35 men got under the US Olympic Trails standard of 2:18:00 including Ben Blankenship and Marty Hehir while 13 women got under 2:37:00. *MB: McKirdy MicroMarathon 2023 .
McKirdy is the least qualified coach in the country. Check out this interview about how he got started coaching and how he started his company. He's a con artist.
"How did you get into coaching? I found myself volunteering at a local high school during one of the darkest moments of my life. I reached out to my old coach and asked if I could help out and he said, “of course.” Through my pain I found joy. When did you launch McKirdy Trained and what was the impetus behind starting the company? Oddly enough, I was in another dark place mentally. I was out of work, depressed, anxious…and really hurting emotionally. But I still had bills to pay. So I reached out to a few folks locally who I thought might want guidance. I was a personal trainer for 13 years. I had coached athletes of all ability at that point. I figured I could give this a shot. That was late fall of 2015…January 6th, 2016 was our first official day as a business, me and 10-15 athletes."
If you offer your services to enough people (for free) eventually you'll get lucky with a few. He has zero qualifications but his cheapest coaching option is $129 PER MONTH w/ a 12 month minimum!! He's making a killing off of hobby joggers then offers free meet entry and travel to a few decent athletes and they are happy to wear his uniform to get their meet expenses paid.
As we learned Kiptum, nobody really needs a coach anyway. It's basically just emotional support for the mentally weak runners, so who cares about qualifications. A charsmtic and upbeat dude, may be perfect for the job.
Several posts mention offering free gear. Since when does the McKirdy team get stuff? They have no shoe sponsor but wear Nike. Some have a warmup/cooldown/easy run shoe that's something else, but they wear Nike race shoes. Specifically Vaporfly last I saw. So, are all of you that say he lures promising guys in with shoes saying that Nike is aware of,and actually sponsors McKirdy Elite or whatever it's called?
I knew she was very good but I didn't think a 2.22 debut was possible. Incredible performance.
Amazing time. Tied for second on the UK all time list. She ran 2:22.11 on the chip but I think only gun time will count. Still a great time.for a debut. Third fastest debut ever by a European, after Hassan and Radcliffe
I was there - ran in the 10k after. Watching the wave of guys cross was unreal. The course was flat as a pancake and had a tangent line the whole way. Lots of energy and emotion at the finish for the Full, for the men and women. The lead women's race was incredible...She crossed the line and was ecstatic - This was a really neat event, i hope they grow it into a great qualifier for years to come. Id highly recommend it to anyone looking to OT qualify OR run a 10k on a really fast course!
That sounds awesome. I'm always rooting for Ben Blankenship.
McKirdy is the least qualified coach in the country. Check out this interview about how he got started coaching and how he started his company. He's a con artist.
"How did you get into coaching? I found myself volunteering at a local high school during one of the darkest moments of my life. I reached out to my old coach and asked if I could help out and he said, “of course.” Through my pain I found joy. When did you launch McKirdy Trained and what was the impetus behind starting the company? Oddly enough, I was in another dark place mentally. I was out of work, depressed, anxious…and really hurting emotionally. But I still had bills to pay. So I reached out to a few folks locally who I thought might want guidance. I was a personal trainer for 13 years. I had coached athletes of all ability at that point. I figured I could give this a shot. That was late fall of 2015…January 6th, 2016 was our first official day as a business, me and 10-15 athletes."
If you offer your services to enough people (for free) eventually you'll get lucky with a few. He has zero qualifications but his cheapest coaching option is $129 PER MONTH w/ a 12 month minimum!! He's making a killing off of hobby joggers then offers free meet entry and travel to a few decent athletes and they are happy to wear his uniform to get their meet expenses paid.
Coaching hobby joggers to run the marathon is probably one of the easiest jobs in the world. Run fast once a week, run fast but not quite as fast but a little longer once a week, run longer with some moderately fast portions once a week. Run easy 2-3 days a week. It’s not rocket science.
Kiptum has a coach, dumbazz. Coaches who really know their stuff lend invaluable experience and expertise. You've just never had a good coach, nor have you ever been remotely fast or talented.
Looks like Hehir & Blankenship went out with the 2:18 pace group. Just looking to knock out OTQs? Blankenship really picked it up over the closing miles.
Looks like Hehir & Blankenship went out with the 2:18 pace group. Just looking to knock out OTQs? Blankenship really picked it up over the closing miles.
