Molly Seidel Instagram Post

Thanks. Appreciate the breakdown of the podcast. As a guy who has experience on dating apps, I feel the need to push back against this. I understand the complaints from the female side, but it's most certainly not just the guys that make online dating trash. In my experience, it was nearly impossible to get a conversation started. I'd always ask something relevant to something they had in a pic or in their profile... something interesting, and an open ended question. But I almost always only got basically a one word response with zero indication that they were remotely interested in me (i.e., no reciprocation of the question or any asking questions of me). The problem with it is women are overwhelmed with matches and messages. It's the COMPLETE opposite as a male. It's a f*cking desert unless you're the top 2% looks-wise. Talking to most women on those apps is like talking to a wall. But, yes I think it's BOTH sides. Nearly everybody sucks at it.

I'm not sure what she means by men not understanding jokes. I can generalize and say the same from my experience. It's frustrating how dumb some matches can be, but you just unmatch and move on. Be more selective?

I would have no problem dating someone with Molly's body type, and I actually have dated someone like that. The issue is absolutely not the body type. Maybe internalize a bit and reevaluate the approach/maturity instead of blaming it on the guys and her body type? When I started following Molly on IG, I lasted about 3 weeks before I muted or unfollowed her.

Thanks for the honest, kind response. It's very rare to get that. I agree, both men and women need to do a better job at communicating.

I think some women can be selective and picky, but guys can too. I think Molly is a little bit bitter about not finding anyone; maybe she expected it would be easier being a famous bronze medalist. But she even said nobody outside of running really follows running, so she answered her own question actually.

The podcast is actually very interesting into her thought process. Same with Anoush. Anoush has a blog about her experiences running/dating and she finally found a guy.

I think sometimes women who are successful/famous may scare off some guys who are not as secure about that.

Anyone else think that Molly is madly in love with Jon Green after listening the the podcast? She sounded like a middle schooler when someone asks about their secret crush "OMG NO I don't LIKE HiM! Are you SeRIOus?!?!"

I think they are totally in love with each other and should start dating... the coach/relationship thing is working out for Emma Coburn and Joe Bosshard

They're not "two very questionable things," they're just two things that people have decided to dissect with very questionable, uninterrogated motives. The weird thing is that a portion of the running world has decided that no funny anecdotes that Molly tells about being a woman at the top of her sport/event can be credible.

Finished the rest of the podcast and I gotta say I am a bit concerned for Molly's mental health and how she reads LetsRun seemingly as a form of self harm, basically saying she'll come here when she feels bad and just wants to read people talk about how much she sucks. Also that she only notices the negative comments even though there are a bunch of Molly S. stans on the board, and this thread.

We love you Molly! You only have haters because you are a star and many more fans than haters. But maybe blocking letsrun for yourself may be best for you.

So anyone who doesn't believe her questionable accounts has 'uninterrogated motives?' Is that how you make sense of the world? Like it or not Molly is a big deal, and this is part of what goes along with it. She's being treated like any other high-profile athlete here.

1) Her airplane story doesn't make sense and is out of line with the known facts. As anecdotes go, it would have been an extraordinary story if true, and needs to be backed up once questioned.

2) This Bumble thing reeks of a desperate cry for attention and the podcast only seems to lend support to this interpretation.

Stop implying sexism and interrogate your own motives. Mine are clean.

Molly can be cool at times but after listening to the podcast I think she knows the only way to stay relevant is to stay in the news, even if she is willing to accept that not everyone will like her. It will draw clicks to articles and ears to the podcasts that her running clique (Ali, Anoush, Citius/Chavez, etc.) supports here with.

Women, by their nature, are more supportive of each other than men, but at the same time, can be more jealous of each other (although men can be jealous of each other as well).

I don't think Molly has any female rivals though that don't like her; she's normally very likeable in the pro elite community as a whole.

She isn't wrong about some of her stuff on the podcast, but she seems very angry at men. Now granted, some guys can be douchebros and brag about slow times, but Molly is an outlier as a pro female runner and is fast regardless of gender.

19:54--she met a guy who needed his ego massaged (2:50 marathon) but she didn't want to tell him he wouldn't have even qualified for B standard female. She should have been honest with him and told him he was not fast enough.

She had eating disorder issues, and I truly feel for her, honestly (no sarcasm), but I think you bring up a great point--she should not go on LRC and feed any of her negative anxiety/behavior patterns.

She doesn't want to anyone who is super-into running, just someone who will treat her well and take care of her. She also wants someone who can go to bed earlier to accommodate her running schedule.

She's interacting with the same 20 people on a weekly basis, so that's a challenge (23:13).

There was a thread that alleged Jon dated her and Izzy. He and Molly are not dating, she is keeping it professional. She is right that men and women should be able to just be friends without dating or any drama attached.

I listened to more of the podcast and although these women are 24-28, if I didn't know who they were and didn't know they were pro runners, I'd guess they were high school students based on their talking/cadence/speech patterns.

