The decline of Radcliffes star

That's right, I forgot that. My bad. By DNFing, though, she saved herself better for NYCM than Radcliffe did.

Jim H. wrote:

That's right, I forgot that. My bad. By DNFing, though, she saved herself better for NYCM than Radcliffe did.

Paula WASN'T ALLOWED to DNF Beijing.

Joseph McVeigh wrote:

PR is undefeated in marathons except for the two Olympics.

This is like saying she's undefeated except for the time she lost.

As for Loroupe, "invited" huge payday. She doesn't get paid like she used to, and she's plugging her foundation/charity more than her performance these days. Great reason to have her around, of course, but it is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

And the fact that she is in her 30s makes it more important to pick & choose. One bad race might be construed as "has been", and even if she is at only 90% she can beat alsmost anyone else who is at 100%. I PR'ed at 34, when I was almost 35, with the added physical tax of a fulltime job. She's got years ahead.

And "Les", that's exactly what I wrote, in different words. But it's still a competitive CV that's one of the best in the history of marathoning.

Vermonster wrote:

Wami did run in Beijing, she was a DNF.

Funny how there wasn't a hue and cry about how Wami had "disrespected" her competitors by dropping out of Beijing like the one that came when Radcliffe dropped out in Athens.

OP was right -- LetsRun really is slipping

Did you ever have stress fractures in your spine and large leg bones both within a 9-month span leading up to that PR at 34? PR's body is not holding up to the training load well enough to even show up at 90% of her old self. She has burned brightly but it has clearly come at a cost. Nothing wrong or at all unusual in that.

I think that the one thing everyone else on this thread has overlooked is the fact that the lady is a RUNNER with a killer instinct and needs to race. I'm sure she makes plenty of cash from endorsements and whatever and being very smart is most probably set for life and isn't even considering a potential decline in her race earnings. The long and short of it is she is feeling good and wants to race come hell or high water. Power to her, I say. Bet she wins.

Your guesses are getting more and more moronic. She ALREADY had a bad race (in case you missed it, she ran terribly in August) but nonetheless was able to command a big fee to race the NYCM and avoid the "has been" label you fear she could be subject to after a single bad race. She can run terribly in NYC (shhh, 2 bad races) and London will be more than happy to welcome her back next year at the going rate. That's just how it is when you are the world record holder, have won multiple major marathons and are white. Get over it.

w4x800 35-39 indoor wr wrote:

Your guesses are getting more and more moronic. She ALREADY had a bad race (in case you missed it, she ran terribly in August) but nonetheless was able to command a big fee to race the NYCM and avoid the "has been" label you fear she could be subject to after a single bad race. She can run terribly in NYC (shhh, 2 bad races) and London will be more than happy to welcome her back next year at the going rate. That's just how it is when you are the world record holder, have won multiple major marathons and are white. Get over it.

I suggest you go back to Joe's orginal post - all he said was that she is entered because because she thinks she has a shot to win not just for the payday and choosing this course makes sense from a commercial and professional perspective.

His post is completely true.

London will of course welcome her back if she has another crappy race but not at the rate she was getting (in fact doing well at NYC after the Olympic performance is the only way of getting the fee back up to close to the fees she used to get). There are no certainties in the marathon, but Paula's training must be going well for her to commit.

As an aside, I am pretty certain that Joe has forgotten more than you will ever know about the running of the NYC Marathon and marathoning in general, so perhaps you should keep your "moronic" comments to yourself.

"The decline of Radcliffes star" is a bad mixed metaphor. Stars generally explode and then contract as they age. Meteors, which are chunks of rock, fall (in terms of Earth's reference frame), although for some reason "meteoric rise" is popular among otherwise competent reporters.

colarnrgirl wrote:

Lucky for her things rarely go wrong.

except when the mix doesn't come out quite right

"w4x800 35-39 indoor wr", because PR "played hurt" in the Beijing OG, Except for you, everyone I have ever heard from -- runners, nonrunners -- gives her a "free pass" for that. There's a difference between a bad result and a bad race.

Maybe she should have used a fake name like "WmMthnOpenDivWR" so she wouldn't have been accountable for her actions.

Excuse me? I'm the one who stated that she can have a bad whatever-you-want-to-semanticallly-call-it at the NYCM (following a bad whatever-you-want-to-semanticallly-call-it at the Olympics) and it won't have any effect on her earnings next year. I have no idea what you are talking about regarding a free pass. Nice use of a strawman.

You are the one who foolishly believes that a bad NYCM will have severe financial consequences for her forever forward. You also foolishly think that she has many years of world class racing (and earnings) ahead of her despite the fact that she turns 35 in 2 months. Lastly, you also made the silly statement that was the running equivalent of Shaq's assessment, while on the Magic, that he had won at every level except high school and college.

w4x800 35-39 indoor wr wrote:

You are the one who foolishly believes that a bad NYCM will have severe financial consequences for her forever forward.

Like a lot of Gothamites, Joe has a long history of elevating the New York City Marathon (and the city in general, it seems) to exalted status, so his claim about Radcliffe follows as a corollary. Those outside the five boroughs know that Radcliffe is risking nothing at this (late) stage of her career by showing up anywhere, anytime, for a guaranteed payday.

"Free pass" = no penalty -- as in, when the "straw man" is on a broken leg and no training but because it's the damn Olympics, makes a try anyway even though it could wreck his leg for good, he does not get a mark against him and instead gets get respect for gutting it out in race where's it's when he doesn't even get paid.

A big-city marathon, unlike the Olympics, can be a "take the money and run" swindle operation. You've seen it before. Guy shows up hurt or fat, DNFs early, and guess what? Their invitations dry up because it's a very small sub-culture and when you screw someone, everyone knows.

Look up Abel Anton's entry in the ING NYCM a few years ago. Fresh off the World Championship...He practically said outright in the PRE-RACE press conference that he was going to drop out, and of course he did. Check out how many races Anton got invited to after that.

BTW, I'm still convinced she's got a liong runway ahead of her. I PR'ed a few months shy of my 35th birthday, and I had a full time job, and no army of coaches, trainers, massage therapists. She's probably got a long runway.

I could give a s--t whether Radcliffe entered ING NYCM, or BofA Chicago, or next week's Atlantic City Marathon. If she's going to run a marathon this fall and risk humiliation (from the likes of you, not me), it's because she thinks she can win.

And in minor sports, they like winners. And only winners. If L Armstrong rides the TdF next year and loses, watch how small he gets in a hurry.