Kudo's to McKirdy for putting on the race and doing all the things necessary for athletes to run well. We should be appreciative of that effort. BUT......one of the real problems in the US is that individuals with little to no experience call themselves "coach" and that permeates throughout. I spent decades honing my coaching skills to be able to feel good about my profession and I think it cheapens the profession with people like McKirdy. Essentially, everyone who is a hobby jogger thinks they can coach someone else. One of my former athletes who didn't know crap about running but was pretty good just decided to start charging athletes he runs with to coach them. This dude never even opened a book or attended a conference to learn anything about running. And now they are charging poor slobs. He is very "high" mileage and I hope he doesn't hurt those people he is coaching.
It’s an endless debate. What does it take to coach? Is it a degree? Certain certifications? Personal experience? High level experience? Varied experience? All of these? Most of these? I guess the aforementioned can help guide people correctly and prevent ridiculous guidance or potentially injuring others but it doesn’t guarantee it.
It’s an endless debate. What does it take to coach? Is it a degree? Certain certifications? Personal experience? High level experience? Varied experience? All of these? Most of these? I guess the aforementioned can help guide people correctly and prevent ridiculous guidance or potentially injuring others but it doesn’t guarantee it.
Yeah I have no problem with him or others calling themselves coaches as long as they aren't providing any misleading or false information. My high school coach had no running background
Why are people running this instead of Chicago? This is the marathon equivalent to a Bowerman time trial.
Probably because Chicago wouldn't give any of these types of people an entry into the elite field, and they wouldn't have any bottles or anything. This gives them a better shot to run 2:16/2:17
Why are people running this instead of Chicago? This is the marathon equivalent to a Bowerman time trial.
Probably because Chicago wouldn't give any of these types of people an entry into the elite field, and they wouldn't have any bottles or anything. This gives them a better shot to run 2:16/2:17
I ran this marathon because Chicago's American development program was full in January. It was a great opportunity for sub elites.
Probably because Chicago wouldn't give any of these types of people an entry into the elite field, and they wouldn't have any bottles or anything. This gives them a better shot to run 2:16/2:17
I ran this marathon because Chicago's American development program was full in January. It was a great opportunity for sub elites.
Ended up being a deeper race yesterday. 35th pl at McKirdy was 2:17:51. 35th pl at Chicago was 2:19:43.
It’s an endless debate. What does it take to coach? Is it a degree? Certain certifications? Personal experience? High level experience? Varied experience? All of these? Most of these? I guess the aforementioned can help guide people correctly and prevent ridiculous guidance or potentially injuring others but it doesn’t guarantee it.
Yeah I have no problem with him or others calling themselves coaches as long as they aren't providing any misleading or false information. My high school coach had no running background
I have to agree. My high school track coach also coached football the other semester. I never met or talked to him, but it would be easy to imagine he was worse than all the high school coaches all of you complain about. So why would anyone have joined his team? Well football players (i assume the program was formed to keep these guys in shape off-season) aside, some people need the coach and/or team structure. They wouldn't have the discipline to run otherwise.
It's no different if you're older. I certainly don't pay this McKlown anything. But if you somehow need it, you might. Same as high school. I wonder why all the OPs starting threads about 'my coach' don,'t simply not agree to be coached by the joker at their school. He's only 'your coach' if you decide he is. Then I think the answer is that without joining the team and agreeing to be coached by the school's guy, they'd just be adrift and not competitive. There are 49 year olds that are the same. They feel the benefit is worth paying this guy. Doesn't need to work for me. It works for them.
Several posts mention offering free gear. Since when does the McKirdy team get stuff? They have no shoe sponsor but wear Nike. Some have a warmup/cooldown/easy run shoe that's something else, but they wear Nike race shoes. Specifically Vaporfly last I saw. So, are all of you that say he lures promising guys in with shoes saying that Nike is aware of,and actually sponsors McKirdy Elite or whatever it's called?
I think this post is accurate. I've always thought it was an unsponsored team. So is Team Boss. Boss may coach various paople who have individual sponsors, but the Team doesn't have any. And the various runners have different ones. Isn't McKirdy the same? If you get a sponsor on your own, great, but he ain't offering you anything. He doesn't get anything, as far as shoes, etc. does he? It is absolutely not the 'Nike McKirdy Elite'.
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