Josette Norris To OAC

When Reebok first debuted their Harmony, Energy, Floatride fast line they had a few run specialty carry these this later evolved to big box Kohl's, and Dicks sporting having the Energy. The thing Reebok did was to continue offering promotions on their website and not brick and mortar. Reebok was probably aware of this with great website sales and having a very successful boutique/retro shop lineup- C85, pump.

All this never directly supported running though and didn't feed a mainstay in mass market (Kohl's, Dicks) and their $120+ run specialty line (symmetros, X) which didn't support Reebok Boston.

Reebok is frustrating...interestingly a lot of run specialty sell their Nano series which is no surprise as any gym, weights, circuit classes all are wearing Nano or HIIT models.

Last tidbit is their work line. For the last 6 years they've had "made in USA" Real cowhide leather workboots. They're actually a marvel especially compared to all of these inferior Faux materials they have that leaves no difference between Timberland @$150 and an Ozark trail@$45!!

**Puma should take note as they have a lot of their successful Basketball footwear on site and in finish line, footlocker, DSG. Yet go ahead and try to find a Deviate Nitro which is a real rival to endorphin speed, magic speed, at a shop much less website and it's crickets...

Are there ANY athletes left at Reebok? Who does Fox still coach? Assume that Justyn Knight has retired since he hasn't competed since the Olympics as far as I can tell. He should quit anyway since Fisher is now WAY better than him (no real surprise as Fisher showed far more talent in College, he was just getting a real degree from Stanford not a piece of useless paper from Syracuse).

Useless paper from Syracuse? What has Fisher done with his paper from Stanford. Nothing. It’s useless. Syracuse is a top school btw. And what about any of these athletes besides Hehir from Syracuse who actually went on to med school while running pro and is now a physician ? His Syracuse papers got him both an incredible carrer and a fantastic running opportunityThat’s why people like Norris etc shouldn’t quit their day job. Running alone is a waste of education

Agreed. Except not everyone is as intelligent as Hehir. Running full time is basically all they have for people like Norris, regardless of the crappy paycheck you get as a low level pro . They don’t have any other career to fall back on. And that is disappointing especially after getting undergrad and even grad degrees.

Justyn Knight is Canadian and therefore not competing with him for spots on teams. Mo Ahmed is probably better, but if Justyn hasn't retired, I think he's still an incredible talent and obvious yes for Canadian teams when he's healthy. Wouldn't be shocked to see him at BTC.

You don't have to be highly intelligent to apply well the level of intelligence and education you do have. Hehir and Riley are probably outliers among their peers, but too many tell themselves the story that they are robbing themselves of potentially running their best if they spend even 20 hours per week on developing another skill set and career opportunity. And that's a tragic lie.

What's not to like about Norris to On? Sure, her late career progression is shocking (2:15 to 2:02, 4:40s to 4:20s, etc.) and unusual. But she had a great year in 2021 (3:59) and as late as indoors last year (Winter 2022) was as good or better, running indoor pr's of 4:20 mile and 8:37 3k (her outdoor pr is 8:50), and she ran 14:51 in 2021. So, she just had one down outdoor campaign and now gets the benefit of altitude training with a very, very good group that has had tremendous recent success with a lot of athletes. She has every chance, if healthy now, to get back under 4 and 14:40s or better, and compete for the US team.

Still seems harsh. Generally on these boards, people overrate college achievements. The path from college star to pro star is clouded by survivor bias. Sudden progression mid or late career isn't unusual and it's not like she's run crazy times - 3:59.72 and 14:51 aren't going to scare many global elites, especially not in the supershoe era. We aren't even close to Houlihan territory here. For a second tier US runner with solid but unspectacular PBs, she gets a lot more negative commentary than I'd expect. She's about the equivalent of Johnny Gregorek or Josh Thomson and they don't draw similar criticism.

I’d say 3:59.72 is more like a 3:32-3:33.xx type runner. It puts you in the mix vs almost everyone but Kipyegon, Muir and Tsegay.

Those guys are scrappy 3:34 runners for the most part. She didn’t run crazy times but it did seem like she was going to make a team and be a factor (eg make a final). It was disappointing when she probably chose the wrong event and wasn’t close. Not saying her progression is impossible or ehatever but she has huge jumps at age 23 and age 25 after not showing crazy talent or whatever. That draws the skeptics here.

She didn’t even come close to 3:59 last year and has been running the 1500 mostly as a mediocre runner. Hardly in the same category as Muir.
Didn’t choose the right event- once. What happened last outdoors when she did run the “right” event. Nothing much.

Not likely.

Knight would last a couple weeks, tops, with Bowerman.

And...thats why we hate on her? Seems like a dumb reason. They are both huge upside.

He said it's puts her in a category with everyone EXCEPT Muir, Tsegay, and Kipyegon (I'd add Hassan). And that was right for 2021 when she was a factor in a few DL races. I assume that Ritz and On are betting she can get back to that form. But yes, I understand the questions about whether she's genuinely talented or just hit a good patch of form when everything clicked. This year will probably answer that, she could hardly be in a more conducive place and group for a 1500/5000 runner

One thing is fairly obvious.

Josette Norris dominated the new signings of 2023. This thread proves it.

Proves nothing. 2023 is 14 days in. And most people don’t have a clue who this chick is.