Webb wins in 14:06ish

The Dude is a tool. You can say you are The Dude but only I, The Dude, can live up to The Dude's toolness. Furthermore, the more times The Dude says The Dude everybody realizes that The Dude sucks. The Dude is slow. The Dude is dumb. The Dube likes to rip off his Dudeness from a stupid movie with The Dude. But since The Dude has no life, The Dude thinks The Dude is really cool. Since The Dude is really jealous of Webb, The Dude will take cheap shots at Webb because if The Dude had any stones The Dude would not hide behind a stupid The Dude name. The Dude is always honest.

Deeply slow and scared,

His Most Lame Dudeness

The Dude who wants to be The Dude,

The Dude has determined that aside from redundancy and hypocrisy, you have added nothing to the conversation. If you want to help The Dude, address his questions. The Dude instigates nothing. Besides, even those who hate The Dude, will admit that the movie starring The Dude is cool.

Forever and always,

His True Dudeness

I believe that Sage's personal best in the 5k is not under 14:00, yet nobody is on here bashing him all the time. Granted, he didn't run 3:53 as a senior in high school. All he could manage is a measly 4:00.29. He's run 3:39 in college as a freshman, and he ran 28:40 in the 10k last year. Yet nobody goes nuts on him when he runs a 14:35 in a race at Stanford that he doesn't win.

For the record, I am a bigger fan of Don Sage than Alan Webb, but I still like to see both succeed. I also will not hold a double standard just because Alan is making $250,000 a year.

The real question with Webb is "If your going to run 5Ks in the early spring then why didn't you represent the United States in the World Cross Short Course?"

Lickety,

The Dude also wondered the same thing. But then again, Mr. Webb is not being paid $250,000 to run 4k's. The Dude knows that Nike is banking only the great white hope of America's milers (forget about David K). The Dude has reached some conclusions on Mr. Webb's 14:06 5k in Raleigh. There are 3 possibilities:

(1) Webb was racing to win. He needed the confidence. He would have been content to sit and kick if the pace was 14:30. (But he probably knew the pace would be under 14:25.) If this is the case, then Webb did his job. The Dude thinks that is strange and short-sighted but The Dude does not coach Webb.

(2) Webb was running a workout for something other than time. This couldn't have been a time trial for all the reasons people have stated--too slow, irregular pace, Webb never led, etc. Maybe Webb was working on form, or closing (last mile=4:20 on The Dude's watch). This possibility makes sense to The Dude but raises the question of specificity. What was the purpose of this workout?

(3) Mr. Webb was running because Nike told him to run and to win. The Dude is beginning to see some truth to this due to some insider information The Dude recieved. Mr. Webb picked a track he felt comfortable on, he picked a race that would be about the right pace (14:00-14:20), and he put his name back in the media.

The Dude is not sure what one of these is true. The Dude will continue to pursue the issue.

With all dear fondness,

His Slowly Clarifyin Dudeness

Wow, I never even thought of that 3rd possibilty that you stated. An interesting thought. I think that it was probably a combination of the three. Any other thoughts??

Your comments are especially funny when you consider that most of Sage's jock riders are openly calling him the next great 5,000 guy in America.

Webb gets some serious coin and that's good for the sport. If he makes it big, he's worth every penny. If he languishes, then Sage, Ritz, or someone else who runs better stands to command more money.

There's no law that says the USA can only have one distance prospect at a time. Grow up kiddies!

Donald has yet to run a 5k when he was not suffering from allergies, a problem that has plagued him all his life- and he will be the first person to tell you he has not done well in the 5k. Keep in mind that those of us who boost him are the ones making claims. Don just keeps his mouth shut and runs. Well, I would say. Keep in mind in HS he ran 48 point for 400, 1.50 for 800, 4.00 for the mile, 8.42 for the 3200 and 14.03 for 3 miles even though boxed for a while. In college he has run 3.39, 14.04 and 28.40 as well as some stellar xc times. He has depth. And Webb has never beaten him.

One thing for sure- Sage has some wicked kick. Does anyone know, since I have not heard from him in a while, is he hurting? He has not run for a while. I hear he had some foot pain, but cannot confirm.

