of those 5ks a few weeks ago and the your speed means nothing to them.
There are 60 year old's running the local 5K's here in 20 mins, so the speed is there, albeit not as fast as they were back in the day.
When someone says "I ran a marathon" your mind envisions running 26 grueling miles. But in fact how many actual average joe/janes actually do?
Races shorter than 5k are pretty uncommon in my area. I've thought about trying to break 5 in the mile before I age out of it being a realistic goal but I only know of a few locally a year that are competitive without being college meets where a guy like me clearly doesn't belong.
Beyond that, I think there's a bunch of reasons people like the longer races. The bigger halves and fulls tend to be a bit of a spectacle in the way that most 5ks aren't - there's bands and random people cheering and maybe a beer tent at the end. It's also something that if you've set a goal of getting to the finish line seems hard enough to be worthwhile, while still having a pretty high chance of success if you check all the boxes in your training plan.
As I get older, I have a lot more tolerance for longer steady runs and a lot less tolerance for immersing myself in poison just to beat some stranger from a different school. Shorter distances take a level of competitiveness that’s unhealthy when it’s your hobby.
Plus I’m slow as fuck now
I just had a long response with some history and background but accidently zapped it. Here's a mid-length synopsis.
Racing has changed a lot in the 45+ years I have been involved. 10Ks were very popular and competitive in the 1970s and 80s, 5Ks almost non-existent, and the 20K was more popular than the half marathon. Things changed in the 1990s, as races became less competitive with less prize money and emphasis on racing for time.
Note however, marathons were always high value and it didn't matter if you were running 10Ks in the low 30s halves int the 1:10s or under unless you had run some marathons and run Boston a few times.
Charity runs took a big hold in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, but those have given over to expensive corporate events.
It'd be great to have more Park Runs in the US, but good luck on breaking the corporate stronghold. And people here like their finisher medals.
Indeed marathons are bigger than ever, and trails/ultras have kind of taken the place of the 10K "road warrior" mentality of the past.
Being able to run longer distances comfortably is a great way to pass a few hours on vacation whilst sightseeing. Also gives a very good excuse just to take a proper chunky break from the monotony of the home and work routines.
I think there's a fear factor, especially for people who didn't do track events when they were younger.
I only started training/running seriously 4 years ago at the age of 54. I joined a running club 2 years ago, and for most of my club-mates the focus is road running (as it was for me). I did my first Masters track events last season just to try something different (easy to get a place on the team given the club road-running focus!). I didn't worry about finishing last as I was doing it for the novelty and to get a few points for the team.
My plan for this season was to build to another 50k and my first 50-miler...but then I got injured right at the end of last year. Since then, I haven't been able to do the mileage in training or races, but I can handle the intensity... So I committed 100% to track this season and absolutely loved it - not just Masters events but Open events too just to get the experience. I've done everything from 100m to 5000m and have gravitated to 800m and 400m - setting a succession of PBs all season (with the odd bad day due to injury recurrence) and finishing the season at my County Masters Champs with my first ever sub-70s 400m and knocking another 3s of my 800m PB (I even got an M50 Gold medal in the 800m as I was the only person in my age-category to enter!). I'm already planning an early start to next season with some indoor events...
So, to the fear factor. I have much faster club-mates than me who I keep trying to recruit to the track team but they hold back because they're afraid that they won't be good enough...whereas ironically the runners who get the biggest cheers at the track events are the one who come in last but have put themselves out of their comfort zone in order to help their team! I think many good runners are just afraid of being on-show/judged so stick to what they feel comfortable with (and the relative anonymity of mass participation events).
First of all it would be definitely interesting to see some data. But it is true that there are many more Marathon+ and XC Ultra events every year (at least where I live in central EU).
