Christian Hesch wins Rock-n-Roll Providence 1/2 Marathon 1 day after 4:00 mile- crazy

who's talking about C level kenyans? well at least besides that ethiopian guy who goes by 8 different names. nobody said anything about kisorio after philly last year, but oh what a difference a year makes.

I would imagine rock and roll doesn't test except at the big races, but the pittsburgh marathon always tests, so i'd imagine they tested there for that much cash.

Great time and race. (Only) 10 seconds ahead of 2nd, why not show some respect? Those guys are good runners too also racing for money.Pushups before the finish -is- douchey and attention-seeking.In other sports, the concept is, "Act like you've been there before."Heck, other sports actually have rules against such unsportsmanlike conduct.

Ballsy wrote:

Instead, the 33-year-old Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series veteran squeezed in a few pushups before crossing the finish line at 1:07:05.

“Why? Why not? You can’t always be so serious about it,” he said with a laugh.

"Act like you've been there" is something boring has beens on ESPN say. If I wanted to watch someone act like they don't care about anything, I'd watch f*cking Battlebots.

Great double by Hesch!

However, I've always had mixed feelings about the "dude." (are we allowed to express our opinions, as fans of the sport, on runners we like or don't like as much? Yeah, pretty sure that's the case )

One the one hand, one can not question his talent, and hard work, and that he has had some outstanding results over the years. This is without doubt. Furthermore, I agree he has had added some flavor to the sport rather than the blandness we normally get.

However....doing push-ups before the finish line, in view of the 2nd place finisher, is nothing more, and nothing less, than showboating. Not a big deal either way, but let's call it what it as: not particularly respectful of your competitors, and trying to bring some extra attention to yourself (winning is not enough?). And that's not a big slam, we all like attention, but it is what it is.

And I think a lot of the other things/stunts he has done fit into this category. Even the boardshorts while rabbiting. Again, not a big deal, but what's the point really? To be "lighthearted" and "not take things too seriously", or to get a little extra attention and show an attitude of: this comes easy to me, I am really not even trying that hard.

I guess its what one might expect from someone who seems to have had the talent to become a legit star, but it never quite worked out. So that type of person one might expect would look for less substantive ways to catch attention and maybe say: I'm just here for "fun," I'm not really caring about it that much.

(or, we can simply blame his triathlete background, where the ego level and attention seeking are just ingrained in the sport!)

Having said all that, the guy is an impressive runner, and yes, I damn sure wish I was as fast as he.

TR, very fair points. I would argue (as i pointed out earlier) that it doesn't come easy, it's just that i got lucky with a very easy day as, and this is no slight, those 2 behind me just didn't run very well.

I think the biggest part of the antics/shenanigans/sideshow crap is that I truly want people to talk about our sport. not you, not anyone else here on letsrun (we'll always talk about it, duh), but the people back in their office the next day at the coffee machine. whether they're talking about how cool it was that an american won over a couple ethiopians and had a 30s lead so he did pushups, or if they talk about how disrespectful it was of some cocky yank douchebag to bang out a few on the line, either way they're NOT talking about baseball, football, or nascar. I really don't care (obviously :) how it's taken, though i DO try to keep the douche level no more than medium, I just want ppl to talk about running.

Now, an obvious by product is that they will talk about ME....so perhaps the above is just my subconscious justification for attention seeking, but i'd like to think i do it for at least 50/50 for stated reasons~ and you are absolutely right about triathlon, that was DEF a factor in why i left triathlon...

cheers, dude~

please tell me this is a joke.

kevino wrote:

nice work randomdude. i'll always remember you for autographing teenager girls boobs and wearing sunglasses at night.

I don't know you from a hole in the wall, but having read this, I'm a fan. Best wishes!

This will be sure to piss some more people off. i don't care, just get over it people.

http://running.competitor.com/files/2012/08/Hesch_ChristianLeads-Providence12.jpg

Heschy, 2 weeks after 2011 NYC marathon was the 2011 Monterey Peninsula 1/2 marathon won by Ezyskas Sisay. Sisay tested positive for EPO @ NYC and all his race results including NYC and AFTER were vacated and Ezyskas Sisay was ordered by WADA or USADA to pay back all prize money earned at NYC and BEYOND.

Heschy, did Ezyskas Sisay return prize money from 2011 Monterey Peninsula 1/2 marathon? And did you get your portion of his returned 1st place $$$$?

Thanks - and this IS important to road racing in general.

i ran there, they sent everyone check to make up the difference along with an explanation letter stating that they were paying the difference and in the process of trying to recover the money from sisay. sounds like they just paid it themselves and were hoping to get it back from that doper. good luck with that, i'll be surprised if they get a red cent from him. I'm sure somerandomdude got the same letter i did

John Hesch wrote:

He's qualified for several Olympic trials but, unfortunately has wound up injured prior to each one.

Several? Nope.

faster than me, you're actually kinda both right....technically. Yep, only two trials, and both of those were marathon (much easier to Q for than the track, imo), I would imagine my pops wasn't differentiating between nat's & trials....buuuut, if you include triathlon, then technically it's 3, so since "several" is generally considered 3 or greater.....but whatever, doesn't really matter for a C level guy, right?

cheers, dude~

C. Hetch is a boss. When I grow up, I'm going to be just like you :D

really son, you want to be like Nick Symmonds. Hesch will never get paris hilton, never in his wildest dreams.

Hope nobody EVER compares me to symmonds....but I do envy his beer miling skills, I tried one a couple months ago, WOW! much harder than it looks. enlisted the help of Mr Luke Watson, even he couldn't help my sorry butt...first lap+beer was under 80sec, but then slowed down DRAMATICALLY! sheesh, finished up at 7:07, pathetic. pretty much got me thinking about leaving the sport ;) hats off to anyone who can keep chugging after 2-3 hard laps~

cheers, dude~

Its going to be funny when this guy gets caught taking the juice. 4min mile then winning a half the next day with push ups thrown in.

Real scum bag

kipkeino wrote:

Its going to be funny when this guy gets caught taking the juice. 4min mile then winning a half the next day with push ups thrown in.

Real scum bag

let this be a lesson to you: never do push-ups

hesch said that epo never caused a 'spike' in his performances over time. maybe epo allows you to run at a high level for a longer period of time and with back to back performances?