Blue Collar or Yuppie runner 2021: Mark Coogan says Heather Maclean is a blue-collar kid

quote post wrote:

sub sub elite local hobby jogger wrote:

Why the hell would throwing your money towards Budweiser and Maxwell House instead of a local craft brewery and coffee roaster be an admirable trait?

THIS. Why is supporting a giant corporation more admirable and more blue collar than supporting a local business run by blue collar workers?

Because it's what's affordable beyond basic life necessities on a poor person's budget.

former Iowa Great wrote:

I think he was 31. The articles don't come close to doing him justice. The guy worked days and nights in a factory. He would run 6 miles on a 30 minute lunch break in boots. He had a cigarette and a beer at breaktime. He took care of children. He ran in shoes for 1500 miles before replacing them. Yet he was a world class marathoner. He would be running 2:04 today on full sponsorship.

A cigarette? He would have been faster if he had not smoked.

Gentleman Savage wrote:

quote post wrote:

THIS. Why is supporting a giant corporation more admirable and more blue collar than supporting a local business run by blue collar workers?

Because it's what's affordable beyond basic life necessities on a poor person's budget.

the craft brewers and coffee makers are poor. buy from them if you support blue collar workers

quote post wrote:

Gentleman Savage wrote:

Because it's what's affordable beyond basic life necessities on a poor person's budget.

the craft brewers and coffee makers are poor. buy from them if you support blue collar workers

To the significant detriment of your personal finances? Anything sold, at any price level, is for the market of those who can afford it. Craft beer and coffee makers better not be depending on the bottom quartile of incomes for their business to sustain. BTW, just about ANYTHING you can buy in some way "supports blue collar workers." Don't split that hair so thin.

Absolutely. He would have been much faster with a nutritionist instead of eating Velveeta on white bread. He would have real shoes. He would have a coach. He would have sleep. He wouldn't do manual labor all day. Add all of things up. Today's heros are kids who come from less privileged families but have all day to practice their sport. You won find another Phil Coppess.

former Iowa Great wrote:

Absolutely. He would have been much faster with a nutritionist instead of eating Velveeta on white bread. He would have real shoes. He would have a coach. He would have sleep. He wouldn't do manual labor all day. Add all of things up. Today's heros are kids who come from less privileged families but have all day to practice their sport. You won find another Phil Coppess.

You seem to have missed my point. I do not admire a person who does something to hurt his running ability (like smoking). He was not forced to smoke out of necessity, was he?

Bra-ket wrote:

flvmmox wrote:

tell letsrunners that some kid grew up on a farm and that will really get the blood flowing

"...wait so you're telling me she's a girl and....she runs...she drinks cheap beer AND she grew up on a FARM!"

"awooga awooga"

(eyes pop out of skull, starts panting and sweating)

Gentleman Savage wrote:

quote post wrote:

the craft brewers and coffee makers are poor. buy from them if you support blue collar workers

To the significant detriment of your personal finances? Anything sold, at any price level, is for the market of those who can afford it. Craft beer and coffee makers better not be depending on the bottom quartile of incomes for their business to sustain. BTW, just about ANYTHING you can buy in some way "supports blue collar workers." Don't split that hair so thin.

make blue collar workers richer and it will come back to help you ten fold. trickle down economics

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

former Iowa Great wrote:

Absolutely. He would have been much faster with a nutritionist instead of eating Velveeta on white bread. He would have real shoes. He would have a coach. He would have sleep. He wouldn't do manual labor all day. Add all of things up. Today's heros are kids who come from less privileged families but have all day to practice their sport. You won find another Phil Coppess.

You seem to have missed my point. I do not admire a person who does something to hurt his running ability (like smoking). He was not forced to smoke out of necessity, was he?

what's your 10K PR?

Great interview, thanks

I absolutely agree. There are so many things that people didn't know. Smoking used to be recommended by doctors. It took a full generation for the new recommendations to sink in. People still think running is bad for the knees even though studies prove that runners have better knees than non runners. People think that it is unhealthy to be thin even though studies show that it is healthy unless taken to an extreme. People used to think that a big steak was the perfect energy food before a marathon. Coppess is from a previous generation. I am agreeing with you that there were many lifestyle changes he could have made to run even faster but I doubt he knew that.

it matters wrote:

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

You seem to have missed my point. I do not admire a person who does something to hurt his running ability (like smoking). He was not forced to smoke out of necessity, was he?

what's your 10K PR?

And what's the point of your question? I am just a hobby jogger, so I am slow as hell. Does that matter?

former Iowa Great wrote:

Absolutely. He would have been much faster with a nutritionist instead of eating Velveeta on white bread. He would have real shoes. He would have a coach. He would have sleep. He wouldn't do manual labor all day. Add all of things up. Today's heros are kids who come from less privileged families but have all day to practice their sport. You won find another Phil Coppess.

Not quite as fast as Coppess but cut from the same cloth:

Funny. I knew him.

DAVE. Well, I don’t know. One of us did okay. But neither of us...Hell, I...don’t want to go to college. To hell with them! I’m proud of being a cutter.

ROY. You’re not a cutter. I’m a cutter. What, are you afraid?

I take "blue collar" as meaning:

-it wasn't a given she was going to college.

-her parents didn't pour tons of money and time into her high school sports just on the chance that she'd get a scholarship

-first in her family to go to college

-grew up poor

-has worked actual jobs before. Was never funded by the bank of mom and dad

I grew up like this. The question wasn't "where are you going to college?" it was "are you going to college? " My parents didn't have time to watch my sports because they were working because we were poor. I was the first one in my family to go to college. I bussed tables and worked at a greenhouse every summer and saved every cent I made. I went to a fancy elite school on a partial scholarship (that I had never even heard of until I was recruited to run there) and I had NO IDEA That there were kids who didn't have to work, parents who had paid vacation from work to take their families on vacations (what is that?), kids who spent the entire summer in Europe "backpacking," or had "unpaid internships" with their parents contacts that would get them a better job in the future than I could ever think about having. People who lived in gated communities. Kids driving BMWs in college because it was their parents hand me down. Kids who had their parents credit card and would buy ME stuff with it because their parents didn't know/didn't care. It was absolutely fascinating to see the other side. I have a feeling that this is what they mean by "blue collar." Sure now she is a paid pro runner with an advanced degree but you don't really loose the scrappiness of growing up poor.

meeee wrote:

-her parents didn't pour tons of money and time into her high school sports just on the chance that she'd get a scholarship.

Did you read the article?

"MacLean’s mother, Michele Maurice, suspected she might have an athlete in the making when her daughter started using her legs to lift herself up and walk by nine months.

She put her in tap class at age 3, soccer at age 4, and softball, hockey, cheerleading, and just about everything else after that. As the family moved from Malden to Salem to Peabody, sports became a constant in MacLean’s life."

They may not have spent tons of money, but her mother was quite involved in her sports.

And spent a great deal of money.

/thread