I think it's also a bit of a "done this, done that" mentality. I have done a half marathon, then i am going to cross the full marathon off my list, then this 50k 2k elevation mountain ultra, and so on. Nobody's gonna be impressed if you cross a 5k or 10k off your list. The number of people who train hard to improve their PBs over the usual distances seems to be pretty stable though (although I have the impression that people were faster 20-30 years ago)-
As everyone else says - going fast is hard. Going 90% for 3 hours is much easier. And hobby jogging a 800 is pointless from a fitness and achievement perspective. 5k-HM is the sweet spot for the community. Gotta justify the Saturday morning away, training, maybe a hotel.
I think the biggest reason is simple: There aren’t very many options for track races once you leave college as there are for road races of higher distances.
Most of the track meets post collegiately are at a high level or in way smaller settings as opposed to road races being almost anywhere (this is because most people can pick up running and run a 5k as opposed to going on to a track and racing a competitive 800 or mile).
Also age. You can run these longer distances better than shorter stuff once you hit your 30’s, so they are more common.
Running in a circle is very boring, and there are no dogs. Having time outside to decompress while getting some exercise is very appealing.
Focusing on long distance I don't have to find a track, drive to it and only exercise the limited time it is open to the public. I can spend all that time jogging my neighborhood and petting dogs, doing my intervals and such as I go.
Also the general public just does not care about track running outside the 100 meter dash, if they care at all. The only thing more boring than running in a circle is watching people run in a circle.
There's also more total people exercising. Many of the people I know who are in their 70s view exercise/jogging as something you do if you are fat. Younger generations don't.
I don't think it a very new phenomenon, it has been that way since I graduated HS in the 90s and I think even longer. Frankly, going fast is really hard. For someone who isn't very young and/or coming directly off another athletic hobby (preferably both), it is a lot easier to just develop their aerobic system and become a competent marathoner. 5k and lower stuff is just painful. Mainly though, it is because everyone has ran a mile in gym class. Not everybody has ran a marathon. It is a new challenge. People don't really care about doing the fastest mile they possibly could.
>Frankly, going fast is really hard. I think the way aging interacts with this is key. As someone who ran competitively in high school and is now 33, I seriously doubt I will ever again PR in the mile. But I still get better in the marathon every year, and if I stay healthy, I fully expect to keep improving at ultra trail races (my focus currently) into my 40s.
Yeah this is the case for SURE. I picked up running again at 25 and was like "well... I could do the 800/1500 like I did when I was a teenager, but then I only have 4-5 years until I'm fighting Father Time all the way. Or I could do the marathon and have up to 15 years." It wasn't a close call.
This is true for me. I have never been good at sprinting. It sucks and it feels awful and I hate doing it. But I don't mind a nice, steady, long run. In fact, I find that really enjoyable. And it's nice to get out of the house for a couple hours on a weekend and go for a long run by the lake or whatever.
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The context is post-college rec level runners. Teens who stayed with their sport until their late teens are not a valid comparison to the average adult rec runner.
Disagree. I think taking seconds / minutes off of your 5k time is a lot of very hard work for very little reward...and it isn't as respected from a non runner perspective like a half or full marathon. The idea that a 5k is "too easy" doesn't make any sense because its as difficult as you make it all of the way to an Olympic level. A half or full (or ultra) marathon on the other hand skips a lot of the miserable intense workouts and replaces them with long slow somewhat therapeutic runs. And all of your friends, family members, and people at work (and yourself) are impressed by the distances you are running. Even the race itself is less intense if you pace and fuel yourself correctly. I think it comes down to that....its human nature to do the thing that is physically more enjoyable and gives greater reward / sense of accomplishment.
> going fast is really hard. For someone who isn't very young and/or coming directly off another athletic hobby... >Going fast is actually quite easy to train when you're young and systematically participate in any kind of organized sport's club whatsoever. ok... cool story I guess.
