NOP Skeptic wrote:
Seyta wrote:What? Winning the US championships wasn't "guts" enough?
Here's the thing. There is nothing Cain "should do" in regards to this situation. For her, this is basically a completely inconsequential meet, and likely not worth the effort simply because regardless of what she does, she will receive criticism from some end of the spectrum. In fact, while the majority of her feedback has been positive, she has ALWAYS managed to somehow irk some stupid group of minority opinions with whatever new thing she manages to do.
- She runs well under Salazar. Small group of people fly into fury about how she's ruining herself by associating with Salazar.
- She runs a slew of HS records. Small group of people vigorously demand that she not be credited with HS records because she doesn't run for her HS team.
- She wins a US title. Small group of people claim that it doesn't count because Simpson and Martinez were not present, and that she's evil for associating with Nike while the other women silently protest on the track.
- She runs exceedingly well for a 17 year old. Small group of people claim that she's burning herself out and running herself into the ground.
- She doesn't go to worlds because she doesn't feel good and because Salazar doesn't want to run her into the ground. Small group of people claim that she's making the worst decision of her life and should proceed to run herself into the ground.
In this case, there are, again, going to be small minorities complaining regardless of whether or not she chooses to run.
**If she runs the Dream Mile, she's going to be accused of wasting her time on a HS meet and taking away from "real HS runners" who don't have professional coaches.
**If she doesn't run the Dream Mile, she's going to be accused of lacking the "guts" to race "real HS runners" who don't have professional coaches.
This ^^^ just all of this ^^^^^^^
And btw: Cranny will win, why?
Efraimson ran 9:00, 4:32, but what has she done since?
Tried pushing it at NB Nat's at got 4:37, did a triple at a random track meet for no reason running okay times, tried to push Arcadia, positive splited a 9:55, then only ran a 2:09, what has Cranny been doing? Being conservative, getting in a really good base, won 6k at USA XC JR's by 45 seconds, still showed she had speed by a 2:06 at NB Nat's, went to Stanford ran a tactical 2:06 then ran 2:04 the next day, then ran a 4:10 at Payton Jordan which is equivalent to about a 4:30 Mile, which is faster than Efraimson's 4:32 so....... I mean..... Yeah, Cranny will win....
What you are describing is a difference in situations, not direction.
Cranny has been pulled to fast times in elite fields.
Efraimson hasn't raced in an elite field since her 4:32.
Prior races also strongly show that Efraimson is more of a racer than a time trialer.
I have no idea who will win when they toe the line, but I wouldn't be surprised by either coming out on top - and it should be a good race, and a great preview for the REAL race to come a couple weeks later at the US Junior Champs 1500.