Unfortunately, better coaching won’t help in Fordy’s case, because no matter how fit he is, during the marathon he starts focusing on waving at familiar faces and giving high fives. Then, around the 30 km mark, he sees a familiar runner and starts walking ”with the boys”. He lacks the mental strength to take the final kilometers of the marathon seriously, when it’s time to really start pushing.
Going to digress slightly. But my best marathon was an event where I had zero supporters present. (family were on the tracking app at home) So no-one specific to look out for.
And when I got to the tough part I was basically ignoring everyone else on course, and the spectators, and just talking to myself in my head to keep my brain in the right place.
Perhaps Fordy (if he MUST continue to do marathons) would be better served not wearing the top, not taking the camera, wearing clothes that make him more nondescript and not telling the world his plan until afterwards. As you say, he gets distracted easily. Sadly the next event is Chicago where he's already bigging himself up in terms of target time and he's scheduled a shed load of "PR" stuff around the event. Which the complete opposite of what he needs
Shillers gotta shill.
Ben is running, Bester et al would all be better off disappearing for 6 months and focusing on getting faster and not doing PR, shilling shoes/supplements/training plans or turning up at a race every few weeks but they need the exposure to make a living.
You are making a trade off when you start selling on YouTube
Does anyone watch RunDreamAchieve? Seems to pound out the videos, every race distance goal is available. Seems to know his stuff and makes good suggestions but every now and then says something ridiculous like needing to do 5-6 x 1 mile 30s per mile faster than goal 5k race pace to hit that goal which makes me roll my eyes.
I do like how Nate worked hard to get a 2:19 marathon and was involved with the US Army WCAP program, enjoyed his stories. He's a good follow on YouTube and told a story of how he started at the back of the entire NYC Marathon and still ran 2:2x one year.
And she's 37, so the cumulative stress of all those marathons makes that very difficult. Agree re Thomas. He is so cringe.
She's not particularly close; if you know her/follow her on Strava, she attempted the OTQ at CIM 2023. She wrote in her log that she "took a swing" but was behind OTQ pace by mile 2 (!) and finished well, well off of it. Not sure that's even stepping in the batter's box. Not to say she isn't a fine runner - she certainly is - but just another example of "sub-elite" runners having no benchmark besides OTQ. Hopefully she can take a run at sub-2:40 or something.
However, in comparison - would love to see more of her and less of Thomas. Or none of Thomas! Robbie is amusing, at least.
LRC is actually kinder to her and Thomas than other corners of the internet. A certain running subreddit I follow is meaner to BITR than we are. :/
Elizabeth Clor is the new DeMoor. A mediocre aging hobby jogger that offers no wisdom, no knowledge, and no true inspiration. The content is a narcissistic parade of new shoes and outfits plus a glimpse of how they seemingly live better than you. Take the running out of of it, would you follow an account where very mid people post content about mundane things, buying clothes, and leaving a home that most could never afford to live in an even more expensive property?
Reddit kills her even worse than LRC. Poor Greg (he films her and does a lot of the work to edit the vids). It is fun being a DINK in NoVa. They also come from $ and have great jobs, very set for life. I'm surprised a Clor reference showed up here lol
They love zebras, pianos, and PR cake (i.e. she PRed in a race and they made a cake with the time on it).
Unfortunately, better coaching won’t help in Fordy’s case, because no matter how fit he is, during the marathon he starts focusing on waving at familiar faces and giving high fives. Then, around the 30 km mark, he sees a familiar runner and starts walking ”with the boys”. He lacks the mental strength to take the final kilometers of the marathon seriously, when it’s time to really start pushing.
Going to digress slightly. But my best marathon was an event where I had zero supporters present. (family were on the tracking app at home) So no-one specific to look out for.
And when I got to the tough part I was basically ignoring everyone else on course, and the spectators, and just talking to myself in my head to keep my brain in the right place.
Perhaps Fordy (if he MUST continue to do marathons) would be better served not wearing the top, not taking the camera, wearing clothes that make him more nondescript and not telling the world his plan until afterwards. As you say, he gets distracted easily. Sadly the next event is Chicago where he's already bigging himself up in terms of target time and he's scheduled a shed load of "PR" stuff around the event. Which the complete opposite of what he needs
What has happened to Ran to Japan in Copenhagen? Apparently he is in hospital and very sick
He posted on his instagram story the other day. Looked like he was bitten on his hand/arm or something and developed a nasty infection. Said he was being prescribed antibiotics and was barely able to walk let alone run. Hope he’s better soon.
Eek, sounds like cellulitis. Cellulitis can quickly become sepsis if not treated promptly. Fingers crossed they got the antibiotics into him promptly (source: happened to a friend). Wishing him a speedy recovery.
Elizabeth Clor is the new DeMoor. A mediocre aging hobby jogger that offers no wisdom, no knowledge, and no true inspiration. The content is a narcissistic parade of new shoes and outfits plus a glimpse of how they seemingly live better than you. Take the running out of of it, would you follow an account where very mid people post content about mundane things, buying clothes, and leaving a home that most could never afford to live in an even more expensive property?
