Elitist Prigs

One of the things I like most best about running is the general sense of camaraderie that runners have with each other.  This is best found when you end up near another runner and there is an immediate connection.

These vary from light:
     "Nice day for a run."  
     "Good job."
to the the more involved:
       "What are you training for?"
       "How long have you been running?"
In fact, there is nothing that helps a workout go by than a nice conversation along the way.

In our online world, there is also a great source of encouragement to be found in the various running forums.  These are all over, with some of the more popular being offered by running magazines such as Runner's World and Running Times or on the multitude of online tracking programs such as Running Ahead and Map My Run.  Since a lot of my running is solitary, I have received a lot of encouragement from folks on forums.  In fact, one forum in particular had a great community of people all training for half marathons--what an encouraging group of people!

However, I have found that not all is well online.  The big difference is that in person, most people tend to try to be nice.  Online, on the other hand, people seem pretty free to be total jerks. 

This was highlighted recently as I started to make the transition from half marathon training to full marathon training.  Unlike the really friendly folks in the HM realm, there is a high incidence of what I like to call Elitist Prigs on the full marathon side.  These are the guys that think if you aren't running a 2:30 marathon that you might as well call the mortuary.  Also, apparently these guys were born with at least 5 marathons under their belt.  They are just brutal when it comes to responding to first time marathoners.

My solution--find the turtle rooms (it must be the Terrapin in me).  This is the place where people are running 4-5+ hour marathons.  These awesome folks are humble and helpful.  Plus, they probably work harder at their marathons than the speedy experts do.

What is it about going online that requires some to load up their flame-throwers and unleash all their fiery vengeance?