Yifter's stride is a thing of beauty
Yifter's stride is a thing of beauty
Rubbin, son, is racin'
10milers wrote:
When I’m racing, someone getting on my shoulder is all part of it. I don’t like it, but it’s part of racing. But what I hate is when out on a run and you pass someone and they speed up to stay on you. Why do people do that?
I like it when I have a group of people pushing me. Some of my favorite 5K memories involve a group of 3 or more and we are all wanting for it to be over...misery loves company. With just one person it's weird...and only worth the fight if you are actually going for first place. Many times it's not the case.
Out on a leisurely run and someone tries to stay with you? Those people are mentally ill. I had some women try to keep up with me while running in Chicago one morning (she was gasping for air) and I almost told her to leave me alone but I turned several corners and ditched her. Don't ruin my morning vibe, wacko.
it's a competition wrote:
It's almost like Rupp thinks he's competing against Kemei rather than cooperating with him.
+1
I could care less about his running style I just hate him he's got no personality he's got no Swagger he's as Bland as you get he's not nice he's not kind to fans he's got no interest in anything would himself multiple times meeting him being associated with people around him have given me the exact same conclusion he's got no sports Personality and nothing likeable at all
Of course people people hate people sitting on their tail racing style. That is why people do it. Many races or games have been won by not who was the best but by who got into the others head. I'm not saying Rupp wasn't the best. I'm just saying if Rupp running that way bothered his opponents he played it well.
My take:
First, location matters. I get irked when someone is directly behind me because I have a very long stride and tend to get clipped if someone is right behind me. If they are off to the side slightly, that is a different issue.
Secondly, your position in the race matters. If you are not competing for the overall win or a money finish, I think it is kind of weak for someone to just sit on you the entire race and not share the work. If you aren't getting a money finish, you are usually essentially racing for your best possible time (although I admit there are exceptions - maybe you want top 25 or 50 or 100 at a major race), and sitting on someone else is simply a bad approach to getting the best possible time. This happened to me last weekend - I am in big race (14,000 people) and am running with a pack of about 8-10 guys. I end up at the front of the pack. I am 46 and no one else is older than 30 or so. They all just sit there right on my heels and shoulder, no one taking the lead. I playfully commented that "maybe some of the young guys should get up here and help with some of the work" and eventually one of them put some work in. We finished ahead of the rest of that pack and finished 26th and 27th overall. There was no reason not to work as a group to improve our times at that point. I would rather finish 30th in the 15k with a 49:10 than 26th with a 49:20.
Third, the race itself matters. I get why Meb was irked with Rupp in the Trials. They had made a break and if they worked together at all, they would have assured themselves spots on the Olympic Team. Rupp sitting on Meb like that gave Meb three options: get used for drafting, slow down and force Rupp to take the lead and thus risk letting others back into the race, or weave around forcing Rupp to respond. Rupp had every right to do what he did, and Meb had every right to think it was an annoying tactic, especially for a guy who was head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
I think my the final point is the shakiest, but sometimes it isn't about whether people are right to be irked, just about whether people are irked.
In my opinion thats a very arrogant moves by Kimei side pointing the ground!
If my memory serves me well Eliud Kipchoge did the same . Maybe Rio or Berlin one of the two. But Kipchoge right after pointing the ground increased the pace and went for the win. He was the strongest of the two. Anyway I m sure that it wasnt
Eliud Kipchoge style and I was surprised when he did that. But maybe the adrenaline of the race made him a little nervous that time and lost for a while his proverbial focus and his quiet mind of a true champion as Eliud is.
Now here in Roma - Ostia Galen Rupp was the strongest of the two. I dont know much about Kimei, he s in a club named Purosangue (pureblood) and this club claim that they are clean and dont use peds hmmmmm if they so we must believe it no?
Anyway it was such an arrogant moves.
Many of you are runners ,now think you do the same with a runner stronger than you in a race. Too bad
Rupp doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks. Which is probably why he is both very successful as a runner and widely disliked in the running community. He comes off as a running robot who does whatever his coach, who is also widely disliked both as a runner and coach, tells him to do to win.
Didn't Gwen Jorgensen do this strategy in the run section in the Tri for the Olympics. She let the girl that ended up in second lead while she just sat on her, despite being the stronger runner. After awhile the second place girl started trying to force Gwen to take the lead by suddenly slowing down multiple times in hopes she could make Gwen do all the work. When the poor girl was clearly annoyed and defeated mentally, Gwen passed her with authority and never looked back for the gold. Quite humorous at the time.
Tactics, ones to screw with your opponents head, can mean the difference in winning a race and big money for them.
For the local races, my guess is these guys were just trying to hold onto your group as long as they could and get pulled to a PR. Hence, why they could not work with you to push the pace. No shame in that.
I have absolutely no qualms with this tactic in the Olympics, that is the ultimate placing event. The Trials aeeens like a different animal.
ronkitaus@yahoo.comwrote:
do you see the british complaining because mo farah usually sits on opponents and then unleashes a kick to win gold medals from 400 to 600 meters out ? why is it here in the USA that we complain about winning race tactics when they are used by a runner we don't like? on the other hand his tactics did not slow him down based on results? just admit it, he is the best male runner of the current generation in the US by a mile. enjoy it as it may be a long time before another comes along. i hope in boston he uses the same tactics as that is how boston is often won.
Cold hard truth - because nobody likes Elfie.
Him wrote:
I could care less about his running style I just hate him he's got no personality he's got no Swagger he's as Bland as you get he's not nice he's not kind to fans he's got no interest in anything would himself multiple times meeting him being associated with people around him have given me the exact same conclusion he's got no sports Personality and nothing likeable at all
It's a safe bet that he can express himself in a far more intelligent manner than you. It must be frustrating to write like that.
