Kyle Merber complains about time trial marathons

Kyle,

You should review military MREs.

Thanks

My god who cares. Runners barely able to make the OTQ will be nowhere near the top three on trials day. Let them do any legal race to qualify. For most it will be the thrill of their running career to make the OTQ and then line up next to actual Olympians in Orlando. Incredibly awesome if they are able to accomplish that.

When I first heard about this event, I wasn't sure what to think of it as I too don't love our sports obsession with time, but the reality is a 2:15 male marathon isn't very exciting, period. Tactics are interesting for the very best - at the top of the pro ranks.

Virtually everyone else but the best - 99% of the field - is time trialing in nearly every race they run.

Let's assume this race didn't exist. Am I supposed to get excited watching the 17th place guy battle it out with the 18th place guy in Chicago, instead? At least at this event, it was easy for spectators to see their loved ones over and over in a marathon. The more I think about it, this is way more spectator friendly and exciting for a fan of 2:16 men (aka friends/family) than just about any major.

I competed in the Mckirdy Micro and I can speak for myself in saying that while I was certainly trying to run the fastest time possible to OTQ and PR, I was also there to compete. Every time I felt there was an opening I slowly moved up and broke away from the pack. I was seeded in the 50’s and came away with a top 20 finish. I suspect I wasn’t the only one treating this like a real race especially considering I was kicking hard to break away from some other runners the last mile and they were trying to do the same. In my opinion the best way to run just about any race is to go for the fastest time possible on the given day and that’s what we all did.
It’s nice to finish a race knowing you gave it your all as opposed to jogging around for 20 miles waiting to make a move…

You were intentionally misleading because you’re a dick. Any good writer can pen a title that can grab a readers attention without being a troll. Honestly will earn you more respect.

ok, then explain the NYT

Tag was on ESPN. As in “tag. You’re it.”When was the last time a track meet was on ESPN? Even poker is on ESPN and that’s not even a sport. Track is dead in America.

How about this: “Kyle Merber fanboys upset after anonymous man gets internet points for controversial take on marathons”

Props for responding. If I was even slightly well-known within the running community I wouldn't go near LetsRun lol

I think “the take” (by which I mean both Kyle’s, and the correct one) here is, if we accept that these marathons are legitimate for the professional version of our sport, at some point we’re going to see even top pros regularly competing in Kipchoge-esque set-up barely-races that change dates/times/route direction and are held in venues that may not be media- or spectator-friendly to achieve not just Olympic Trials qualifiers but eventually Olympic qualifiers, national (or even world?) records, or other marks that their contracts or federations incentivize them to hit. And that seems like it would be to the detriment of both the major city marathons that are the backbone of professional long distance road running as well as fans trying to follow an already-too-diffuse sport. Which isn’t to say that the McKirdy race was bad or shouldn’t have happened—it was allowed within the rules and helped dozens of athletes achieve their OTQ or PR goals, so good on organizers and the runner for capitalizing on the rules currently in place—but is to say that as rules that govern the record-eligibility or qualifying procedures for the pro side of sport are being written or re-written, the effects of allowing times achieved by pros in these sorts of events to be treated similarly for ranking, qualifications, and record purposes as times achieved in major city marathons should be carefully considered.

I was talking about Merber. Yes you are faster that me.

I see your point, and Kyle’s, but maybe these fast bubble courses can increase interest in running? Imagine if spectators could see elite runners every 15 minutes of a marathon rather than once in 2 hours. The times could be ridiculously fast, which is all anyone talks about anyway. I have non-runner friends who knew about the recent WRs because of how fast they were.

If these new courses pose a threat to major city marathons, good. The major city marathons can find ways to make themselves more appealing! I think it’s good for the sport.

Nah Kyle Merber is not only wrong but very tedious an argument! In Electromagnetic Physics, you have 2 dimensions of space, mainly x and y, and 1 dimension of time which is z. So the laws of Physics are saying that you need to have a time-based qualifying standard as well as a spatial position-based one such as 1st 3 to qualify.

Kyle Merber has never studied electromagnetic Physics has he? And that's why he doesn't make any sense speaking the way he speaks. Space and time are inseparable from one another, and so a time-based and position-based standard is also the same.

Always trust me the RF King to give untouchable comments, opinions and judgements.

Thank you :)

I have no clue what you are talking about bro? You are complicating things unnecessarily. Occam's Razor says that the simplest answer or straight line distance is the correct and perfect answer/solution. You are making so many zig zags and exceptions here and there and just obfuscating yourself further from the truth. The laws of RF physics simply says space and time, momentum and inertia are inseparable from one another and always exhibit coherent phase behavior with each other.

can we ban this guy already?

this is such a ridiculous take from a very soft person.

I'm adding this tweet to the first post. The whole thread title is somewhat misleading. His tweet certainly didn't bash the format. I think the text was a little bit anti but he's like I was - a little confused by the concept.

This.

Also I feel like his post was more balanced than what was shared. And we can't have it both ways. People are sounding off about elites asking USAT to change the time for the Trials. There should probably be more of a focus on racing versus fast times. Merber is right about that. But, even though the women's winner ran 2:22, this race is mostly for people running right around the OTQ standard. It didn't pull top runners away from major marathons. What it did was give people on the cusp on an OTQ their best chance to run one & achieve their dreams. That's really, really cool. Selfishly, I wish a race like this would expand & offer a sub-2:30 & 2:40 pace groups for men & 2:50 & 3:00 for women. It can be hard to run those times at a major marathon. Would be fun to take a crack at times like that with other like-minded people in good conditions.

& to "Not An Expert's" point, I feel like marathon majors are already setting things up like this (not a change in date/time) with pacers & Kipchoge's bottle guy in Berlin. World Athletics is making it harder & harder to get to the Olympics. We're past the days of getting to send 3 men under 2:18 & 3 women under 2:45. So if you're from a smaller country & are close to the standard I could see the appeal of not wasting your shot at Berlin/Chicago when those races are set up for the sub-2:03 types now. Why not guarantee good weather, pacing, nutrition, etc. The sport is forcing you to do that because they're not going to convert a 2:14 7th place at Boston in the heat to an Olympic qualification.