Dont forget Ben Blankenship, the guy with long hair that qualified for the olympics, worked construction and basically never showered even though he had access to one.
all of the people mentioned by the OP were sponsored so I'm confused by the definition of "blue collar runner." they all went away when $ got involved, just like we're seeing with college athletics. $ ruins everything. now there are even idiots making $ off of dumb YouTube running vlogs where they have no idea what they're even doing.
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Only current runner who I'd say remotely fits this category these days is Dillon Maggard. True roughneck.
What ever happened to the real ones?! It's all rich kids these days, with parents building them tracks in the backyard and stuff.
There's a fairly common idea here that if you aren't making money from your running you're wasting your time. Another fairly common idea here is that you can't run seriously if you need to work. Those ideas seem to have caught on.
They died when super shoes, fancy nutrition, charity runs, social media, and expensive AF race costs all crowded them out. Glam is what sells now. Honestly, you aren't competing as a "blue collar" runner without all the new tech and a few thousand to spend on EACH super popular marathon and half mary that you do. The most blue collar thing you can do these days is wear last season's super shoes you bought on discount and scarf down a salt/sugar mixture you made yourself on long runs.
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Mickey D's employee Boris Berian had tons of talent. Unfortunately, it seemed like that lawsuit, along with injuries got the best of him. However, he did have a nice two year stint at the top of US 800 meter running.
It's an interesting point being made by the original poster, re: the blue collar roots and modern nuances or lack thereof.
Some aspects are similar in masters running, too: whereas I am always strategizing -- if not battling -- to work overtime to gain some comp hours, afford taking time off from my full-time job and find funds to travel for key competitions, I've noticed a new breed of masters runner who has either retired early or can work from home (or on the road) or maybe simply already has independent wealth and can be free of this burden of financial and physical strain. Competing amongst amateurs is never an even field when economic factors are brought into play, but it really is an interesting development. If I could afford to retire from my job, I would! To be free of money worries has got to be one of the most fortuitous and powerful of provisions for safe, sound and successful athletic performance.
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It's an interesting point being made by the original poster, re: the blue collar roots and modern nuances or lack thereof.
Some aspects are similar in masters running, too: whereas I am always strategizing -- if not battling -- to work overtime to gain some comp hours, afford taking time off from my full-time job and find funds to travel for key competitions, I've noticed a new breed of masters runner who has either retired early or can work from home (or on the road) or maybe simply already has independent wealth and can be free of this burden of financial and physical strain. Competing amongst amateurs is never an even field when economic factors are brought into play, but it really is an interesting development. If I could afford to retire from my job, I would! To be free of money worries has got to be one of the most fortuitous and powerful of provisions for safe, sound and successful athletic performance.
Mickey D's employee Boris Berian had tons of talent. Unfortunately, it seemed like that lawsuit, along with injuries got the best of him. However, he did have a nice two year stint at the top of US 800 meter running.
There's a lot in this thread I don't really want to touch, but I do think there's something to be said about neoliberalism shrinking the middle class in America over the last 30-50 years and the impact that has on stratifying youth athletic development across classes. When your teenagers have to work to help pay the family bills, they aren't going to spend much time practicing sports. This is accelerating dramatically under Trump, so don't expect it to be any different 5-10 years from now.
Lot of folks come to mind. They’re just not at the top and don’t self promote so you have to be pretty close to notice them.
Looking at the 5k today I’d say most of those guys are grinders in the traditional sense. Hacker isdistance running royalty and sponsored but races a lot, was just training in Wisco for a few weeks. Works hard. Randazzo and Barraza in there have full time job and pays his own way to meets. Mwuara is broke af trying to run his way to a contract. And those are just the guys I know about. I’d be willing to bet half that field doesn’t have a shoe contract and is doing whatever they can to buy another year in the sport.
On the ultra side, Dan Green comes to mind. Until recently his only sponsor was the shoe store he works at. Living and training out of West Virginia, just missed out on a golden ticket last year at javelina and is currently running up to 160 miles a week for Cocodona 250.
As someone who personally knows Dan I can vouch for this. One hell of a great guy who works his tail off.