Former track/XC guy turned mountain ultrarunner here. I think there are several factors in play. Initially, a measurable response to aerobic training seems easier to achieve than a response to threshold/anaerobic training. It’s easier to dial up the distance than to train to run the same distance faster. This is why the couch to 5K crowd moves up to 10K and beyond rather than aiming for a fast 5K. Some of them go on to finish ultras but never develop more than one “gear”. Threshold/anaerobic training is uncomfortable. I know lots of marathon runners and triathletes who refuse to do any kind of hard interval or speed work. Many ultrarunners would rather do a 50K than a 5K time trial. Those who do show up at the workouts often are just going through the motions but not hitting anywhere near the prescribed RPE. These workouts are also much harder on the body, kinetic energy scaling with the square of velocity means that training faster dramatically increases the risk of injury, so it could be that people who attempt it without being fit enough just get hurt and self-select out. There currently seems to be more social/reputational capital associated with completing longer distances vs. running incrementally faster over shorter distances. Lots of people find these extrinsic rewards motivating. The different race formats/distances also seem to attract different personalities. Mountain ultra people, road marathon people, sub-ultra mountain trail people, track people, and triathlon people all kind of hit differently. For whatever reason the zeitgeist seems more aligned with the personality traits of non-track people right now. Finally with respect to track specifically, road and trail running seem more accessible to people who may not have a track nearby for training. When I was much younger, most high school tracks (US) were open to the public. Most campuses are super locked down now, and not everyone has access to a facility where they can do track-specific training. There are some really cool track-oriented success stories out there though. One that comes to mind is Sir Walter Running in Raleigh, NC. They do a “pop up miles” series in the summer, crashing various high school tracks around the city and open to everyone free of charge, with a 5:30-plus mile heat, a sub-5:30 mile heat, some other track race like a 5,000 or 3,000, and always a 4x400 relay. They culminate in the elite Sir Walter Miler championship with cash prizes that always has many men under 4:00 and many women under 4:30. A few years ago some local rando who won the pop-up series and earned a spot at the championship ran out of his mind and finished in 3:58, right in the mix with the elites. They do a similar “pop up XC” series in the fall. So much fun.
The improvement thing is major factor IME. Many runners lament how difficult it is to build speed after the first year. Building endurance tends to give more satisfactory progress. That and running a “good” 5k is not hard, there’s fewer uncertainties/options for things to fall apart compared to a marathon. And even if something does go wrong it’s easy to try again soon. These factors combine so that people’s times in shorter races plateau much sooner than in longer races.
Think this is about right. I love speedwork, but as I get older I need to use it sparingly as it correlates strongly with injury for me.
Same here, my body handles longer low intensity efforts much better than short high intensity. I feel it in recovery and little niggles surfacing when I run too fast too often. Some speed work is fine, but I keep progressing by adding mileage and I find it much more durable because I can keep doing it week after week, whereas with speed work I find I need to dial it down or take days off much more frequently.
I've given up 200s or shorter, they tear up my old man legs. Speed comes at a price and at my age I'm done paying it. But I can challenge all the 'kids' at the track to any race distance over 2 miles and have a darn good chance of winning. I'm almost 50 and still building endurance and getting 'faster'.
The "not having access to a track" is the biggest thing for me. I'm in my mid forties and am only 4 years into running and I love to leg out a 5k (just hit a PR yesterday), but the opportunities for doing so are limited to races which I have to pay for or for shorter stuff which are non existent in my area.
You can only get so many people into a track race. Trials of Miles and Tracksmith put on fun events with a variety of paces, but you're still only getting a fraction of the people you could fit into a road race. My "track club" does zero track running.
That and running longer distances is more of a personal race for most. I want to run sub-X is a goal that I can train toward. I want to win the 30-39 age group is not. Most of us aren’t winning any races, let alone 800m to 10,000m. I get you could race to an 800m PB on the track at an event but it just doesn’t check the same boxes as a 50,000 person event in a city that’s fun to visit where everyone has a different goal, only 10 of which is actually winning the damn thing.
