Because the Hamptons race was so small, Brightroom posted both video of the finish as well as the usual photos from throughout the course. There is about 35 seconds of video of me lumbering across the finish line while the announcer says my name, my time, where I'm from, and how many marathons I have completed (all from the registration form).
Apart from being kind of cool in its own right, it got me thinking about generalizing the marathon experience to other accomplishments and life experiences. Wouldn't it be great if someone would say over a loud speaker when you taught a great class, published your nth article, drafted new tenure regs, helped a student land a clerkship, cooked an awesome meal for friends, got all your errands done in record time, etc and then handed you a medal (and a bagel)?
Be careful, or the anti-everybody's a winner crowd will come after you! Don't we kind of do that? Professor Soandso, teacher of the year. AAI recognizes the year's best article on competition policy. Of course, those are competitive selections; I suppose your point is that individual recognitions should come for individual achievement, and not just in running. So, agreed that it is strange to make such a big deal out of one particular (and particularly marketable) hobby.
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