Emma Bates: "We Are 2:18, 2:19 [Shape], For Sure"

Temps were below 60 and wind speeds were single digits until after she, herself, and her finished. Not hot. As the winners showed, along with Albertson and Sullivan, it was close enough to ideal conditions.

Maybe the coach was the one who had the hamstring injury. Not sure why that would slow down Bates herself but perhaps there is more to her use of "we" than we've been assuming.

True or not, it would be refreshing for her or any elite really to just say “I had a bad race and wasn’t in the shape I hoped I was.”

Pre race press conferences are useless.

These women that said they wanted to run 2:18 were out 10 seconds a mile slow through 5k. Did not pick it up and went through half way in 1:11. THEY HAD PACERS.

The 2:20 pacer (Reid Buchanan) was great but was 90 seconds ahead of the 2:18 pacer at the HM.

So Keira, Emma Bates and Betsy Saina all lied when they said that the goal was 2:18. None of even attempted that pace from the gun.

Keira and Zach Panning both said they were feeling great at the presser. After the race they both shared that they were nursing an injury. I understand not being willing to share but why have a pre race presser?

Every Chicago it's the same thing from her. I'm sure come next Chicago we'll hear it again.

Either Chicago is just not her race, and she should select a different race, or maybe she just refuses to believe she's not as good as she thinks she is.

I dunno why she would complain about heat if it wasn't hot. Sara Hall complained about the humidity. Maybe the humidity made it feel warmer than it really was. if the wind was 8-9 mph, that is significant. Maybe the winners could have run significantly faster.

Oh I agree was just reporting what she said. And it’s a bit more duplicitous as she said she was in great shape before the race and training had gone well. Well it hasn’t gone well if you have niggles.

I feel the same with Keira. A foot issue out of nowhere when she was raving about her training at altitude.

At least Sara Hall is honest. She says she doesn’t know what happened and is upset about it. I think the truth is- it’s hard for everything to come together on the day for the marathon some of these women may have seen their best days. But I admire Sara for keeping on pushing.

To be fair both of them are normally ok in the heat - lots were saying it was humid. I’m guessing the winner had done more heat training.

It’s wild someone as average as Emma can get a contract. There shouldn’t be more than 2-3 us woman marathoners with a pro contract given how irrelevant they are on the world stage. Same goes for the us men.

It's funny about the conditions- I have friends who ran 2:32 (man) 2:43 (42 yrs old) and 2:51 (women) among others at various times.

The 2:51 said the conditions were perfect (I think it was in the moment excitement just post race).

The others said it was humid and could have been better to be perfect.

Average, huh? Ranked as high as 13th in the World for Marathon, her last six (6) years have been 2:25, 2:25, 2:24, 2:22, 2:25, 2:24... places 11th at WMM.

See if this resume is average -

worldathletics.org

Emma BATES | Profile | World Athletics

Emma BATES, United States - Road Race, Marathon, 10,000 Metres, 15 Kilometres Road, 10 Kilometres Road, 25 Kilometres Road, Half Marathon

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If you truly think you are in "2:18 - 2:19" shape, you don't go out for the first half in 1:11 with the mindset that "I'll pick up the pace if I'm feeling good." That's what you do if you think you are in 2:22 shape and that 2:20 is an achievable reach goal.

So either she's lying to herself, she's lying to the media, or she and Joe have no idea how to analyze data and make a race plan.

She already lied to the media when she said she had a little issue after Falmouth but quickly got back on track and the rest of her training was perfect. Post-race, it became "actually, I've been dealing with tendinopathy."

Then she's blaming the weather, but the women's WR was shattered on this same day. And Korir set a non-Kiptum course record, so could it have really been that bad?

I used to like Emma and I want to root for her. But for now, she's a 2:22 marathoner and we shouldn't think otherwise until she proves it with her race times, not her training data.

Emma Bates is a non binary or what they call it? Non gender person...

I ran on Sunday - it was definitely not hot. A bit breezy but not windy. Close to perfect morning weather-wise.

Heat isn’t the same as humidity. I ran as well. Wave 1. It was definitely a bit humid. Still good conditions. But I wouldn’t say they were the true definition of “perfect” for a marathon.

Next year can Emma just run the time she is telling us she is capable of and just shut up?

No, Emma is very much a woman and is actually kinda hot. She's a decent marathoner on the world stage, but she just thinks she's better than she is.

In a post-race interview, Bates added on their behalf, “we are going home devastated”.

I think this guessing what shape you are in stuff especially for a marathon is dumb.

Aren’t you training for months? I’m all about being positive but shouldn’t you be doing long tempos and stuff where you have a really good idea of how fit you are?

I remember reading Kipchoges training and him doing a 30-40k tempo once a week.

Did Emma do some 20-25 milers at all?