> Why do recreational distance runners care about speed so much?
Some of us to achieve our PB. Others to BQ:
https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/qualify
Some of us also engage in longer distances to find our limits. If you want a mostly chill crowd of runners, start running ultras.
Speaking of finding limits, this past weekend the backyard ultra record was broken again. It now stands at an amazing 108 hours (that's 4.5 days of running) and 450 miles:
Read Laz'[1] updates for the final 5 laps:
https://backyardultra.com/hours-103-108/
Everyone was sure Ihor was going to win. Watching the race it didn't seem possible Harvey could do it again. And then, just like that, Ihor broke and Harvey recovered. And he won himself another Backyard.