The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Seems he pushed on to finish just under 11 hours. Terrible result but at least he plowed on and continued which I can respect

I wonder if he has heard from Matt Fox.......?

F--- dude this is terrible news. I am NYC-based and remember her from at least 2013 ish era before boyfriend, husband, move, NJ, and cancer issues. She has come a long way and overcome even more (given her Chron's issues) but this is beyond anything. Plagued.

Can anyone comment on how bad that prognosis is? She only about 40 (I think born 1985, maybe I am wrong). I know nothing about breast cancer as a dumb guy. I also am not religious, but perhaps someone can pray for her. Best of luck to you Ali. F--- this.

Stage 4 used to be a death sentence. Not anymore.. if you're lucky. At best, she's looking at lifelong treatments to keep the cancer at bay and manage her pain/symptoms. If treatment works and doesn't have super horrible side effects she might lead a normal-ish life for the foreseeable future (if you can forget about the constant appointments, drugs and death knocking at your door). It all depends if treatment works/how fast they find something that works etc. (this is coming from someone living in remission.. 5 years now.. I am not a doctor). I hope she gets to see her daughter grow up and won't be in pain. Cancer sucks. Wishing Ali the best!

A former high-school classmate of mine got diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer 7 years ago. She's been on various treatments since then, but the cancer hasn't gotten any worse and her quality of life has been pretty good for the most part. Her last kid has just entered high school - her original goal was to make it until he graduates and now it looks like she will easily surpass that goal. She recently had a consultation with a Mayo Clinic oncologist who is optimistic that there may be a cure available in 5-10 years.

There are some legitimate cancers that are still awful and difficult to beat (e.g. GBM, pancreatic, etc.), but many Stage 4 cancers can actually be cured with decent probability. Especially for someone in their 40s.

Best of luck to Ali and you Huzzeugh as well.

Great new race along video with Nick Bester. He was one of the first (if not the first) to do this style of video I think and it’s become very popular but I think other than Crown my Run he does it the best.

He holds his own in a 5k against a pro runner which just shows how much he still improves. Can see him going pro himself in the next few years. Such a talented runner - seemingly at any distance! Great work Nick if you read this thread.

What do you think "going pro" means?

do you realize he did not want to use God's name in vain?

Considering the number of ultras Mr Parkes has DNS-ed / DNF-ed it's good he actually finished this one, although time wise it's a shocker. Will he do a video about the experience with his standard opening about being a 2:25 marathon runner before dragging himself around Comrades in nearly 11 hours? Although considering he has gone silent since flying to South Africa will it be forgotten about?

Great running, however, from Sarah. From her Strava comments etc. it seems like she had a blast out there on the course!

Flobergs been real quiet since the new OTQ standards dropped

Summer of speed about to drop

Isn't Nick already a "pro runner" ? I means in terms of that he gave up his "normal" 9-5 job to earn his living from running related activities. Similar Ben Felton, Ben Parkes, Kofuzi etc etc

Yes, you could argue that.

Fair play to him, he is mixing it with some of the best runners in the world these days and with the weekly mileage he is is hitting it will be interesting to see if he will be competing with the likes of Sesseman, Mohammad, Yee etc at the sharp end of marathons if he can continue these 100+ mile weeks for a prolonged period of time

On Ben Parkes Strava he ran a decent marathon then basically walked the rest.

Said he's been sick, and struggled with the race aspect and will be commencing therapy again.

Hope he's OK

It's been obvious for a pretty long time that he can't race for some reason. Maybe he puts an insane amount of pressure on himself to the point of getting physically sick, idk.
In any case I first became aware of his channel when he first tried UTMB (I think that's around 5 years ago?) and all his races since then have been monumental failures.

I am not sure if this is trolling - probably is! However, Bester has no aspirations to mix it with likes of Sesseman, Mohammad. He runs fast for ego, views, and ultimately to funnel people into his PDF template training programs.

He knows doing a "full send" park fun will generate some of his highest engagement. Using the hook of "sticking with a pro runner" adds even more clickbait.

The pro in question (a nice guy) is definitely not actually a pro.

Also, doing "full send" a while lapping people at a park run is bad enough, but having a guy film him on rollerblades - what the actual f***k! I could see kids, prams and loads of other hazards around. He has no shame and minimal care for safety to get these race vids. Overall, the shows limit morals and a thirst for marketing whatever the cost!

I'm not sure how you can know what my aspirations are. How would you know?

Nick is a dedicated athlete - just look at his training on strava and the amount of s&c he does. Definitely don't think you should judge someone you've likely never met.

If you watch his race videos he is very kind and encouraging to the slower runners and makes sure his friend filming only does so on the quiet bits. Its fantastic content and the other parkrunners really appreciate it.

As for how good he can be, time will tell but he is already one of the best runners in the UK. If you look at his power of 10 you will see its in the top 0.0001% and pretty much guaranteed his marathon PB is faster than anyones here.

Why the hate?

Any one else feel like the old Goat The Athelete specials videos have just been lacking since his older days. Like it seems like his videos now are just some little race or boring event with a 3 minute ad break in the middle of every video. I miss the old Spencer before he got monetized and his main goal was just producing top tier content. I get this is the guys job and he has to make money but I still expect better from him.