Alan Webb: The OFFICIAL Bowerman Mile Victory Thread

correcting grammar and spelling in chat rooms and discussion boards is silly and arrogant. poor grammar and spelling in chat rooms and discussion boards is not a sign of the downfall of society. this is an ephemeral and informal communication method. i type poorly and never edit this crap. it is not worth the time.

did you not understand the meaning of his post?

G_D

Are we even sure he'll be in the Bowerman mile....could be in the International heat.

genetic_dysfunction wrote:

correcting grammar and spelling in chat rooms and discussion boards is silly and arrogant. poor grammar and spelling in chat rooms and discussion boards is not a sign of the downfall of society. this is an ephemeral and informal communication method. i type poorly and never edit this crap. it is not worth the time.

did you not understand the meaning of his post?

G_D

Correcting grammar and spelling in chat rooms and discussion boards is silly and arrogant. Unfortunately, the laziness in writing exhibited on Facebook, blogs, e-mails, texts and chat rooms has become the norm.

If it's not important enough to the writer to write correctly, then how can he or she realistically expect the reader to take what they wrote seriously?

He's the best US miler in a long time. Go Webb!

I'm the same age as Alan, and I've been following his career pretty much since his indoor sub 4 in high school. I read these threads pretty often, but hardly ever contribute. I thought I would today, because I feel like this season may be Alan's last shot at making a decent showing in a championship season.

That said, amongst the terribly mediocre races, I see some good signs this year. If you've read sub-4 or followed a few of his interviews, Alan's big problem seems to be his inconsistency, which, coupled with his head problems, leads to a downward spiral of self doubt. It seemed like any time he got into a race where he wasn't the top guy and actually had to race, he panicked and fell apart.

I've got an inkling that his coach's new strategy is to race Webb when he is not sharp, basically letting him know he's going to get his ass handed to him by college guys, and that's ok sometimes. This would hopefully lead to an ability to handle a bad or tactical race (mentally), make him a bit more humble, and also callous him for the championship rounds. I think him saying he's disregarding his past is a good sign, and means it might be working.

If you look at his progression, its pretty obvious hes not sharp at all, but he's getting there. He is only 29, and the guy has run 3:46 for god's sake. If he doesnt get hurt and runs fairly smart, he'll have a season on par with his talent level, which should mean an olympic final.

I would love to see Webb have an awesome race, but I don't NEED it. My life won't change regardless of how Alan runs. Webb may need it, but I don't.

I would rather see him qualify for the Olympics and have a great race there. And then continue to have some good years in international competitions.

The funny thing is, if a consistently "medicore" runner for top collegiate levels consistently runs 3:43-3:45 has a break-out race and runs 3:35, it's all kudos, even if that runner never runs at that level consistently thereafter. So if a runner goes from being not amazing to amazing, everyone is obligated to acknowledge the athlete's ability to perform at a higher level, give him/her praise, and be hopefuly for him all the time (never bash him when he goes back to running 3:43).

However, if a runner is already really great, but then starts having "sub-par" performances, suddenly he's "washed up", even if the runner is having success at the same rate as the runner who was "mediocre" but has a couple break-out races.

Point in case: Merber & Webb

Merber ran 3:35, which is awesome and amazing. The thing is, he will probably get more kudos for his accomplishment than Webb ever will for being the AR holder for 1 mile and ranking in the top 10 (maybe top 5) for the U.S. mens all time best at 800m, 1000m, 1500m, 1 mile, 2 mile, 5000m, and 10000m. It's unfortunate that so many people allow themselves to focus on the negative things they decidedly pick out as opposed to looking at the overall breadth of talent, hard work, and accomplishments a single athlete achieves in his/her lifetime.

But let's insist on calling him washed up because it's such a burden on us to not emphasize his washed-up-ness...we can't afford to let online posters get their hopes up, right?

It's been pretty obvious to me that the only person Alan Webb has to beat is himself. The guys a nutcase. To be fair, most great runners are in some fashion, but man, Alan probably takes the cake. His interviews are almost difficult to watch as his interactions with people are just so awkward. He never comes across as genuine to me.

