Craig Engels on Kejelcha Being in Wanamaker "I was kind of pissed actually. It's usually all Americans and Nick Willis"

Engels sounds like a crybaby. This is pathetic.

jiaaf wrote:

Engels sounds like a crybaby. This is pathetic.

Did you actually listen to him? Or just read it?

Definitely didn't sound like a cry baby. He sounded honest.

wejo wrote:

jiaaf wrote:

Engels sounds like a crybaby. This is pathetic.

Did you actually listen to him? Or just read it?

Definitely didn't sound like a cry baby. He sounded honest.

I had just read it when I posted. It sounds pathetic. It can be pathetic and honest. After watching it, he appears to be joking. However, unless this is just shtick it is entirely pathetic.

Isn't he a professional? Does he not want to go up against the best? Or just the best white guys?

This is a bad take from Engels. Race the best. If you want a winner's trophy then race at USAs or your local 5k.

jiaaf wrote:

wejo wrote:

Did you actually listen to him? Or just read it?

Definitely didn't sound like a cry baby. He sounded honest.

I had just read it when I posted. It sounds pathetic. It can be pathetic and honest. After watching it, he appears to be joking. However, unless this is just shtick it is entirely pathetic.

Why did you comment on how he sounded, when you hadn't watched it?

SAlly V wrote:

Isn't he a professional? Does he not want to go up against the best? Or just the best white guys?

Willis is one of the best...way better than Kejelcha anyway.

Honest, sure. Still wasn't a respectful comment, especially when made about a training partner.

Engel's comment about Kejelcha being able to run a 3:47 mile also struck me as odd. NOP has a history of being somewhat reserved about training and that's quite a bold claim. Was it a workout he saw him do? Did he (Kejelcha) time trial a 1000/1200 that indicated such a time would be possible? Don't see Kejelcha beating any of the top Kenyan milers in this summer, although his double at UW certainly showed he's in phenomenal shape. Sub 3:50 wouldn't be particularly surprising but I'd still give it to Cheserek or Managoi any day of the week at any pace, especially a race that actually went 3:47 pace through 1000

that doesn't make sense wrote:

jiaaf wrote:

I had just read it when I posted. It sounds pathetic. It can be pathetic and honest. After watching it, he appears to be joking. However, unless this is just shtick it is entirely pathetic.

Why did you comment on how he sounded, when you hadn't watched it?

The content as relayed by the OP is what I commented on. I used the word "sounded" because it is ubiquitous in the manner I used it.

The content is pathetic. If Tom Brady said that the Pro Football Championship used to just be white guys and he was bemoaning this, it would sound pathetic.

Hello Coevett?

Hey brojos, when will you ban this racist douche?

jiaaf wrote:

that doesn't make sense wrote:

Why did you comment on how he sounded, when you hadn't watched it?

The content as relayed by the OP is what I commented on. I used the word "sounded" because it is ubiquitous in the manner I used it.

The content is pathetic. If Tom Brady said that the Pro Football Championship used to just be white guys and he was bemoaning this, it would sound pathetic.

The content relayed by the OP included a video. Why didn't you watch it first, and then comment, as opposed to the reverse? You should know that words come across differently in video as opposed to text snippets.

Kejelcha ran 7:28 and 12:46 last year, plus low 59, and he was the de facto rabbit in that race from at least 2k to 4700m or 4800m, which means that he was in superb shape. He ran 3:52 after a quick 1k victory over an 800m specialist recently. 3:47 is not out of the realm of possibility here. It's also clear that NOP is training him to not only greater endurance but the kind of mile ability that Mo attained and which allowed Mo to take his champion's mentality of pushing the pace the last 600m of a race and outkicking anyone who challenged him and actually do it, which he had already tried to do for years before NOP, and bring it successfully to fruition. If they can get a real kick for Kejelcha by giving him a little more explosive force, a little functionally stronger, they might just get a many time gold medalist, but Barega and probably guys like Kiplimo and Cheptegei, as well as Rhonex Kipruto, will still be very difficult to beat at 5, in the first case, and 10 in the others.

that doesn't make sense wrote:

jiaaf wrote:

The content as relayed by the OP is what I commented on. I used the word "sounded" because it is ubiquitous in the manner I used it.

The content is pathetic. If Tom Brady said that the Pro Football Championship used to just be white guys and he was bemoaning this, it would sound pathetic.

The content relayed by the OP included a video. Why didn't you watch it first, and then comment, as opposed to the reverse? You should know that words come across differently in video as opposed to text snippets.

I stand by my comment. You will NEVER tell me what to do.

As for Engels, he was joking but his jokes showed that he still lacks the confidence that all the champions have. It is excellent for him, however, to have the quality partners to train with like Brazier and Murphy, so that he'll be doing much better speedwork (50/37/24 was very strong at this time of the year) and better 1k's and mile repeats. I expect him to make a breakthrough this year to 1:44 low or 1:43 high and 3:32-33.

I'm a little bit surprised how stiff Engels seemed in this interview. Although part of the problem was the interviewer who was making some pretty bad jokes and forcing a lot of the questions.

jiaaf wrote:

that doesn't make sense wrote:

The content relayed by the OP included a video. Why didn't you watch it first, and then comment, as opposed to the reverse? You should know that words come across differently in video as opposed to text snippets.

I stand by my comment. You will NEVER tell me what to do.

You revised your opinion, so actually you don't stand by your original comment. That's why I'm trying to understand why you did things the way you did, and helping you avoid this in the future.

I stand by my comment that the comment attributed to Engels is pathetic and cry babyish. However, Engels was being honest apparently while appearing to be somewhat joking. If I joked that you are an ass, I still am conveying that you are indeed an ass.

Who was the interviewer, I did not like him.

You could also tell how uncomfortable Craig was in the interview. You don't really see him too much on social media or in interviews. But from what I can tell on the bits of his life on social media, he seems like a chill, genuine guy!

You make good points.

I don't rule out the possibility of a 3:47, but if he's running that time the winner is running 3:46-3:45. There are just better milers out there right now who are fit and who I'd pick in any kind of situation. We also have to consider what opportunities he will have to run a super fast mile (although I may eat my words in two weeks), given how late outdoor worlds are I would not risk him running a 3:4x high at Pre or Oslo (correct me on that, as I forget where it falls in the season) unless they build in downtime during the summer. They never prioritized running fast full miles with Mo, just 1500s. And that seemed to work pretty well.

Your points about Mo are fair, but I personally don't think Kejelcha will have the same dominance as him outdoors. Kejelcha still has no world outdoor medals and there are a slew of guys (Chelimo, Barega as you mentioned, and a slew of European and American guys) who have raced him and know that Salazar is preparing him to have the kind of dominance that Farah had. London showed you can beat these tactics. All it would take is for two Kenyans (or hell, even Americans, but it's unlikely) to say let's go run 3:56 for the last 1600, make a hard move at 1000-700 to not let Kejelcha do what we know he's going to do, and the last 400 will be a pretty fair fight. Turn Edris/Kejelcha's tactics in 2017 on whoever is the world beater in 2019 and you will have a pretty even playing field. I don't think the teammate of the sacrificial lamb would have quite the advantage with guys like Chelimo and Edris presumably in the race, but it would be more interesting than what always seems to happen when Americans race Centro in the 1500, and many of Farah's long distance races.

My thumbs are numb.