So in other words.....what your saying is"God Bless Nike" vice "God Bless America" as far as Webb's priorities go. Then again, at least he didn't put on the red, white and blue to pace an Ethiopian around for a few laps until dropping in out in front of God, Country and the hundred of other guys that would want to be in his shoes like "Weak Sister Seneca"

I agree with XCpotential. However, as do many of you, I wonder if leaving Michigan was a smart move. I'm sure that Webb has moments when he wonders the same thing. I know the money is good, but I think that the days of college coaches, especially in a program like Michigan's, running athletes with Webb's potential into the ground, are over. These coaches are too knowledgeable for that. Perhaps I am wrong on that, but I suspect not. So I wonder if he would have been better off there with an established coach, rather than with his high school coach. They have some great memories together, but I'm not sure that he's the right guy to handle a professional athlete. Only time will tell on that one. If Raczko is smart, he's grooming Webb for the next 10 years.

You say that Webb was right and wrong for running this race. I agree and disagree in way. If Webb ran this race for training purposes ONLY, for a workout or just to see where he is, then it was probably not a bad choice. If Webb ran that race thinking that he would go out and establish a time among some college athletes to prove a point by winning the race, then i think he was wrong. I believe that Webb viewed this race as a workout because of the way he ran it. When someone runs a race as consistantly as he did without trying to take the lead, then he could have run faster. There have been a lot of people criticizing him for his choice to run "professionally" but you also cannot forget that he is still on our side. He runs for the US and is going to represent the US in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Therfore we should be on his side as well, offering support instead of throwing insults. Reading some of the comments that were posted within the last few days has made me realize what kind of people are commenting on this site. A lot of you people sound as though you envy him for the money that he is making. Remember, envy is one of the seven sins.

Well Webb did in fact run this race as a workout . . . at least that is the conclusion I get after watching him run for 20 minutes after the race at 5:10-5:25 pace on a field next to the track. Then later on in the evening I noticed him doing fast strides working on his turn over. So the conclusion I come to is that he was working out. Not a bad workout I'd say.

AMEN!.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Disease,

Take some "chill pill" medicine or gargle with soap. Lickety thinks Webb would look great in red, white & blue racing Ethiopians and Kenyans in a 4K cross country race versus driving 5 hours down to Raleigh racing college guys.

The 4K's designed specifically to get the milers out there to see what they could do; however, USA milers are just too damn good to run short cross-country despite the fact that its timing is perfect for most "periodizaton." Like running a international 4K is going to "hurt them" like its some marathon...heck, most guys don't even run the boards in the winter.

Racing international competition for your country is #1 A Privilege and #2 Only going to make you better regardless whether its your specialty or during your "period." American Milers need to get off the rag b.s. and race whoever, whenever in whatever.

Don't even get me started on why American "crybaby" distance runners bitch & wine about not getting into European races when there's a whole cross country season that they gaff off -- you didn' t see Bekele racing in Jacksonville.

mnng84,

I know of at least 5 guys who aren't willing to concede a spot on the US 1500 Team for Athens. Here is the US (since you like to call out our country's name so often) we have a selection process based on several races (trials and finals). Webb is by NO means a lock. In nearly every 1500 race he has run since high school HE HAS LOST TO AMERICANS. He has yet to win any 1500's where there are top American athletes in the field. Anyone who is an elite in this country does not think Alan Webb is special. He may have been at one time, but his 3:53 2 years ago does not put any kind of fear in guys like Lunn, Stember, Wilson, Lassiter, McMullen, Sage, etc.

M

The Disease,

The Dude thinks that The Disease misunderstands The Dude. The Dude has said over and over again that The Dude likes Webb. The race in Raleigh, however, confused The Dude because it was a race that tasted like a workout. The Dude thinks 14:06 is well below Webb's capability. The Dude just looks for answers and supplies relevant information like the splits The Disease used for his analysis.

The Dude's hopes all your predictions come true.

Warmest Regards,

The Astute and Authentic Dude

Please don't disrespect the other athletes in your list by including "Weak Sister Seneca" on you list. Isn't he banned for being Benedict Arnold in the World Cup last summer? I still can't believe a Razorback would pace a freaking Kenyan that he's supposed to be beating. Finally, Webb has more talent in one toe than any of the other hard-working guys on your list...if Webb had McMullen's cahona's he'd beat El G.

The Dude wrote:

The Disease,

The Dude thinks that The Disease misunderstands The Dude. The Dude has said over and over again that The Dude likes Webb.

Duderino,

I didn't misunderstand you in specific, I was just making a general statement towards the apparent disrespect for Webb in this thread and on the board. It was not a direct response to you at all.

"I am the Walrus."