"It's Not The Critic Who Counts....."
by Robert Johnson

November 6, 2001

Well, I'm back from the 2001 New York Marathon.  Weldon ran horribly and the message boards are hot.

A few people are full of hate and negativity and most of it seems to be directed at me.

The message boards seem to be full of talk about all the supposed trash I supposedly talked in support of Weldon.  I really didn't talk any trash at all.  In response to Carl Nuccio's letter in Runnersworld, I made the following two main points:

1) I found it completely unbelievable that Carl Nuccio (or any distance running aficionado for that matter) would imply that Weldon Johnson wasn't one of 15 American athletes deserving of funding for the New York City Marathon.

And even though Weldon completely bombed in New York (at least by his and my own expectations), I'm not backing away my claim that Weldon deserved funding for the race.  

In much the same way that Haile Gebrselassie is receiving $500,000 to make his marathon debut in London based on his success at the 10k, Weldon deserved funding to New York based on his success at 10,000.  In 2001, Weldon is the No. 4 ranked 10k runner in the US, has run 28:10, and thus was deserving of funding. Since there are a lack of quality proven marathoners in the US, race directors are obviously going to have look for successes at other distances when making funding decisions.  

What I wrote on the message boards before the race is still 100% true:

"Wejo and myself will be the first to admit that a 10k isn't the same thing as a marathon. Weldon hasn't proven himself at the marathon. He's said that a hundred times. That being said, there's good reason to think he's got a good marathon in him. There is simply no way that ANYONE COULD POSSIBLE come up with a list of 15 other American marathoners that deserve funding over him."

This same line of reasoning also applied to Weldon being considered on of the pre-race American favorites. If you don't agree with my line of reasoning, then why don't you ask some of the other so-called favorites (there were quite a few) if they considered Weldon to be a contender.

One last thing to consider on this point. Even though Weldon ran way worse than I or he could have imagined, he still crossed the line as the #11 American.

2) I didn't understand why Nuccio or anyone for that matter would criticize a 30 minute 10k guy (29:49) for quitting his full-time job and moving to altitude to train full-time in the hopes of realizing his running dreams, and  I still standby by my support of Weldon's decision to pursue running to the utmost of his ability. His bold decision to follow his dream, when many running critics (probably all of whom love to rip people on message boards) viewed him as being nothing more than a mediocre local runner, is very admirable and has resulted in great rewards in the 10k (with his p.r. dropping an amazing 1:39 in the last 1.5 years).  If he'd had listened to the critics back then, he never would have become national class in the 10k, and if he listens to his critics now, he'll never enjoy the success in the marathon that he desires.

Now after making the above points, I did make a few posts on the message board in defense of Weldon. If people had simply made real arguments like a marathon is more than 4 times as long as the 10k and they didn't think Weldon was a marathoner, then I wouldn't have taken offense to that (although that still doesn't mean Nuccio is correct - Nuccio said Weldon wasn't deserving of funding which simply is not true).  I would have disagreed with them but not been really upset. I shouldn't have said anything but I got a little riled up when the attacks started to get personal in nature.  

On the message boards, I tried to take a critic up on their offer "to bet the farm" that Weldon wouldn't break 2:17 (not 2:14 as people are now stating).  I offered to bet $1,000 that he would break 2:17 with the loser making the donation to the other's charity.  I didn't guarantee or promise that he would break 2:17, I only stated that I was confident he would do so.  What I wrote at the time I still believe to be true:

"Of course it's a marathon and anything could happen but I definitely know the odds are way, way better than 50% that he breaks 2:17 and I think you do as well."

I guess the anonymous, cowardly critic evidently agreed with me as he or she refused to reveal his or her identity and agree to the bet even at an amount of his or her choosing.  It was a bet and thus there were no guarantees. It didn't happen but I still believe that the odds were in my favor that Weldon would break 2:17.  

The only thing that I regret is that I allowed lowered myself to the critics level by getting personal and calling one person "a fool".  It would have been better if I'd just had the discipline to ignore all of the posts in the first place.   Personal attacks do not belong on the message boards.

The negative and non-constructive nature of a small minority of the message board posters disgusts me. To all of those people who seemingly have little better to do with their time than rip into someone for dedicating themselves 100% to following a dream,  I ask you to consider the following words from Theodore Roosevelt:

The Critic

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Now, I'm not claiming that I'm perfect in this whole matter.  I'll agree with the person who said I was a bit "verbose" in my defense of my brother but hey LOYALTY is probably the trait I value most.  I love my brother and would do anything for him.  I feel horribly for how things went for him in New York but he'll get over it and move on.

Hopefully, we can all move on as a LetsRun.com community.  We started this web-site with the hopes of improving American distance running, not to tear it down.  I just hope in the future people will hesitate before the personally attack someone.  You don't all have to be fans of me or Weldon or any other runner and should feel free to post valid constructive criticism, but I do think everyone at least deserves to be respected personally unlesss they prove otherwise.

Comments: Email them to Robert.