As a nice gesture, my buddy got me Clor's book from the Goodwill bargain bin. On the one hand, it's impressive that one could devote the time (many many years) and resources into legitimately qualifying for Boston (she could have qualified on a downhill "cheater" course, but didn't). On the other hand, there's a lot going on with her. She hired a sports psych and coach (McMillan), among other things, and turned what should be a fun hobby into an alarming obsession. Not trying to throw shade on Clor, but reading that book left me with a feeling of "WTF?"
Also, I don't think Clor really qualifies as a "Shoetuber."
Not sure about people being mean to BITR, but Tattle is a bit insane about some of the UK-based people, some of it completely missing the mark. Not sure if there's a thread there going after BITR too?
Plenty of reasons to bash Welsh Runner (having literally raced him) but having a crack at him for wearing a Swansea Harriers Soar vest without realising the actual club has those available, along with almost every other UK club, says a lot about the level of insight on there. Pretty hilarious they're bashing him for being a wannabee scientist whilst not understanding shoe testing themselves either.
Not sure about people being mean to BITR, but Tattle is a bit insane about some of the UK-based people, some of it completely missing the mark. Not sure if there's a thread there going after BITR too?
Plenty of reasons to bash Welsh Runner (having literally raced him) but having a crack at him for wearing a Swansea Harriers Soar vest without realising the actual club has those available, along with almost every other UK club, says a lot about the level of insight on there. Pretty hilarious they're bashing him for being a wannabee scientist whilst not understanding shoe testing themselves either.
The soar and shoe test criticisms were pretty odd - like you say criticise him for legit things all you want but how many people at races up and down the country are in (club or not) soar kit...? God forbid someone buys some high end stuff for their hobby
And fine discuss whether the fine margin of shoe choice worth worrying about when the delta between 2:19:59 and your last few marathons is so big but Dan Nash is a knowledgeable committed athlete and physiologist - doing some pretty standard testing; and having seen the level of training insight and discussion they're capable of I know which horse I'd back.
I recall they spent a while on one of their running threads talking about the various weight loss drugs they needed to be on, buddy you are in no position to criticise someone for their spending habits, athletic ability, and training choices if you've ended up at that stage.
I also wanted to plop in here to highlight Fordy Runs' own PONCHO WALK in the form of his newest cry for sympathy/attention entitled "Why my spring training failed" or some such thing
The new BITR Boston Marathon 2025 weekend is deep cringe
when Thomas says, "People are going to be able to grab this sweet lid, no cap" and a pop punk musical abortion started to chug in the background I knew I was deep into an audio-visual trash heap that I just could not stop watching
Assorted observations:
'Widefoot Jarrett' sounds and looks like he could be a Howard Stern WackPack character
LOL Matt Choi? wtf
the guy who looks like Mario with glitter all over his face and the headband. why
Robbe jokingly says, "About to rip some roads at 8:30 pace". bruh that is seriously faster than your half marathon pace so don't act like it isn't
I'm quite enjoying Mo Abdin's videos regarding his London marathon. He had the frankly pretty stupid idea of banking time in the first half when it was a bit cooler, which of course didn't go well. But I think he's got a great and healthy attitude and a lot of self-reflection.
Interesting to see him running his own Youtube channel while also still being active on TRC.
Not sure about people being mean to BITR, but Tattle is a bit insane about some of the UK-based people, some of it completely missing the mark. Not sure if there's a thread there going after BITR too?
Plenty of reasons to bash Welsh Runner (having literally raced him) but having a crack at him for wearing a Swansea Harriers Soar vest without realising the actual club has those available, along with almost every other UK club, says a lot about the level of insight on there. Pretty hilarious they're bashing him for being a wannabee scientist whilst not understanding shoe testing themselves either.
I've never engaged with any BITR content but this has piqued my interest. Have you got a link?
I actually thought this when I read the post you were replying to. There's basically no excuse for these guys, when sirpoc who is also middle aged, basically dedicated and hour a day + 2 on a Sunday to training for a 2:24 marathon whilst I believe working in a full time manual labour job.
If guys like Fordy are gonna whine about training when you consider that then they can't be helped.
I guaranteed you though, I find the guy so arrogant there is no way he could admit some random dude on a forum knows more about training than him. That is the problem with a lot of these guys, their ego and actually knowing very little about what actually it takes to run a good marathon.
I actually thought this when I read the post you were replying to. There's basically no excuse for these guys, when sirpoc who is also middle aged, basically dedicated and hour a day + 2 on a Sunday to training for a 2:24 marathon whilst I believe working in a full time manual labour job.
If guys like Fordy are gonna whine about training when you consider that then they can't be helped.
I guaranteed you though, I find the guy so arrogant there is no way he could admit some random dude on a forum knows more about training than him. That is the problem with a lot of these guys, their ego and actually knowing very little about what actually it takes to run a good marathon.
This is completely disrespectful to Fordy. He is a great coach and to suggest he could learn something off a guy who has just started running in comparison is totally disrespectful. Almost ridiculous actually. Fordy has done more for the UK running community specifically than anyone else mentioned here. Don't listen to the haters Fordy!!
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