Not saying anything about their work ethic. Just looking to understand why a website that routinely brushes over dozens or hundreds of sub 2:10s run all over the world would celebrate a 2:13 so much.
Not saying anything about their work ethic. Just looking to understand why a website that routinely brushes over dozens or hundreds of sub 2:10s run all over the world would celebrate a 2:13 so much.
I would like to submit Rojo's write up about the short course as exhibit B. Within hours of an incredible performance (no judgement on length of course, could be short I dont know) Rojo posts up raging about how nobody could run that fast. Ignoring that he uses weather.com and watching videos of the race online as proof, the whole "op-ed" sounds angry and bitter. If a white guy dropped 2 minutes off his pr after running a dozen marathons LRC would have a splash page celebration it.
Callerouter said: Letsrun staff, in your write up of the marathon champs you wrote "ZAP Fitness Reebok teammates Josh Izewski and Joseph Stilin placed third and fourth in fantastic times of 2:13:14 and 2:13:19... "
as has already been pointed out, that was not written by LetsRun staff, but by staff at the USATF Communications office, which is why it says at the top, "by USATF Communications." which means, basically, you can't read.
next, we have the idea that you are comparing marathon times on one course with times on another course. there are a number of factors that affect race performance; the course itself, the weather, the quality of the opposition, whether you are running for time or for place, and the tactics employed by your competitors. all of these factors mean that knowledgeable running fans do not usually compare performances in different championships against each other. but, on top of that, we have that eight of the last ten world records in the marathon were set on the Berlin course, but no American record has ever been set on the Sacramento course, which means you are comparing a time set on the acknowledged fastest course in the world against a race run on one of the slowest courses in the United States. maybe, just maybe, there's a good reason Kipchoge ran in Berlin and not in Sacramento.
and finally, for comparison, with a time of 2:13:14, Josh Izewski was 8.8% of the race distance from the finish line when the WR ticked over. in this year's US 10,000m championship the equivalent 3rd place was Elkanah Kibet (U.S. Army) who ran 29:05.51, which is 9.4% of the race distance behind the WR. are you also going to bash on him for not running fast enough or is it only marathon runners who earn your illiterate ire?
Callerouter wrote:
I agree that blue collar has a definition, but how frequently is it used to describe a non white athlete on this website? Typically athletes who are minorities are described as "incredible talents" or "gifted" suggesting they dont work as hard as "workhorse" or "blue collar" white athletes. Context is everything. Not accusing Brojos of racism, just asking that they consider the differences in their language when describing athletes who look like them and those that don't.
Oh, make no mistake it's certainly racist. It's unclear if that tone is instigated here by the Brojos or if they simply encourage such tripe. Really, it's a reflection of how media and society approaches framing performance in any arena from people of different races. Reggie White's infamous sermon is a glaring example of this, (poorly) cloaked racism. On a different note, 2:13s (rather than sub-2:10s) happen because of Letrun.