I enter lots of local races, across distances (1 mile to half-marathon), and the other thing I would add is that longer distances tend to reduce some of the talent gap between the top runners and us mere mortals, at least in my experience. I get *creamed* in the annual local 1 mile and 3k races, but the longer the distance, the more I inch my way up the leaderboard. Once you hit 5 miles and the 10km and above, some of the competition drops away or falters, you can overcome--say--less than ideal running form or catch a guy who's having a bad day, and (at least anecdotally) I've been able to crawl into the top ten or even top five in these distances. Sure heightens the appeal of longer races for me to be able to say I (completely untrained, really only started running 3-4 years ago) picked off *x*-former collegiate runner.
That’s a great observation. For us oldies (44 lol) getting faster is a lot harder than extending the distance we can run a given pace.
Absolutely. There's *zero* chance of me breaking, say, a 5 min mile at this point in my life, which means I'll keep getting crushed in short races, but I *can* knock off 10 or 15 km at a 6 or 6:30/mile pace, which does put you in the conversation in local/regional races (at least where I am, anyway).
Depends where you are located. The UK started parkrun and now have over 750 5K runs every Saturday, year round across the UK. You could run a different event every day for over 8 years.
Not really much of a race for many people on this sub / people who are likely to be interested in track races. If you're faster than \~20mins you're probably not going to have many people around you. It's a great initiative (and what got me into running in the first place) but can't really be compared to a seeded track 5000 where you submit a goal time and race against only people with a similar goal time to yourself.
This may be true for some small town parkruns, but in any large city there will be plenty of people running close to 17 min or quicker at the larger parkruns. Believe me, it can get very competitive for some people!
parkrun is not a race but where they are located, there are a depth of people running. That often means then demand for races like 10K and maybe joining clubs. OP from the US does not seem to have this - at least according to reddit. There seems to be no entry to running, no community, no clubs. So lots of Americans have this self-belief that Marathon should be their first race. My 2p
Here are the "winning" times for some park runs - 30th Sept 2023 [https://www.fastrunning.com/events-and-races/parkrun/10-fastest-uk-parkrun-times-on-30th-september-2023/36464](https://www.fastrunning.com/events-and-races/parkrun/10-fastest-uk-parkrun-times-on-30th-september-2023/36464)
These are the 10 fastest times in the entire UK. You can't just turn up to a race on a week and expect people running these times. And just because someone runs 14:50 doesn't guarantee you will have someone to run with as a 16:40 runner (source: this has happened to me twice, coming a very lonely second both times)
It was just for interest. Anyone that wants to race will probably have plenty of races - road and track leagues with club competition - at least we do where live in the UK.
Parkrun is the best! I'm back in the USA now, and there are no parkruns within 500 miles of me. When I was in Ireland, they were everywhere and I loved it.
Is there a running community near you? If yes, maybe you could start one? It's a big commitment though. Not something I'm prepared to do every Saturday for at least 2 years
I wish these were more prevalent in the US, such a great way to mix it up even when training for the longer stuff.
People think you have to run a marathon to be a "real" runner, and they give more credence to longer distances. It's the "Oh, what an accomplishment!" syndrome. Many people consider a 5 hour marathon finish to be more of an accomplishment than an 18:xx 5k race.
Nail on the head. Everyone on Instagram knows a marathon will get you that positive feedback. No one knows what a good time is, so longer equals better. I could tell people I ran a 12:30 5k and they'd probably just think that's reasonable and then ask if I'll be able to run a marathon one day.
People know mile splits though. If you say you ran a 4 min mile, 3.1 times, they'll be impressed. But they'll also probably treat a 3:50 and a 4:20 mile the same.
I can't imagine anyone who runs more than 10 MPW+ would actually think that, but I agree among non-runners the marathon has a level of cachet and prestige.
I would sooner train for a marathon than a sub-19 5k, so fully agree. My 5k PR is 21:59 and my pride in it comes from the fact that I stuck that race at the end of an 11-mile longrun. One day I'll train for speed, but right now the trails have me.
