Deena dissed at Paso Robles 10k

I agree with you there Mayeroff. and that\'s all I\'ll say on that subject as previous comments have gotten me in hot water.

The idea of having a seperate \"elite\" or \"professional\" race alongside a \"people\'s\" race does two important things for the professional side of the sport: 1)Gets people to watch (runners in the people\'s race and media covering the people\'s race) and 2) Sets aside the professional race as something special, something different. Joe Q Redneck driving his late model around the Sportsdrome Speedway in Jeffersonville, IN isn\'t in the same league nor race as a Jeff Gordon. You never see the two enter the same race. By doing so with road racing you reduce its stature as a professional sport and so it will continue to be viewed as a recreational sport. There isn\'t enough prize money or appearance money available to sustain road racing as a professional sport. What we have are a handful of American and Foreign runners in the professional ranks. The others are scratching to get by, working part-time, etc.

In order to make road racing a full blown professional sport you have to find someone who thinks outside the box, and who has a lot of money on their hands. The NBA didn\'t become the NBA overnight, nor did it become the NBA led by executives who were former players. In fact, we need to find some Minor League Baseball Owner to run things. Most of these guys are masterminds of promotion and that is what road racing needs. You notice how I\'m not talking about track, that\'s because track will always be track and there will always be meets in Europe. The problem with professional track is that there are few to zero professional meets in the US. Go back and read the Jim Ryun Story or George Young\'s book, there were LOTS of indoor and outdoor professional track meets in the US back then. Again, find a Minor League Baseball Owner to run things. Create a professional running league consisting of marathons, cross country, and track. Score it like a team meet so you have sponsored teams competing against each other. Either that or keep it as individuals and earn points, have \"Grand Slam\" events, preferably cross-country races as that has always brought in tracksters and roadsters alike. Follow the professional sport models that have worked: Nascar, Golf, NBA, NFL. Anyway, those are my ideas.

Alan

You mean someone that has a lot of money AND is stupid.

Running has a limited spectator audience, so therefore it's going to have limited financial support in the marketplace. Thinking out of the box isn't going to significanlty change the number of viewers.

This has been discussed ad nauseum for the last decade.

Wake up and smell the coffee, folks.

pkrunner wrote:

All Deena is doing is demanding a little respect. She won a Olympic medal after all. It's the principle of the issue, not the money!

The above post has it absolutely correct. This is not about the $25 entry fee, its about showing a little respect for the top female distance runner in the U.S. The race director is sending the message that Deena will be treated no differently than any other runner. That treatment would be fine for nearly all of us on this message board. But for an elite runner who has accomplished as much as she has,I can understand her being annoyed. Let's think about this: she is an olympic medalist and the best elite female runner the U.S. has had in a very long time. I think she deserves a little respect.

Let's cut the lady a little slack. Think about what she has done for our sport and the time she has spent with runners of all ages. She has been a class act everywhere she's raced. I can understand her being offended by the lack of respect and there is nothing wrong with that.

Also, to all the posts who think what she wrote was petty, maybe you're right but I think the race director is the one who really screwed up here. If the goal of the race was to raise money for a charity, what better way to attract runners than to let them know that somebody like Deena Kastor will be running the same race. She probably would have even done some PR for the race.

If she made a mistake, it was writing about it on her website. The comment has been removed so she obviously regrets putting it out there. Let's all move on.

Runningart:

Deena's situation notwithstanding (who amongst us has not had a slipup of public pettiness, she's human, we all learn, ho-hum)

To your point of professional racing -

If there is no "professional" racing available in this country how do women of Deena's performance level manage to train full time, and where do these six digit salaries come from? So she had to make a couple trips to Europe to get the jack. (Someone told me they make wine there as well)

And, Didn't Webb get signed by Nike for a few hundred grand?

It seems to me that if you manage to put yourself in the position of being ranked in the top 100 or so in the World you can make a pretty decent living simply from training a couple hours a day and racing 20-25 times a year.

Heck, I know there are athletes out there making enough to sustain full time training and racing, and they are no where near world ranked.

Did Khalid Khannouchi keep washing dishes when he hit the world rankings?

Believe me, if you are good enough to be world significant, you WILL get paid, and you'll get paid a lot!

Will this sport be football or baseball?

Come on, be serious.

How exciting is watching a marathon or 10K from the side of a road?

I just don't think it'll draw the tailgate party crowd.

Who knows, maybe a little out of the box thinking will draw those folks.

I say strippers and guns might do the trick.

Not sure if anyone has pointed a couple of things out:

1. Mammoth Lakes resides within the Pacific Association so she would be eligible for all the PA money, not just the $50. The prize purse is $2500 but I am not sure how much of that goes to the winner since the link is broken on the PA website.

