Oh Turk, there are only about 50 people at any given marathon that have a chance to win, the rest of us are just competing against ourselves and the limitations of our own bodies. I'm slow but it doesn't mean I'm not challenging myself and pushing myself to the absolute limit of what I can do. It takes me 6 hours to run a marathon. If I could figure out a way to train so that my knees don't blow out and I don't have severe leg cramping, I bet I could break 5 1/2 hours. I will still argue that I have as much right to abuse my body as anybody who can do it in 3 hours. The 3 hour people are paying the elite prize money too. The truly elite are invited to compete and they don't pay anything. That's different from poker.