ABSTRACT Title of Document: LANDSCAPES and TRADITIONS
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ABSTRACT Title of Document: LANDSCAPES AND TRADITIONS OF MARATHONING IN THE USA, 2000-2008 Krista Marie Park, Doctor of Philosophy, and 2012 Directed By: Professor Nancy L. Struna, Department of American Studies This dissertation concludes that the symbiotic relationship between two competing cultural traditions of marathoning, Corrival and Pageant, simultaneous creates and eliminates barriers to marathoning participation. Using John Caughey’s strategies for studying cultural traditions and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital to differentiate between and describe two different approaches to training for and participating in marathons among runners in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area (BWMA). Drawing on participant observation, interviews of runners in the BWMA, and an exploration of the geography of running in the BWMA, contextualized by discourse analysis of three prominent marathon training guides and the covers of the two most influential running magazines, this dissertation also explores the strategies individuals’ use to overcome actual and potential obstacles to marathon participation, such as parenting or restrictive work schedules. LANDSCAPES AND TRADITIONS OF MARATHONING IN THE USA, 2000-2008. By Krista Marie Park Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Advisory Committee: Professor Nancy L. Struna, Chair Professor John L. Caughey Associate Professor Martha Geores Associate Professor Sheri L. Parks Associate Professor Mary Corbin Sies © Copyright by Krista Marie Park 2012 Preface Although I began studying marathoning intensively during the 2005-2006 school year and continue studying it to the present, this dissertation explores marathoning in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area (BWMA) from approximately 2001 to 2008. First, since earlier records have generally not been digitized, studying marathoning before 2000 would have been difficult. Second, rapid changes in technologies of the internet and the development of social networking in the early 2000s spawned a new, rapid growth in marathoning and another generation of change in 2008 or 2009. During this between 2001 and 2008, marathoners and marathoning institutions used the internet to share data about races and advertising for events and running groups, but there really was minimal interactive social networking during that period (by interactive social networking, I mean the instantaneous posting of activities and running workouts enabled by smart phones and other tracking devices). Once heavy, interactive social networking and real time use of internet tracking systems during training and racing became more common in marathon culture, the era discussed in this dissertation ended: reports in the running media of yet another huge spurt in participation in 2009 suggests that perhaps the increased social network is actually impacting participation in the marathon or yet another factor is in play. Time has passed since I conducted interviews and participated in and observed marathons. The publications I examined are no longer new, and some have been republished in revised editions. This study now explores the recent past instead of the present. Now, my junk mail from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s ii Team in Training and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society regularly includes training groups for Century Bicycle Rides and Triathlons in addition to marathons. Since both time and the historical moment has passed, I generally refer to events and activities throughout this dissertation in the past tense. I even use the past tense when the institution or individual continues to exist or act in the same position they were in during the 2006-2007 season. Lastly, since I inadvertently allowed my approval by the University of Maryland, Human Subject Research Institutional Review Board to lapse, I had to make all of my data anonymous, including my interviews. Consequently, I cannot state specifically which marathon each of the race organizers I interviewed managed or which charity group the interview subjects were affiliated with. iii Dedication To my parents, my friends, my coworkers (past and present), and my many teachers. I am definitely standing on the shoulders of giants. iv Acknowledgements Thank you to my adviser, Nancy Struna, and all of my committee members, John Caughey, Martha Geores, Sheri Parks, and Mary Corbin Sies, for their advice and patience as I have struggled to complete this dissertation while managing Field Division geography activities for the 2010 Census. Thank you to my coworkers, especially my supervisor David McCormack and my teammates Kristen Michaud and Mel Troxell, in the Field Division’s Geographic Support Branch for their assistance when my job obligations and school obligations conflicted. Thank you to all of the Field Division geographers who have read my writing over the past five years and given me feedback on many documents. Thank you to my many friends for standing by me over this decade long odyssey. Special thanks to Scott and Amanda Smith, Asim Ali, Donna Sralla, Christopher Swenson, and Thursday Bram for helping me keep my life in balance. Thank you to my mother, Jean Park, for transcribing my interview recordings, and to both of my parents, Jean and Gerald Park, for their unending support. Thank you to all of the individuals who agreed to be interviewed or helped me find people to interview. v Table of Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................... ii Dedication .................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... v List of Tables ............................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Overview ................................................................................................................... 1 Methods..................................................................................................................... 7 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 28 Theory ..................................................................................................................... 37 Chapter 2: Defining Marathoning: Boundaries and Institutions ................................. 52 Overview ................................................................................................................. 52 Marathoning: A Separate Field from Running ....................................................... 54 Racecourses in the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area (BWMA) ......................... 63 Racecourses: Elevation Changes ............................................................................ 67 Racecourses: The “View from the Course” ............................................................ 72 Racecourses: Length of Time the Course is Open .................................................. 80 Racecourses: Travel to the Event ............................................................................ 87 Institutions .............................................................................................................. 90 Institutions: Specialty Running Stores ................................................................ 90 Institutions: Training Groups .............................................................................. 99 Institutions: Training Plans ............................................................................... 105 Institutions: Training Practice ........................................................................... 108 Chapter 3: Perceptive Aspects of the Cultural Landscape of Marathoning .............. 117 Overview ............................................................................................................... 117 Perceived Difficulty .............................................................................................. 119 Companionship and Camaraderie ......................................................................... 126 Consuming a Marathoning Identity ...................................................................... 129 Gender Roles and Constraints ............................................................................... 140 Absences ............................................................................................................... 148 Chapter 4: Pageant Cultural Tradition ...................................................................... 153 Overview ............................................................................................................... 153 Success .................................................................................................................. 156 Ideal Landscape: Training ..................................................................................... 158 Ideal Landscape: Racing ....................................................................................... 166 Self & Body .........................................................................................................