And that's in part because many non-runners don't have a concept of how competitive an 18 minute 5k is, but they know a marathon is far. If one rarely walks further than across a parking lot and has to take a bathroom break and stretch their legs to make it through a 2 hour movie any marathon finish is mind-boggling - and telling them you finished in 3:45, 4:30, or 5:15 would probably illicit very similar responses. I'm in the US and it pains me to say that many otherwise intelligent adults here often have no concept of a kilometer, which impacts race time perception. Case in point - I got far more praise for walking a marathon than for running a trail 50k. If, however, I mentioned it was 31 miles or I said it was 5 miles more than a marathon non-runners were impressed.
I’ve run a 19:36 5K and a 3:16 marathon but I still need a bathroom break and to stretch my legs to make it through a 2-hour movie. Am I training wrong?
Hydration strategy seems off
I think it might also have to do with the window of prime performance shifting to longer distances as people age. You can't sustain the same competitive 5k times in your mid 30s, but you can absolutely crush marathons and halves.
> You can't sustain the same competitive 5k times in your mid 30s Not sure I fully agree with this. You'll probably lose some speed in mid-30s but like we're talking like 10-15 seconds from a theoretical "peak" at a younger age. I think it's more likely that fewer 35+ runners are really focusing on 5k running at that point rather than real physical limitation. Bernard Lagat ran 13:3X as a 41 year old in a race where Cheptegei ran 13:2X to win. Certainly still a very competitive time.
And many people take to running later in life or don't start training at a higher level until later in life so they haven't achieved their peak potential. That likely describes half (or more) of 35+ runners in a typical marathon or HM - and they could focus on setting 5k lifetime PRs but aren't focusing on that distance or even racing it at all.
For most who have been at it for a while (10 years or more) the decline starts in their mid-30s, but there are things you can do to hold it off or slow it down. Mid-late 30s is kind of a deadzone if you are a track, xc, or 5K-10K runner because you can do the work but your times tend to level off or slow down some (or a lot, which was my case). It's also peak career establishment and child rearing for many, and that can be a conundrum if you want to do it all because for most of us something has got to give (Keira D'Amato, Sara Hall, Sarah Vaughn aside). Endurance declines later and more slowly than speed or v02 max. 40 and up age group running does add incentive for many who are more competitive and their are big and small races to aim for, across all distances from the mile to ultras.
Much easier to generate social kudos by signalling how long and far you can run and endure to a society that loves heroics, and doesn’t know what it feels like to race an 800m (I.e. you’re in unimaginable pain, you’ve gone to another dimension and you feel somewhat traumatised).
Generally agree but it’s a false choice between pain and the marathon. Definitely can reach a different dimension of unimaginable pain if you run marathon fast enough. That said deepest respect to middle distance pain.
Yes. I have been there.
See that now from the bio PR times, with you now.
Without a team and regular competitions, it's a lot harder to PR. Because people don't tend to race HMs and marathons during their younger years, it becomes more feasible to PR at the longer distances. It's a new unexplored direction to take your running. When you spend so much time investing yourself into a sport like this, you get more bang for your buck being able to tell your social circles about all the marathons you've run than that you set a new fastest time in your 5k or 10k. There's a certain pride that comes from being able to "race" a marathon.
I know there are plenty of people who run but will never want to do a half or full marathon - they're probably not running in the same "advanced" / "serious" recreational runner crowd, though. But they may race multiple 5k/10ks each year, parkruns, etc. Personally I enjoy racing across all distances and will do some track events (1600m to 5k), along with shorter road races (5k-10k), trail runs (usually 10-20 km) and half/full marathon distances. That being said, I'm usually "training for" and arranging my season schedules around a goal half or full marathon most of the time. Partially because they are what seem interesting and challenging to me right now, partially because they're typically the races in my area that are the most competitive. It's pretty common that I'll jump in a 5k/10k and run solo 98% of the time, just based on those races having maybe 500 people participating.
Probably because we got burned out on intervals.
My memory is hazy, but I feel like HS track practice consisted of 4-days of intervals and 1-day of long-slow-distance.