I'm a fan. I'm a fan of any guy that works hard and competes hard. I'll always give him credit on that front. But every interview with him, or any video I've seen him in, he just seems to play a character that's trying way to hard to make everyone else happy and everyone else proud of him, even his meltdowns seem contrived to me "HEY LOOK Everyone!!! I'm really angry that I only ran 3:58!!!!". I just get the feeling he doesn't really know how to just be himself.

Who knows, but he just doesn't look like he enjoys any of it. And maybe that's the key for Alan. At the end of the day, you can always do something else than be a track athlete. And if you can't, then you've got some identity problems that are probably getting in the way of your progress.

Good luck with the season. Hopefully you'll find your way.

I'm telling you guys... I talked to insiders in charlottesville over past month and they said Webb is in outstanding shape. He's really focused and tuned in at this point. All the haters are going to be shocked

my useless but hopeful(?) breakdown:

here's the start list:

Bowerman and International Miles

Silas Kiplagat (Kenya)

Asbel Kiprop (Kenya)

Abdelaati Iguider (Morocco)

Mekonnen Gebremedhin (Ethiopia)

Haron Keitany (Kenya)

Nick Willis (New Zealand)

Collins Cheboi (Kenya)

Russell Brown (USA)

Amine Laalou (Morocco)

Daniel Kipchirchir Komen (Kenya)

Matthew Centrowitz (USA)

David Torrence (USA)

Leonel Manzano (USA)

Andrew Wheating (USA)

Aman Wote (Ethiopia)

Bethwell Birgen (Kenya)

Bernard Lagat (USA)

Dawit Wolde (Ethiopia)

Tesfaye Cheru (Ethiopia)

Lopez Lomong (USA)

Nicholas Kemboi (Qatar)

Will Leer (USA)

Dorian Ulrey (USA)

Jeff See (USA)

Alan Webb (USA)

Gideon Gathimba (Kenya)

Mohamed Al Garni (Qatar)

Remmy Limo Ndiwa (Kenya)

Mohammed Shaween (Kuwait)

here's how i see some finishing taking place, although i don't know how they would ever get all these runners on the same line, so I'm guessing they will do 2 heats?

top 15:

kiprop (gets even with kiplagat) 3:47

kiplagat

komen

iguider

willis 3:50

kemboi

lomong 3:52

centrowitz

cheboi

lagat 3:53

manzano

keitany

gebremedhin

torrence 3:55

leer 3:56

again, i do not know if or how they are going to do heats. i've never heard of a bowerman mile or any mile on the track having 29 runners come to the line. i would like to think webb could go out there and run 3:54 (it would be great if he could beat his high school pr for the bowerman mile- 3:53.xx?)

I'm in !!!!!!

Go Webb !!!

5 Guys forever baby !!

i'm at work not even drunk

Webb could run 3:53 or 3:54. I don't think that will be much better than 8th in the Bowerman.

Centro will be the top finishing American in the Bowerman, and I bet he's in around 3:50. Remember he ran 3:53 indoors.

Either way, its always my favorite non-championship race of the year. I can only think of one Bowerman Mile in the last 15 years or so that was slower than 3:50, and the slowest of the last four or five years was 3:49. With Kiprop and Kiplagat coming off a 3:29, I bet they could run 3:47 if they want to.

The "kid" got bronze last year. Why put him down?

The Webb love reminds me of when I was a teen miler in '73 or '74. I was a huge Jim Ryun fan, but the problem was, Jim was past his prime. Oh, well.

Webb did what he did. He won big races at 800 and 1500. He ran fast. Sweet. It would be nice if he did more. If not, bring on the next guys.

- wrote:

...Also, Webb has been done for ages. Nobody cares...

Hence the multitudinous threads about Alan Webb.

There's no such thing as "almost DFL"

think about it

dfl wrote:

There's no such thing as "almost DFL"

think about it

What? How dare you?

I don't think anyone can predict how Webb will finish in the Bowerman, nevermind the trials. He has been improving with every race this year, is now healthy again, and has doubled and paced races within short periods of time at a given meet. We don't know his plan, but see only his results thus far. We will see if his plan pays off at the trials. I have confidence he is back on trak, and will surprise the naysayers.

I want to believe. Webb Webb Webb!

Alan Webb is the man & I believe in him!! Get er done Alan Webb!