CaptainQuizno wrote:
Him wrote:
I could care less about his running style I just hate him he's got no personality he's got no Swagger he's as Bland as you get he's not nice he's not kind to fans he's got no interest in anything would himself multiple times meeting him being associated with people around him have given me the exact same conclusion he's got no sports Personality and nothing likeable at all
It's a safe bet that he can express himself in a far more intelligent manner than you. It must be frustrating to write like that.
I almost understand what he was writing for.a while. He (him) was just missing some punctuation. Until this part: "he's got no interest in anything would himself multiple times meeting him being associated with people around him have given me the exact same conclusion"
What?!?!?
Each and every one of the top 3 finishers in the US Olympic marathon trials received the same award of making the US Team and going to Rio.
But the prize money differed significantly:
1st $80k
2nd $65k
3rd $55k
So Meb and Rupp were still in a competitive situation where money (and the prestige associated with winning the race) mattered. They were Racing.
Rupp could sit in, and Meb could be annoyed, but that is all part of racing.
Even back in the pack, some people are still competitively racing for both place and time. Some people believe 26th place is much better than 30th place, and that 49:10 is much better than 49:20. Some believe that sitting and drafting as much as possible gives them the best chance of achieving a higher place or time.
In the example here, everyone that could would have latched onto the back of a runner who was passing this group.
I believe most people have much more respect for front runners who win by taking the lead and pulling away for the win (whatever that win may be...) rather than drafting and winning with a kick and pass at the end.
Much Respect for Rudisha in 2012 Oly 800. Benoit 1984 Oly Marathon. Wanjiru 2008 Oly Marathon.
And in a similar but different way, much respect for Centro 2016 Oly 1500.
biogen wrote:
I've never run competitively. If some guy's up your ass like this, what's the strategy here? Can the lead man do a break check and immediately slow down or is that too risky?
Take a look at your post.
It looks like your subconscious desires are leaking out of your post.
Please stop it.
snow blow wrote:
I don't seem to remember anyone on here bitching about Haile G doing the exact same thing whenever he ran.
I certainly was. Until he left the track, he never helped out at the front. ALWAYS sit and kick. Yes, yes, before you freak out and say, "the point is to win" or "that's just racing", I feel that there is a certain sense of decorum and consideration that earns the respect of other competitors. If you don't care about respect, then whatever, I guess. Have a look at Rupp's shins over the years in pictures post race- they're nearly always bloodied. That's not only the sign of a leach, but a parasite that runs up your back. I was glad to see Meb call him out. This YouTube video gives me great pleasure to see komen destroy geb and his refusal to lead:
https://youtu.be/pi0GgnyG0UAJos Hermens, who manages many of Ethiopia’s elite runners, said doping cases were not as many as had been reported.
“We are working with authorities to attack the (doping) matter. Africa does not need doping, they always produce good athletes,” the Dutchman said.
“We are working with Haile Gebrselassie in Ethiopia and Paul Tergat in Kenya. Reports doing rounds about doping, particularly in Ethiopia, are disgraceful,” he added.
Gebrselassie, the former Olympic and world champion long-distance runner, has said previously that dopers should be jailed for life.
“Doping cases in Ethiopia were so few, compared to Kenya, but that does not mean they were ignored,” he said.
“We will catch them. Some unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists have been misleading young athletes, but we will soon attack and deal with them,” Gebrselassie added.
https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/32010549.html
It looks like a lot of this drivel/nonsense goes back to Mr. Jos Hermens.
It is not a big surprise.
Was Galen wearing the NikeAerodynamicSpeedSuit® at the race in Italy?
http://i.pinimg.com/736x/67/ce/df/67cedfab137bdbbc04abddac026685ae.jpg
Go Galen!!!
Those are fair counterpoints. I'd certainly want the extra $15,000 if I were Rupp. But I guess it just seems ill mannered tonme since Rupp was easily the class of the field. He wasn't violating any rules and he wasn't dumb for doing so, but is still feels off to me and others.
I beat that entire pack that would do any work and the one guy who shared in the work, and got a nice PR in the process, so no big deal at the end of the day. Still seems silly to me back toward the second or third or forth packs unless guys are indeed out over heir heads, and feeels evens sillier to me at small local races. I will let people hear about it if they do it to me, but I usually do it in a joking way instead of the aggressive way I used to do it.
Fair points all around, but the fact still remains that Rupp is simply not a popular figure when you consider how much success he's had. I certainly respect the helm out of him as a runner though, even if I'd never adopt the same approach to racing (you know, were I 11 minutes faster in the half-marathon.
I agree it's annoying for anything longer than 3k when it's single file and sit and kick. Unfortunately, it's the way the sport has evolved and frankly it has the same feel as guys diving in soccer games -- it's usually legal, but it's not sport. At the same time, we wouldn't have had the 2003 10k WC, when Haile had to set the pace hoping he could break the young Bekele, which he didn't, but in the process the two ran a sub-13 second 5k. My favorite: the 2009 10k WC, when Tadese at his peak tried to use his incredible engine - which he should have brought to the marathon sooner - to burn the sprint out of Bekele, who was in the last year of his prime. Bekele won, but it felt as though we'd seen the last round of a boxing match when the challenger knew he needed the knock out and brought all his accumulated wisdom and strength to bear in an effort to dethrone the king. Like Tergat and Get, those two had followed each other through track and CC, and eventually when they raced you forgot about who was sitting and just enjoyed the race.