Read here:
http://fox59.com/2017/05/09/teen-finishes-16th-in-500-festival-mini-marathon-while-wearing-crocs/
The family swears by Crocs, and running is apparently mandatory:
http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/large-family-in-utah-aims-to-be-americas-fastest
The father, Sasha, a regular Letsrun poster, has a blog:
it's the magic underwear
given the limited gene pool the mormons had for their first hundred years, I am kinda surprised there aren't more Jared Ward's among them considering mitochondria are only inherited from the mother
eleven person family, just wow
This guy looks really disturbing. That must be what you mean when you're talking about the scrawny awkward runners. Are all runners in the US like that?
The father is from Moscow. I assume their kids are mostly if not 100% Russian
Is this child abuse?
asking for a friend
---
Fast Running Friend Workout - 2016-07-01 07:38:03
Workout Totals: Distance16.140Time1:51:37.60Pace6:54.97
I found myself in a dilemma. I needed to get a long run in with a tempo somehow. Benjamin needed to get a long tempo in. Sarah is 27 weeks pregnant and cannot run uphill, so she needs to start her run in the canyon. Benjamin has a cold and his hip is still not 100%. We have a 5 K (Murray Fun Days) coming up on Monday. Little boys need to run as well. Somehow I managed to find a solution that addressed all of the issues this morning.
Benjamin and I took Sarah to Canyon Glen Park. She ran home from there. We warmed-up 3.45 to the magic mark above Vivian Park and then did 8 mile tempo to the house. I carried a bottle with Emergen-C as I thought if he carried it it would mess up his already messed up form even more and we stopped religiously for Benjamin to take a few sips and stretch at the end of every mile. Benjamin was able to get through the run without major issues and finished strong gapping me by 10 seconds over the last 0.2 on the hill. He averaged 5:42 for the whole run, I got 5:43.5 average.
Then I ran back 4.7 to the car with Joseph and Jacob - we also stopped every mile for Emergen-C and to massage Joseph's legs. So I managed to get in 16 miles today with 8 of it at a tempo pace. Benjamin got in 11.5. Jenny and Julia ran with William and Stephen - usual distances.
Now I have seen everything.
Our world is a strange and painful place.
Best thread I've read all day. Great find, OP
The Crazy Garritson's get pushed to the back burner.
what a twat
He's smarter than most of you guys too:
"A math prodigy, Benjamin began taking classes at Brigham Young University, 10 minutes from their Orem, Utah, home, when he was 14 years old. He has earned an academic scholarship to the school and is on schedule to finish his undergraduate degree in applied mathematics within a year."
george oscar bluth wrote:
Best thread I've read all day. Great find, OP
Dude, the OP IS the father Sacha. Trying to get some attention I guess.
Okay, don't belabor us with the notion that BYU is a serious academic school.
zxvxzcv wrote:
Okay, don't belabor us with the notion that BYU is a serious academic school.
OK, I'll bite.
https://admissions.byu.edu/rankings-and-recognitionsKeen Observer wrote:
He's smarter than most of you guys too:
"A math prodigy, Benjamin began taking classes at Brigham Young University, 10 minutes from their Orem, Utah, home, when he was 14 years old. He has earned an academic scholarship to the school and is on schedule to finish his undergraduate degree in applied mathematics within a year."
Nah, I'm not a Mormon.
Guys, I was not the original poster. I am actually a bit surprised this event got so much attention - Benjamin ran 1:09:34 in the Monumental Half in Crocs without too many people noticing.
To answer some questions - I am originally from Russia, been here since 1993. My wife is American, originally from Texas. I am an LDS convert, her parents converted not too long before she was born, so we do not have Mormon pioneer genes. Our genes are not that great - not completely terrible, but I've seen lots of kids in the US that have much better genes. It is an interesting discussion, though, to see what happens over several generations if everybody down the line stays away from alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances, is physically active, eats meat in moderation, and consumes a lot of fruit and vegetables. It would be hard to find a perfect sample over multiple generations even among those who have pioneer lineage - members of our faith are pretty good at abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, but not as good at eating healthy and exercising.
