World Marathon Majors Making Flechman remove a promo tattoo

Wossamotta wrote:

Rules are over-rated.

Picky Bars are really good, by the way

I couldn't agree more. For a marathon runner, each appearance, including races themselves, are your stage. On that stage we should be able to promote the things that provide and sustain us all.

No, this is not how the running world operates today, but the point is that it should. We need to continue fighting for the rights of, ahem, us, to promote those things that allow us to continue our pursuits without having to sacrifice training hours or potential income dollars.

There are more elite athletes than administrators and/or organizations. Am I the only one who thinks it's absurd that "they" are in control?

elton wrote:

We Ivy League, Stanford and Chicago grads were able to infer it pretty easily from the context of her statement. Sorry it passed you by.

Okay, so please translate the following for me:

"I start I could promote Picky Bars with a body tattoo because in some races you can."

Sorry, I only went to Duke...

I also like how she somehow randomly wants people to tweet about her bars as a way of sticking it to the "man." As if the exploitation is not painfully obvious...

The transcript of the Flotrack interview is poor. Play the video, which is embedded on the TFAA site below the article.

At 2:29 she says "I thought I could promote Picky Bars with a body tattoo. In some races you can, on the roads."

Don't know where they got "start" or "because" from.

The obvious solution is to just get real tattoos!

Or would those have to be covered up with tape and/or an undershirt according to the rules?

I am sorry about the duke thing... they probably had to let in a few extra good students the year you were accepted... keep the average acceptable... but Duke isn't Ivy, it wanna be Ivy, ask the brojo's...

elton wrote:

"Where does it say that?"

We Ivy League, Stanford and Chicago grads were able to infer it pretty easily from the context of her statement. Sorry it passed you by.

Just to be clear, the point of this post was to let everyone know you graduated from U Chicago, correct?

M M M wrote:

Just to be clear, the point of this post was to let everyone know you graduated from U Chicago, correct?

Yeah, I love how he threw Chicago in there like it belonged...

"Oh, sorry that you are not as smart as us Harvard, MIT and East Carolina grads."

Mr. Obvious wrote:

They have the power to do that because they are a private organization which has the right of association (and not to associate).

Beside the point of this thread, but when NYRR uses public streets and parks for its event, it surrenders this right. Public Accommodation > Private Association.

Wrong. It's a dumb rule, but the NYRR can set rules for participation for its marathon even if it's run on public streets.

It's the same way you can't force the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade to take your float just because the parade is on public streets.

There's was an actual case about this with groups trying to force themselves into the St. Patrick's Day parade against the wishes of the organizers a few years ago. The parade organizers won.

M M M wrote:

Just to be clear, the point of this post was to let everyone know you graduated from U Chicago, correct?

Pretty much. My humanities degree hasn't paid off in any tangible way, can't I at least be a snob about it?

The haters on LRC criticize the athlete. The professional athletes on Twitter criticize the race and the rules. That says a lot. #WeAreUSATrack

If she had any ba11s, she would have kept the tats on and gave the world marathon nazis a few picky bars to shove up there a55.

hardset nipples wrote:

B0ulderite wrote:

There are more elite athletes than administrators and/or organizations. Am I the only one who thinks it's absurd that "they" are in control?

So stop running "their" races and lending credence to "their" rules. Organize and start up "our" own racing circuit to compete with "theirs," complete with deep-pocketed sponsors for appearance fees and prize purse for high profile elites. As long as "they" have enough top athletes (you think the Africans feel like they can afford to take principled stands?) clamoring to "their" races, "they" can maintain as much control as they please. U.S. distance runners can hardly bargain from a position of power, certainly not when they are distant also-rans on the world stage. I'm not saying this is ideal, just that there's no use in pouting about it.

If only minorities had used that logic in the civil rights era we could all still be living in the stone ages today, eh?

It's horse sh!t bottom line. A very few # of people of people are making all the money while we slave away and get crap...

I say we start a movement, called OCCUPY MARATHONS!

We just march around in the road, and get in the way of all the top runners, and get them to run slow times. piss them off, run with them and poke at them, nothing too mean, but mess with them, so they run slower... it will ruin the publicity...

thoughts?

Good post. I don't particularly disagree with you, but I am a firm believer that where there is a will there is a way. Also, don't underestimate the roll of American athletes. First, this is about all of T&F, not just distance running. Every track and field athlete is affected. Second, even within the world of distance running the field is skewed. The top Americans earn disproportionately more than their African "superiors." American sponsors like American runners. They have more leverage than someone would say that they "should." The problem is that while our top 800m guy, top sprinters, and legends of the discuss are speaking up on Twitter... Mo Farah, Ryan Hall, Meb, and others are ominously silent.

So with the top USA marathon women being away, she gets a big appearance fee from NYRR and she gets free promotion of Picky Bars in the NY Times article too.

How terrible for her.

Maybe it's because what these people get away with on the roads (as Fleshman says), doesn't apply to spinters, etc. (pure track athletes). So why should the Track athletes risk their livlihood for those on the roads (an almost entirely separate sport). It's always easy to complain from the peanut gallery, much more difficult however when this is YOUR career.

You misread my post. The people who are speaking up for Fleshman on Twitter are the sprinters, throwers, etc. The people who are criticizing her on LRC are her fellow-endurance athletes.

Tengenkamp has now spoken up and others will do so. As to the African runners - I have managed several African runners and have lived in Kenya. These ridiculous regulation dramatically impact those Kenyans that a.) are not on the top 0.001% or less who have lucrative shoe endorsements and b.) have a manager who is creative enough to seek out other options. I have lived in many different countries, and one of the things I like best about Americans is that they don't let people push them around. We (Americans) can't wait for the Europeans or Africans to stand up to something like this. Also, as to the Africans being set up for life - that is an incredibly small percentage. Far less than the o.001% I quoted above. They should be, but good economic sense and an appreciation for delayed gratification are not common in Kenya. It's sad but true. Finally, this is not as simple as saying that the big boys (Farah, Hall, etc.) profit from the current system and don't want to rock the boat. It is about having a sense of justice and that is why the sprinters, throwers, etc. are standing up while ou top distance runners are pretending that they cannot see what is going on.