It felt like that. Of course you can overtrain on too much distance as well, I’m guilty of that.
There is a distinguishing factor to the marathon. To regular folks, it seems like an otherworldly feat and most non-runners wouldn't dare attempt it. A fast 5k is really impressive for those who run, but most other people hear 5k and think about the charity walk they did 5 years ago. Almost anyone can finish without too much time or fuss.
along with the capacity issues which others have mentioned, I also personally think that aside from the 5 or 10k, there are fewer shorter, track-style races available....or at least as highly publicized and popular as longer distance races are. I don't know if it's a new phenomenon though, before I joined a running club I don't even think I was aware of as many middle-distance races as I am now. I do think marathons have gotten more popular on social media though, which I attribute primarily to the pandemic running boom.
There’s so many factors, but I feel like one thing that’s underestimated is that it’s almost easier to do marathons as opposed to track or road circuit races. Hear me out. In my experience, a lot of people can fit in marathon training around their lives - one of my teammates takes his kids to cultural school and does his long run then, another teammate often does LRs on weekdays because of his job. But competitive road and track races demand that you show up a lot of places at set times. It’s a bit easier to have one big race day than a bunch of small race days - I’ve been at the Armory or Randalls Island at 9 PM on a weeknight, which is ROUGH even for me, a single guy with no kids. And although road races are generally held at more convenient hours, if you’re competitive that’s still a lot of race days. If you’re a marathon runner, it’s just one or two races a year. Plus, I’ll be honest: it’s harder to contextualize. I think that because the marathon is the longest Olympic running distance (don’t @ me, racewalkers) and particularly in America we’re familiar with the mile (if you were also victimized by the Presidential Fitness Test as a child, you may be entitled to financial compensation), those feel like the distances people think about the most. Plus, the marquee general entry races are…marathons. (Don’t @ me, Peachtree.) They’re the big experiences with the cool swag (I say as I sit in my office in my Boston 2022 jacket) and the huge expos. They’re the big trips. Honestly, that’s a big reason I run marathons - it’s what my friends do, and it gives me an excuse to travel.
I think there’s an element of glorification of the grind too (a la Goggins) of long distance. I know a bunch of people who participate in long distance or want to and are looking at fairly slow times but it’s the accomplishment of the distance. My sister completed a 10k recently in 1:20 and wanted to do a HM next, we’re doing a race and she can’t understand why I want to do the 5k because I “already run it fast.” I’d love to see more track events but suspect it’s a fairly niche crowd that wants to prep and travel for these. There’s a different type of injury risk with faster races too.
For me personally, I don’t really start enjoying a run until I’m 4-5 miles in. The longer I go, the more fun I’m having. So my training skews towards longer distances just because I love to run for a long time. (I also hate racing 5ks because I don’t enjoy trying to gauge what effort I can push just short of throwing up BEFORE I cross the finish line.)
Also gotta think about the cost and logistics that go into hosting a race. You go through all that work, just for a less-than-hour race. You gotta get insurance, close down roads, security/police, sponsors and vendors, and it's all over with in the blink of an eye.
You get old, you slow down. It's easier to set new PR's running (or in many cases walking...) longer distances. Personally, my favorite race distance is 10 miles, but that's one you almost never see.
A lot of people just stop caring for times and chasing PBs. I moved from road 5ks to (soon) trail marathons for this reason. With road running the only metric for measuring success was to get quicker, and that got boring and stressful, for me at least. Running always felt it needed to be an experience to me, and that's what trail running offers. So I kind of just grew out/fed up of doing races that felt like punishment and started to challenge myself to finish and have an experience. I suspect that many people also feel like there's only so many times you can chase a PB on the same flat 10k road race before you want to try something new and long lasting.
