I sort of agree with the purists. Training for my first marathon, I want to be able to have the mystique of a marathoner after I actually do it. But that’s long gone. Now, I might run into a guy at a bar—overweight, out-of-shape—who says, “Oh really? I did that race too!” It takes something away from it.

Then again, I’m not going to be running sub-4 anytime soon. Should I be allowed to participate? And for me, the marathon isn’t that big a deal; it’s just a pit stop on the way to the Ironman, which still retains its mystique.

But if there were no finish time limit on the Ironman, if someone could show up and dog paddle their way through 2.4 miles, crawl along on a mountain bike at 12 MPH for 112, and then walk through a marathon, how would we feel? Wouldn’t that be objectionable to us? Part of what makes Ironman such an accomplishment is that cut-off time of 17 hours. True, not everyone makes it. There are people who have awful times out there, and it’s not because they weren’t taking the race seriously. Sometimes things just go wrong. But that’s part of sport and competition, and missing the cut-off time just gives them even more drive to make it through the next time.

That said, if race directors (here and there) were to start imposing cut-off times, what would it be? My local marathon (The Wichita Marathon) has a cut-off time. The start is at 8, and if you don’t think you can finish by 1, you have to do the early start time at 7. And if you can’t finish within those 6 hours, tough. Could there be marathons with 4-hour limits? 3-hour limits? Might not be such a bad idea, and then the purists could have something to say: “Oh sure, you’ve ‘run’ a marathon, but have you done the Phoenix 4-hour?”