Is it Official? Flagstaff the Running Capital of the US- Congrats to NAU & Eric Heins

My open questions for anyone to answer, from a low-lander from a millions miles away:

Is the altitude responsible for the successes or do the most talented distance runners gravitate to the altitude to base themselves thinking they are emulating the Kenyans and Ethiopians?

Boulder used to be the distance runners hangout, now Flagstaff. Did the dope heads and space cadet hippies ruin Colorado for elite runners?

louis the jack wrote:

Oh the Sedona area? The locals dont want you there either. Flagstaff times 100. My family owns a house there since the early 70's and we get crap about not being "locals" when we go up there. Unless you are a new age guru or can open an art gallery with the same crappy art all the others have you are not going to feel welcome.

So you're saying even if I'm a neo local , as long as i'm fluent in "new-age-guru-ish" and "art gallery-nese" I'll be fine financially and socially?

schwiinnnng

#schwinning

The altitude is helpful, but altitude alone will not make a champion. It's the fact that talented, top-class runners believe in the altitude, and thus train in Flagstaff, that results in the great performances from out of that town.

I think people have realized that Flagstaff has far superior soft-surface training venues within walking distance of where you stay than Boulder does. Also, Flagstaff is higher.

These guys all LIVE in Portland, Mo, his wife, his house, his cars, all in Portland. UPortland also had two teams in the NCAA

Manville wrote:

These guys all LIVE in Portland, Mo, his wife, his house, his cars, all in Portland. UPortland also had two teams in the NCAA

U Portland had two teams in the NCAA?

Wow. Good for you. Did either of them win the NCAA championship?

No. UPortland did not win the NCAA championship.

I don't care where Mo's cars are. I can see him running in Flagstaff…with Centro or Abdi.

Everybody cares about where Tania tiger kitten is:

Especially Mobot. That is why he comes to Flagstaff to get away from Tania tiger kitten…and run with Abdi in the mountains. It is relaxing for Mo.

He likes to do relaxing/gruelling (grueling in U.S.) runs with Abdi.

Sometimes MoNo does "ghastly Britexitâ„¢" high volume interval workouts.

They are "ghastly" and very painful for all Britexitâ„¢ people that are involved.

Funny because just today I saw Even Jagar, Galen Rupp, Emily Infield, Alan Webb etc. and these people really live here. My money says Beaverton beats Falgstaff any day of the week.

So, because Erin runs a poor race (& the women buffs don't win), Boulder gets tossed aside.

Boulder is still home to the Buffs who have men and women teams that have been more dominant than NAZ in the current decade.

Still have Wetmore elites (olympians and medals), Hudson elites, BTC elites, Jonesey has some athletes, roots running, Japanese marathon teams, and if you want throw ultra athletes in we have our own (sage, anton, etc.), and other local elite athletes like Neely Spence.

Do the Flagstaff runners live there year round? Nearly all boulderites are in town all year.

Not saying Boulder > Flagstaff, but by no means is Flagstaff clearly better than Boulder.

My Biased opinion

Manville wrote:

Funny because just today I saw Even Jagar, Galen Rupp, Emily Infield, Alan Webb etc. and these people really live here. My money says Beaverton beats Falgstaff any day of the week.

That sounds like it would be fun. It is unfortunate that you do not know how to spell their names. They are spelled as Evan Jager, Infeld, and Flagstaff.

Do you see Albuterol Salazar running around there?

Alberto has exactly the same running form as Kenenisa Bekele.

Ivy Leagah wrote:

The altitude is helpful, but altitude alone will not make a champion. It's the fact that talented, top-class runners believe in the altitude, and thus train in Flagstaff, that results in the great performances from out of that town.

I think people have realized that Flagstaff has far superior soft-surface training venues within walking distance of where you stay than Boulder does. Also, Flagstaff is higher.

There is no proof altitude helps you at sea-level.

My book says Flagstaff winters are six months long, with an average of 100 inches of snow. Is there an indoor track available? Harvard's Al Gordon track is closed.

places rated wrote:

My book says Flagstaff winters are six months long, with an average of 100 inches of snow. Is there an indoor track available? Harvard's Al Gordon track is closed.

Maybe.

mahmoud wrote:

Ivy Leagah wrote:

The altitude is helpful, but altitude alone will not make a champion. It's the fact that talented, top-class runners believe in the altitude, and thus train in Flagstaff, that results in the great performances from out of that town.

I think people have realized that Flagstaff has far superior soft-surface training venues within walking distance of where you stay than Boulder does. Also, Flagstaff is higher.

There is no proof altitude helps you at sea-level.

Some other people do not agree with you:

Do you have to know somebody, or can you just show up on a frigid day.