Why am I so happy that Farah lost today?

Because GB and BBC are so far up his a55 and we are all sick of hearing it, because his success has come at a time the competiton has been weak.

Confusedus wrote:

I don't understand my feelings. Farah seems like a smashing bloke, but I was thrilled to see him lose today. I think he has ben "laying it on a bit thick" in some races, and this was a relief. I don't know.

ksksk wrote:

Why do you refuse to look at the times? 13:30 and 27:30 are not "good distance shape". Do you think those times are good distance shape?

3:28 is certainly good but it's not a distance event. Whether or not he beat Bekele today is irrelevant to whether or not he is in good distance shape. Being in good shape is about TIME not PLACE. Being a good racer is about PLACE not TIME. 60+ is not representative of good distance shape. That's a poor performance for someone supposedly at Farah's level.

You understand very little about competitive running. Why don't you stick to the "how fast do you need to run a 5k to impress girls" and jamin's attractiveness threads. Those are more at your level.

Hardloper wrote:

ksksk wrote:

Why do you refuse to look at the times? 13:30 and 27:30 are not "good distance shape". Do you think those times are good distance shape?

3:28 is certainly good but it's not a distance event. Whether or not he beat Bekele today is irrelevant to whether or not he is in good distance shape. Being in good shape is about TIME not PLACE. Being a good racer is about PLACE not TIME. 60+ is not representative of good distance shape. That's a poor performance for someone supposedly at Farah's level.

You understand very little about competitive running. Why don't you stick to the "how fast do you need to run a 5k to impress girls" and jamin's attractiveness threads. Those are more at your level.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5397238http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=5396722

I agree. 27:30 with a 52 last lap is impressive, but if you are too ignorant to watch what is going on in the race and the splits they are running, you don't get it. Try to take a little more sophisticated approach to distance running. Analyzing these fun little races like yesterday like it is a world championship race is just wrong.

I think this was a great result for several reasons.

First, Kenny B has reestablished himself as someone to be feared. It probably helped his confidence a lot.

Second, when someone dominates the way Mo has, including unexpected massive performances in off-distances (1500m), it gets boring as a fan and probably takes some of the hunger out of the athlete. I don't like seeing lopsided cartoonish wins (e.g Bolt), I like Tergat vs Geb or Geb vs Komen situations personally. Farah losing establishes him as beatable and will make Jeilan and others believe in themselves a bit more.

Third, Geb showed that he isn't quite done yet.

Last thought, I wish Ritz was in this race...

ksksk wrote:

illegitimate wrote:

You are a terrible troll... honestly, saying that Farah was never in good distance shape this year is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. The man got double wins @ the WC's in the longest competitive events there (Mar doesn't count), ran 3:28, and almost beat the GOAT today at 13.1. Fool

Why do you refuse to look at the times? 13:30 and 27:30 are not "good distance shape". Do you think those times are good distance shape?

Why do YOU refuse to look at the times? He's run 27.21 and 13.05 this year. And times alone aren't evidence that someone is in 'good distance shape', it was fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that he could run faster than that if the pace was right. 3.28 and 60.10 within about 6 weeks of each other is extraordinary by anyone's standards.

Honestly, I really don't understand the hate Mo gets for how he runs Championship finals. It's as if he has some kind of responsibility to force the pace rather than make a point of achieving his main goal, which is to win. All the talk before Moscow was how the Ethiopians and Kenyans could nullify his finishing speed and, guess what? They didn't. Not Mo's fault

tailor made for mo to win? tell me to set up a race for u to win and i'll call up the greatest long distance runners of all time. ridiculous comment.

he loves E.P.O

The race itself was a travesty. These are not the best half marathoners in the world. There are a number of other runners who if invited would have beaten Kenny and Mo. Indeed its true that this race was tailor made to enhance the celebrity of Mo. They figured Bekele has not been in good shape of late and Geb is way over the hill. Had Mo beaten both, the Brits would have hyped it to high heaven. Never mind the fact that neither Kenny nor Geb are in their peak.