I think men are intimidated by successful women. It makes the dynamic weird for women.
31:53: She wants to reference the Olympics without
A girl who is faster or has more accomplishments--men liked to feel needed. Molly and I own our own homes (32:37). Guys have even told them that they feel needed and are intimidated.
Reference to Love is Blind Season 2, one of the women tells a guy she owns a house and the guy shuts down.
Men won't come out and say it but does affect them.

Molly says she's too much and is worried she won't find anyone else.
34:06: Everything I do is too much and I work a lot, I own a home, I work tons of jobs. I feel like I'm never going to find anyone.
Don't lower yourself to please someone else. I'd rather be too much than not enough, Anoush said.
Having friends who have accomplished a lot and are able to find relationships that respect that and don't be afraid of the things you've done. Other women who have given you confidence are good.
Anoush went on 60 first dates (35:34).
Dating apps are demonized but it's a good way to meet people.
Ali is older than those two and is more mature, she went through a huge breakup and has some good advice. She ran a great 1/2 after a breakup; I actually respect her even more, as she has more life experience.
Anoush has something called "breakup pace" and she told a story of a girl who she was coaching who was dumped by text during reps/intervals, and she was able to run faster during that workout.

Not possible unless the man is gay. Men just don't spend that much time around women "just to be friends".

43:32--Molly and Anoush both struggle with confidence, and when one of them would go recap a bad date (s) with a guy friend she runs with, and start to cry, the guy supported her and said, "NO you're a 10!" I think this pod is actually useful for males/females to understand the importance of being confident in yourself, loving yourself and dating, etc.

Sounds like men aren't the problem, sounds like she's the problem. Especially when you consider the story of her boyfriend, who it took her a year to open up to.

So you really believe that a high-profile male runner sharing these kinds of stories would generate this much attention on letsrun? I think that's delusional. Tons of women related to this post, and the men who feel attacked would probably do better to listen and try to understand why.

All the post was meant to convey is that it's frustrating to repeatedly not get respect for something you do well. Why is that so hard for anonymous men online? And the men who say that she's single because she can't find anyone willing to date her... we all know that's delusional as well. I don't know a single woman who would have a hard time finding a partner, it's more a matter of finding the right fit, and it seems like Molly is encountering men who have a hard time reconciling her accomplishments with their ego.

Her response was the most uptight reply possible. That said Molly is very cute and I want to take her out to dinner.

To your first question, yes I do.  Centro and Seth Demoor get analyzed endlessly.  Galen Rupp was routinely pilloried for his lack of media presence. Drew Hunter has been a whipping boy lately.  

‘All the post was meant to convey…’ - interesting phrasing there.  I was concerned about the factual content.  I don’t really care about Molly’s dating life or any of that.  I admire her accomplishment in medaling and I appreciate the entertainment value and excitement of watching that race unfold. It’s right up there with Meb, Deena Kastor, and Galen Rupp for me.

I don’t know why you’re so angry with me.  I didn’t say anything about her suitability for dating or her attractiveness.  I’m purely interested in her credibility.  I believe doping is both endemic and epidemic to the sport and when someone lies about their prs, random social media encounters, whatever, I note it.  Her behavior is concerning to me.

I feel like you’re doing a fair amount of projection here as well.  If you are frustrated by your interactions with men on social media, I don’t blame you.  I’ve heard plenty of horror stories.  That’s not my interest here.  I don’t want to date Molly nor does it matter how attractive I find her.  Right here on LR, and then later by email, I’ve had conversations with absolute legends who I admire but I have no interest in romantically.  I think very highly of them.  In contrast, I find Shelby H to be an absolute 10, but I lost all respect for her and Schumacher after burritogate.

Is there some implication in all of this that Molly would win a medal and go from a (self-described) 6/7 to a 9/10?  It sounds to me like she’s not getting the response she expected.   Looking for that affirmation from the opposite sex on social media is only going to lead to disappointment.  That’s clearly something she needs to work out internally before she can expect to see that from others.

Sounds like an audition for a job on "The View".

Hi, I can appreciate what you’re saying.  I said this before and I’ll repeat it.  I’m only interested in her credibility though.  Had my heart broken by one too many doping scandals.  There’s a lot that I really do like about Molly - like that picture of her at the start of a turkey trot. That doesn’t mean I’ll look past anything though.

Any drama inside/outside her clique is of zero interest.  That being said, I’m the proud father of a strong daughter who doesn’t do ‘fake friends.’  She is independent and doesn’t need a Greek chorus following her around to pump her up. My wife is the same way.  I don’t have female friends who do this either.  I just avoid all that

I just can't understand this. So many men have zero confidence. I am lucky to make an absurdly good living and I would love it if my wife made more than me or hard even more success in her career. She made the big money when I was poor and finishing college and getting my career started (probably made 2 to 2.5x what I was doing). I just can't imagine feeling such little self worth as to being intimidated by a women earning more.

P.S. The breakup pace thing seems very strange. That may be a cry for help.

She might have heard the joke many times, but that was probably the first time he made that joke. Am I the only one that thought the guy's small talk joke was fine/funny, but her response was also funny?