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Kevin Helliker from the Wall St Journal wrote a funny article about dudes who enter all-women races in order to win or meet girls. Really? Isn't the booing at the finish line a sign that this plan maybe isn't the best?

Please, gentlemen. Don't be THAT GUY.

- SD

Interlopers Run Amok: Guys Crash Road Races for Women
They Come in First, Are Dissed at Finish; For Meeting Fit Females, 'It's Hard to Beat'

Jonathan Mederos set a personal record in Disney's Princess Half Marathon last year, winning first place with a time of 1:16:17.

The reception he got was far from his personal best, though. "When I crossed the finish line, the announcers were silent, and I got downcast looks from the crowd," says Mr. Mederos, a 25-year-old high-school philosophy teacher in Miami.

That's what a guy gets for winning a women's race. As Rick Cordes took last year's Nike Women's Half Marathon, he slunk across the finish line, with a finger pressed to his lips, beseeching silence after having been heckled throughout the race.

"Maybe I shouldn't have been so competitive in a race that I would have been slaughtered in if it were an all-men's field," says Mr. Cordes, a 48-year-old California real-estate broker, in an email. He was one of nearly 700 men among more than 12,700 women in the Nike Half Marathon.

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Men can register for these races, as footnotes on the event websites note. Technically allowing guys to run avoids legal spats, pleases charity sponsors whose fund-raisers are often male and engenders a magnanimous spirit. But these races tolerate rather than welcome male participants.

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We suggest men only do the race in support of a woman or charity," says the website of this week's Nashville Women's Half Marathon. "If he is looking to win a race, get an award or [set a personal record], we would be happy to suggest some other events in the local area that would be better suited for those goals."

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While male participation in the Nike Half Marathon has risen steadily over the years, the number of men running Disney's Princess Half Marathon jumped to 423 this year from 196 in the debut. Men remained vastly outnumbered, with nearly 11,000 women running this year.

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Other men see a target-rich environment. "If you want to meet fit young women, it's hard to beat," says Maj. Christopher Sopko, a 31-year-old pilot in the Ohio Air National Guard.

Although men are loath to admit it, one appeal women's races have for them is the shot at a better finish. Men who ran in the middle of a pack of guys can finish near the top of a field teeming with women.

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To see the full story, go here.