Looks like Bekele used his spare time during the WC to add some extra help to his training. Look at how relaxed he looks, right after the finish and then compare to how exhausted Mo looks. This is said to be typical for EPO-doping and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he gets tested positive eventually.

Dachstein wrote:

Why do YOU refuse to look at the times? He's run 27.21 and 13.05 this year. And times alone aren't evidence that someone is in 'good distance shape', it was fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that he could run faster than that if the pace was right. 3.28 and 60.10 within about 6 weeks of each other is extraordinary by anyone's standards.

I DID look at the times. 3:28 is a great time. 60:10 is not. That's 90 seconds off the world record. It is an ok time. Any sub 27 guy should be able to run 60 like a jog. How do you guys not see this? Anyone "with half a brain cell" should be able to see that. You're only impressed because no one has done/attempted it before. But physiologically, it's not really a great performance.

you've completely changed what you were talking about. You were referencing times of 13.30 and 27.30 as evidence that he "not in good distance shape". And sub 60 will never be 'a jog' for anyone, ever.

It was a great spectacle of the race, but was so obviously set up for Mo..... (Haile was not going to win and I don't think the organisers really expected a fully-fit Bekele to turn up).

When have you come across a recent world-class HM race with no elite Kenyan's involved? There are probably a dozen Kenyans who could have run 30 secs to a minute quicker on the same course yesterday, but that would have spoilt the script!

I like Mo but have growing weary of all the dunderheaded comments I've been coming across on reports of his major wins recently - there were people asking what the WR was for 5,000m after he won in Moscow as they were sure he had to be fairly close to it!

Being outsmarted in a road race by a supposedly finished track runner might snuff out some of the people who think the move to the marathon's going to be a cake walk for him, especially when the top marathon guys tend not to mess around when picking up the pace.

Herdsman wrote:

It was a great spectacle of the race, but was so obviously set up for Mo..... (Haile was not going to win and I don't think the organisers really expected a fully-fit Bekele to turn up).

When have you come across a recent world-class HM race with no elite Kenyan's involved? There are probably a dozen Kenyans who could have run 30 secs to a minute quicker on the same course yesterday, but that would have spoilt the script!

Where are these "dozens" of Kenyans who can run

I would not say I'm happy that Mo lost, but it was great to see Bekele win with such a smart, crafty plan.

Mo is the ultimate smart runner on the track, so in truth to see him out-smarted is really exciting.

I hope the two race again in the next year, and we can see them match wits as well as fitness again.

Joplas wrote:

The race itself was a travesty. These are not the best half marathoners in the world. There are a number of other runners who if invited would have beaten Kenny and Mo. Indeed its true that this race was tailor made to enhance the celebrity of Mo. They figured Bekele has not been in good shape of late and Geb is way over the hill. Had Mo beaten both, the Brits would have hyped it to high heaven. Never mind the fact that neither Kenny nor Geb are in their peak.

Exactly. I saw the Independent headlined one of its pre-race articles: Mo Farah’s greatness on the line against Ethiopian marvels Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele ... obviously downplaying that Bekele is coming off a nagging injury and Gebreselassie is 40 years old.

Dachstein wrote:

you've completely changed what you were talking about. You were referencing times of 13.30 and 27.30 as evidence that he "not in good distance shape". And sub 60 will never be 'a jog' for anyone, ever.

I have not changed what I was talking about. No, I never said those times were evidence that he was not in good distance shape. I said those times are not evidence that he is in good distance shape. Two completely different statements.

Of course a sub 60 will be a jog for someone sometime. You're really telling me that a 58 minute runner would have trouble running sub 60?

Look, without getting too caught up in the semantics of all this, you said "..he was never in good distance shape this year" and when challenged on it, referenced 2 times that he's run a good deal faster than this season. THAT was my point.

You and I have a different definition of 'jog' then. I assure you I can't run within 2 minutes of my HM best in a jog, and I doubt anyone can. And if it's so easy, have a look on the IAAF lists at all these sub-27 10,000m runners and see how many have HM bests slower than an hour. It's not the given you're making out to be, not even close

Guppy wrote:

It was an exciting race regardless.