It will obviously depend on the runner, but if you grew up running in Crocs (like my kids) or various shoes without a whole lot of support (myself), there is no significant difference between a Croc and a racing flat in terms of speed. When I was 18 I specifically trained for the 800 for about 6 months and ran 2:12 in spikes. When I was 37, I specifically trained for the 800 for a month and was able to run 2:12 again in Crocs. When I was 31, after some sprint training I ran 2:14 wearing racing flats. At the age of 17 I ran 27.5 200 in spikes. At the age of 37 I was able to run 28 low in Crocs. I have not done precise experiments switching shoes between intervals so I would really compare apples to apples, but my feeling is that I would not see a whole lot of difference even at sprint speeds.
It is not so much the shoe as it is the runner. With some experience you can train yourself to adapt to a variety of shoes. Ultimately it is all about the power of your legs relative to your body weight and your aerobic capacity.
I have approached Crocs in the past about the sponsorship, but they did not want to pursue it. Maybe it will be different this time. But at this point we have not been paid by Crocs to do anything - we just have been using them for reasons stated in the articles above.
I think if Crocs wants some publicity, for the order of magnitude of around $100K or so, or possibly even less, they can find a young man in East Africa with the talent and work ethic to run sub-60:00 that grew up running barefoot or almost barefoot, then pay him to train in Crocs for a couple of months to get used to it, pick a good race, hire some pacers, and he will run sub-60:00 in Crocs. I'll make sure to try to sell them this idea if they ever talk to me with a listening ear.
Would someone please get Renato in here...
Sasha Pachev wrote:
Guys, I was not the original poster. I am actually a bit surprised this event got so much attention - Benjamin ran 1:09:34 in the Monumental Half in Crocs without too many people noticing.
To answer some questions - I am originally from Russia, been here since 1993. My wife is American, originally from Texas. I am an LDS convert, her parents converted not too long before she was born, so we do not have Mormon pioneer genes. Our genes are not that great - not completely terrible, but I've seen lots of kids in the US that have much better genes. It is an interesting discussion, though, to see what happens over several generations if everybody down the line stays away from alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances, is physically active, eats meat in moderation, and consumes a lot of fruit and vegetables. It would be hard to find a perfect sample over multiple generations even among those who have pioneer lineage - members of our faith are pretty good at abstaining from alcohol and tobacco, but not as good at eating healthy and exercising.
It will obviously depend on the runner, but if you grew up running in Crocs (like my kids) or various shoes without a whole lot of support (myself), there is no significant difference between a Croc and a racing flat in terms of speed. When I was 18 I specifically trained for the 800 for about 6 months and ran 2:12 in spikes. When I was 37, I specifically trained for the 800 for a month and was able to run 2:12 again in Crocs. When I was 31, after some sprint training I ran 2:14 wearing racing flats. At the age of 17 I ran 27.5 200 in spikes. At the age of 37 I was able to run 28 low in Crocs. I have not done precise experiments switching shoes between intervals so I would really compare apples to apples, but my feeling is that I would not see a whole lot of difference even at sprint speeds.
It is not so much the shoe as it is the runner. With some experience you can train yourself to adapt to a variety of shoes. Ultimately it is all about the power of your legs relative to your body weight and your aerobic capacity.
I have approached Crocs in the past about the sponsorship, but they did not want to pursue it. Maybe it will be different this time. But at this point we have not been paid by Crocs to do anything - we just have been using them for reasons stated in the articles above.
I think if Crocs wants some publicity, for the order of magnitude of around $100K or so, or possibly even less, they can find a young man in East Africa with the talent and work ethic to run sub-60:00 that grew up running barefoot or almost barefoot, then pay him to train in Crocs for a couple of months to get used to it, pick a good race, hire some pacers, and he will run sub-60:00 in Crocs. I'll make sure to try to sell them this idea if they ever talk to me with a listening ear.
Weird. I'd assume there would be a lot of sliding inside the crocs, toes impacting the front etc but I'll take you at your word and the evidence speaks for itself I suppose.
Sasha Pachev wrote:
It is an interesting discussion, though, to see what happens over several generations if everybody down the line stays away from alcohol, tobacco, and other harmful substances, is physically active, eats meat in moderation, and consumes a lot of fruit and vegetables.
This would have no impact on genetics over multiple generations. End of discussion.
I feel bad for kids in families like that