But I always wonder why we cheer marathoners and not other ordinary people participating in other sports. Why don’t we cheer the people playing tennis on public courts? Or the people riding their bikes up a hill? Or people playing pick-up basketball—those guys work up a sweat!

My attitude about the runners is, hey, if that’s what you’re into, good on you for it. But I’m not quite sure why I should gather along the streets to applaud you and not, you know, basically anyone exercising in public.

So I kind of love this story in the Wall Street Journal about how deeply self-congratulatory runners frequently seem to be.

Here is one kind of bumper sticker I see almost daily here in my small Midwestern town: a small oval printed with “26.2” or “13.1.” In case you’re lucky enough not to know what these numbers represent, let me explain: They indicate that the driver or someone in the car has run a marathon (26.2 miles) or a half-marathon (13.1 miles).

There is only one reason running aficionados display the stickers. They want the rest of us to know about their long-distance feats. So let me be the first to offer my hearty congratulations. I’d even offer to give them a pat on the back—once they’re done doing it themselves