2. Isn't this weekend a religious holiday for the Jewish? If she is Jewish like a previous poster pointed out then she shouldn't be racing this weekend anyways.

Does anyone just dislike Deena as much as me? I mean yeah she has a bronze medal, but aside from that she ain't that special. She is not much of a charismatic role model. She is just kinda of a typical running goober who happens to be fast. And she is a bit into herself. I don't know I'd rather look up to Kara Goucher or someone like that. Deena you suck!

[/quote]

Yes, I see the GODDAMN greater issue here: I've offered to contribute up to $500 to Deena's self-indulgent race/luxury wine country junket if she'd do the same to the Jenny Crain Fund. That way everyone wins - except me, of course, I'll be out $500. I won't even get a tax deduction here, Deena will. In her tax bracket that a lot of moola.

I've put my money where my mouth is, I'm sure there are a few here who will join me. Perhaps we can raise enough money to have Deena escorted on top of a gilded litter with 10 strong Nubian attendants, and maidens dropping rose petals in her pathway. Afterwards a private performance featuring Suzi Atascadero and the Pleasure Seekers?

We can do it.[/quote]

This is precisely why I love the Malmo. To add, I hope that Vigil speaks with his charge and enlightens her of what this whole running thing is about.

strapped around my boot wrote:

I hope that Vigil speaks with his charge and enlightens her of what this whole running thing is about.

I almost posted this as well. I don't know Vigil well, but he seems like someone who would greatly disapprove of her behavior.

To those who keep talking about the race director's allegedly bad decision not to comp Deena's entry: The issue here isn't whether the race director has a suboptimal business policy not to comp entries for this race. The issue is whether Deena acted appropriately. I think she acted like a brat.

"I say strippers and guns might do the trick."

WoooHooo! I'd pay to see that! :-)

Apples and Oranges...

The even does not want to be "Pro" it wants to be a community event. Thus, elites are not paid to run there any more.

The California 10K now has a new name. It's called the 50 Buck 10K and it's open to runners of all ages.

Rather than attracting the world's top 10K runners for this event, we have decided to turn our 50 Buck 10K into a community run. The reason for this change is simple: we want to go back to the roots of what this event was built on.

Here is the NEW innovative twist:

A friendly Heritage Bank representative will give out $50 dollar bills to each of the first 240 runners crossing the finish line.

You may either keep the $50 bill or donate it to your favorite charity.

At Heritage Oaks Bank, we pay you to run!

I met Deena a few years ago and she was one of the nicest, most upbeat and charismatic persons that I have ever met. Nothing that I have read on this thread or her website will change my opinion.

There was a great article in RW on her a year or so ago...I think it showed the real Deena.

strapped around my boot wrote:

I hope that Vigil speaks with his charge and enlightens her of what this whole running thing is about.

She's a witch! Burn her at the stake! Burn her at the stake! That'll teach her!

Carry on, brave letsrunners. The horse is only slightly dead; let's make it double dead!!!

This thread has gone way beyond obnoxious. Far from being "way into herself," Deena gives enormous credit to fellow runners who frankly don't deserve it. She is profusely generous to her peers - who actually fall quite a bit short of being her peers. She's extremely generous with her time and her patience. Some of you are trying to crucify her based on one short sentence in a blog which mainly just had the problem of being too succinct to clarify the situation.

why is it that so many people these days confuse respect with entitlement?

The RD has a right to run his race the way he wants - he's not the one who made it public. Her actions speak pretty loudly and don't paint a flattering picture, but I don't think that she deserves to be flames as much as some people are doing...

I blame malmo for all this myself.

If he'd only offered a hotel room as well as the entry fee we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Cheap ba$tard.

Paso Robles is a sweat box armpit anyway. You're not missing anything Deena.

What Ms. Kastor really needs to be taken to task for is her choice in wines. If you want to drink a wine worthy of your skill level, Ms. Kastor, I'd stear you towards a Leonetti Cellar cab . . .

Logistics wrote:

It's a CHARITY run. You don't ask for a comped entry to a CHARITY event. It's tasteless.

It's pretty hard to find a road race that *isn't* a charity event these days. Pretty much every road race that I go to is in support of some cause, even the ones with major prize purses. It helps attract a big group of casual joggers connected with whatever charity is being supported. Just because the race supports a charity doesn't mean no profit is involved.

Robert, I agree with the fact that Paso and Santa Barbara area has been extremely overhyped. Look instead to the cooler Santa Lucia Highlands for the world class Pinots.

That being said, drink a few bottles and move on Deena.