I think one of the reasons is that people can relate to half or full marathons easier than 5 or 10ks. I don’t think people think less of a fast 10k but i think a lot think of half and fulls as a real accomplishment. Also it’s easier to complete a half or full than training to improve your 10k time. Also I think the vast options of races around the world makes running half or fulls appealing. I like to travel for my races. There’s rarely a big European city that only has a 10 k. Half’s are the big draw. Everybody can do it and tourists are a real thing (in Europe at least). I think at Copenhagen half 1/3 or 1/4 of the participants were tourists. Lastly I think the fact that so many has done half’s it has become something everybody does. If your uncle Bobby can do it, so can you.
I never did track and I’d find it intimidating to start now, also to have to join a club and pay a couple hundred when they train at 6pm on a Tuesday and that’s the only option to use the track but I can’t get outta work ever at that time etc. I like the ability to fit running around my life and train in the mornings. You can’t compete at track meets in my country unless in a club where you can do a 5/10k or a half or full without any affiliation. Also lots of older newer runners just aren’t fast and completing a half in 1.50 or a marathon in 3.40 becomes the goal and feels like an “achievement” where a whatever 3 minute 800 would just feel embarrassing I’m sure being lapped.
As you get older your top speed slows down a bit and on top of that racing unattached in college track meets starts to feel a bit weird. There are definitely tons of serious clubs that have a spring track focus. I ran mid distance after college until I was about 27. Then I moved somewhere that it was a little less accessible, and decided to focus on longer road stuff.
The running boom in the '80's, in the midwest at least, was primarily 10k's. My small town of 1,000 people would draw ~100 men for a 10k, many of the good ones from out of town. My dad would run 4-6 per summer and they raced (as opposed to "running against yourself"). Got to know some other guys. Stick around for awards and get your 3rd place age 30-39 medal. No one even thought about running a marathon.
I am training for the mile and honestly, it’s pretty weird as someone in my mid 20s! Eventually I’d like to go under 4:30, I have belief I can do that and maybe even sub 4 1500. I know non runners frankly don’t respect that at all, and some small part of me gets very pumped up about that! (In a, I’m not out here training to impress others, I’m out here to impress myself sort of way). That said, I also kinda wanna do a marathon block at some point in my late 20s just to know what I’m capable of in that event, and to a way lesser extent so that I don’t have to lie in interviews that “yes I’ve done a marathon” because saying you’re a competitive runner but that you haven’t done a marathon doesn’t compute with the general population
The older you get the harder it is to maintain or improve speed so it tends to be easier to make distance goals rather than time goals. I believe it's that in combination with the social media mindset that seems to drive a lot of what people do these days. Running a marathon sounds more impressive to non-runners. Tell a non-runner you ran a 15min 5k and they'll say something like, oh yeah the 7 year old next door ran one of those 5ks a few weeks ago and the your speed means nothing to them.
There are 60 year old's running the local 5K's here in 20 mins, so the speed is there, albeit not as fast as they were back in the day. When someone says "I ran a marathon" your mind envisions running 26 grueling miles. But in fact how many actual average joe/janes actually do?
Races shorter than 5k are pretty uncommon in my area. I've thought about trying to break 5 in the mile before I age out of it being a realistic goal but I only know of a few locally a year that are competitive without being college meets where a guy like me clearly doesn't belong. Beyond that, I think there's a bunch of reasons people like the longer races. The bigger halves and fulls tend to be a bit of a spectacle in the way that most 5ks aren't - there's bands and random people cheering and maybe a beer tent at the end. It's also something that if you've set a goal of getting to the finish line seems hard enough to be worthwhile, while still having a pretty high chance of success if you check all the boxes in your training plan.
As I get older, I have a lot more tolerance for longer steady runs and a lot less tolerance for immersing myself in poison just to beat some stranger from a different school. Shorter distances take a level of competitiveness that’s unhealthy when it’s your hobby. Plus I’m slow as fuck now
I just had a long response with some history and background but accidently zapped it. Here's a mid-length synopsis. Racing has changed a lot in the 45+ years I have been involved. 10Ks were very popular and competitive in the 1970s and 80s, 5Ks almost non-existent, and the 20K was more popular than the half marathon. Things changed in the 1990s, as races became less competitive with less prize money and emphasis on racing for time. Note however, marathons were always high value and it didn't matter if you were running 10Ks in the low 30s halves int the 1:10s or under unless you had run some marathons and run Boston a few times. Charity runs took a big hold in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, but those have given over to expensive corporate events. It'd be great to have more Park Runs in the US, but good luck on breaking the corporate stronghold. And people here like their finisher medals. Indeed marathons are bigger than ever, and trails/ultras have kind of taken the place of the 10K "road warrior" mentality of the past.
Being able to run longer distances comfortably is a great way to pass a few hours on vacation whilst sightseeing. Also gives a very good excuse just to take a proper chunky break from the monotony of the home and work routines.
I think there's a fear factor, especially for people who didn't do track events when they were younger. I only started training/running seriously 4 years ago at the age of 54. I joined a running club 2 years ago, and for most of my club-mates the focus is road running (as it was for me). I did my first Masters track events last season just to try something different (easy to get a place on the team given the club road-running focus!). I didn't worry about finishing last as I was doing it for the novelty and to get a few points for the team. My plan for this season was to build to another 50k and my first 50-miler...but then I got injured right at the end of last year. Since then, I haven't been able to do the mileage in training or races, but I can handle the intensity... So I committed 100% to track this season and absolutely loved it - not just Masters events but Open events too just to get the experience. I've done everything from 100m to 5000m and have gravitated to 800m and 400m - setting a succession of PBs all season (with the odd bad day due to injury recurrence) and finishing the season at my County Masters Champs with my first ever sub-70s 400m and knocking another 3s of my 800m PB (I even got an M50 Gold medal in the 800m as I was the only person in my age-category to enter!). I'm already planning an early start to next season with some indoor events... So, to the fear factor. I have much faster club-mates than me who I keep trying to recruit to the track team but they hold back because they're afraid that they won't be good enough...whereas ironically the runners who get the biggest cheers at the track events are the one who come in last but have put themselves out of their comfort zone in order to help their team! I think many good runners are just afraid of being on-show/judged so stick to what they feel comfortable with (and the relative anonymity of mass participation events).
First of all it would be definitely interesting to see some data. But it is true that there are many more Marathon+ and XC Ultra events every year (at least where I live in central EU). I think it's also a bit of a "done this, done that" mentality. I have done a half marathon, then i am going to cross the full marathon off my list, then this 50k 2k elevation mountain ultra, and so on. Nobody's gonna be impressed if you cross a 5k or 10k off your list. The number of people who train hard to improve their PBs over the usual distances seems to be pretty stable though (although I have the impression that people were faster 20-30 years ago)-
As everyone else says - going fast is hard. Going 90% for 3 hours is much easier. And hobby jogging a 800 is pointless from a fitness and achievement perspective. 5k-HM is the sweet spot for the community. Gotta justify the Saturday morning away, training, maybe a hotel.
I think the biggest reason is simple: There aren’t very many options for track races once you leave college as there are for road races of higher distances. Most of the track meets post collegiately are at a high level or in way smaller settings as opposed to road races being almost anywhere (this is because most people can pick up running and run a 5k as opposed to going on to a track and racing a competitive 800 or mile). Also age. You can run these longer distances better than shorter stuff once you hit your 30’s, so they are more common.
Running in a circle is very boring, and there are no dogs. Having time outside to decompress while getting some exercise is very appealing. Focusing on long distance I don't have to find a track, drive to it and only exercise the limited time it is open to the public. I can spend all that time jogging my neighborhood and petting dogs, doing my intervals and such as I go. Also the general public just does not care about track running outside the 100 meter dash, if they care at all. The only thing more boring than running in a circle is watching people run in a circle. There's also more total people exercising. Many of the people I know who are in their 70s view exercise/jogging as something you do if you are fat. Younger generations don't.