Have you ever met an elite runner? What were they like?

I would say close to 20. Only counting Olympians/Worlds level competitors.

The best experience might have been when I was doing an internship with Jeff Galloway. We were setting up for an event at a run he hosted. The speakers were Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Grete Waitz. Jeff invited me to go for a run with them. This was 1997. I told him YES!

Now I fully expected that once the run started they would drop me, but Shorter (who could be a bit reserved--have interacted with him a few times since) spoke up and said that they would run together whatever pace was necessary. I just listened as they chatted. I was in an ex phys program at the time and something came up and Jeff said "Sam might be able to speak to that". Talk about being put on the spot! But I was able to speak to it.

Meb and Deena Kastor are probably the two nicest, and I probably had the most interactions with them-. I once invited Deena to be on my Hood to Coast team. She had mentioned always wanting to do it. Alas, she had a conflict, or she was just being nice.

The question say "elite"...

I will say yes if a person makes an Olympic team they are elite. I could quibble on random one off cases though. (Break dancing anyone?)

I know a handful of retired (ex)elite distance runners and they are all very nice, though a couple are a bit quieter/shy. No naming them as they are on the boards sometimes, but they include a WMM winner and (multiple) Olympian. I casually met Constantita Dita (2008 marathon gold), Boston Billy, and Greg Meyer, and all were super chatty and kind. Also have had lots of casual conversations with various members of the Boulder elite crowd and all were super-friendly. Noah Droddy is one of the nicest warmest guys I've met. Overall I've never met any that had airs of superiority or stand-offishness.

Frank Shorter - I won a local marathon that he was hired to be the VIP, guest speaker, and awards presenter at. I was taken aback at how kind and interested he was in my race. After the awards ceremony, he walked over to me on his own to talk, and he genuinely seemed like he was impressed with my time. He asked me a ton of questions about my training, preparations, and how the race played out. He did not have to do that. He fulfilled his duties to the race organizers by being there for the pre-race events and post-race awards ceremonies, but he went right over to me and talked for 20-30 mins about my running. I thought that was so cool of him. In my mind, there was no way someone like Frank Shorter would be even mildly impressed or interested in my running (my winning time was not that good), but he gave me his full attention and time. I thought it was so cool of him, and it really stuck with me.

Des Linden - I've heard from a lot of people that she's so chill and cool, but I've had 3 separate run-ins with her where she's seemed a bit strange. I've seen her at local running stores or event centers in the days leading up to a big race (Boston twice, NYC once)- not as a planned meet and greet/public speaking situation, but more in a capacity where she might have been coming/going from/to one of those shortly before/after. Either way, it seems like she's socially incredibly anxious. She was always walking very quickly, hiding her head, with a person or two on either side of her like they were her private security guards. People would try to stop her to say hi, they would block her off, and she would quicken her pace to scamper off.

I don't hold it against her at all, because all three instances were within a day or two of a big race, and she fulfills her media obligations fine and should make it a priority to be ready for her races above all else. I just find it interesting that she seems to have this reputation of being extremely cool, but I've never seen or heard evidence of this outside of her scheduled/planned media appearances.

After a track meet in the mid seventies I was in the locker room and shower with Bruce Jenner. He was a nice guy and had the proper equipment.

I trained on a team with a couple of pro triathletes, if that counts. One is an Olympian and multiple time Ironman winner, the other is a one or two time Ironman winner.

Both were incredibly nice. I got 3 flat tyres on my first long ride with the team and one of them stopped and helped me rig up a fix for my tube using an empty GU package since I only had 2 spare tubes.

These topics are as controversial as political topics.

I met Centro. All he could do was talk about how mad he was at Hocker. Saying Hocker wasn't better than him even though all his PRs are significantly faster. He said he would have won the 2024 OG 1,500m. I respectfully told him that his PR barely would have gotten him 7th place. He spoke very loudly, borderline yelling, "well I didn't have access to super shoes and....all that other stuff, now did I?!?"

Been on a run with Mary Davies and Andrew Lemoncello. Both were lovely. Would not know that they were world class athletes but for them ticking off 6 something minute miles like they were a hobby jogger running 10 min miles on their morning jog.

You’re gonna compare pro running to the NBA?

This was their first event. There should’ve been anticipation and excitement but there was none because pro running is a niche sport with a very small following.

They use the term “Elite” as compensation for the lack of respect and notoriety the sport gets.

I remember someone here calling it a glorified club sport. That’s spot on.

i just looked up Wizards attendance:

In the 2023-24 NBA season, the Washington Wizards averaged 16,898 home attendance per game, ranking them 27th out of 30 teams in the league.

Leaving name out because I don't want to put any extra attention on the fact that she does it or where, but one of the current US women's road professionals sponsored by one of the household name large shoe companies comes back and runs hometown races as workouts during some holidays and times between major races. She's pretty quiet, will take a picture with other runners who ask or just answer some questions if that's all they want.

Like other people said about their experiences: kind of quiet and stand-offish, but not in a mean or rude way. Just minding her own business, not acting like she's a featured guest or anything. Does the race, some quick crowd work before/after, and then quickly takes off after while most people stand around socializing for a bit.

Apart from interactions though, you can tell she is in a different physical class from everyone else present. An in-season top level professional runner is a whole other level of leanness and muscled that just stands out like crazy next to even fit, fast amateur runners.

Honest to goodness I met Alan Webb the day before he broke Jim Ryun’s high school mile record. I was making my pilgrimage run up to Pre’s rock and shortly after I got there a car pulled into that tiny parking area they have there. Alan, his brother, and his dad all got out and Alan raced his brother to the rock. We chatted about the gravity of the spot and Pre’s legacy. He remarked that he wished he’d brought something to leave at the memorial and I suggested that Pre would have just wanted him to leave it all on the track. The next day, he did just that. Nice kid. Had a rough career and has become an adult with some challenging world views, but at 18, he was cool to meet and share a moment with.

I met Amy-Eloise Neale (Markovic) when I was in grad school. She was super quiet, but would chat if I struck up conversation

I've met a few including a few Olympians. Where I live we have two pro teams in town so I see them on a local trail or at a park. They just want to be treated like everyone else. Running is their job and they treat it like that, compared to most of us who obsess over times and bad runs. They love what they do, but they don't necessarily go crazy over it.

Kelly Holmes - before a race (she was spectating). She was very friendly.

Paula Radcliffe - she was polite but relatively quiet.

Most elites look like I, Johnny Wishbone from the island of Saint Croix.

Not so much "met" as in randomly bumped into, but I knew Steve Jones - ran for the same club - more or less from when he started out through to his marathon world record. Completely regular guy. Saw him a week after he set the world record when he was supposed to give out prizes at a half-marathon, but ran it instead, as he was not particularly comfortable in the 'presenter role.' I was with my brother and a friends, and he was aware of how we were running and was complementary about some recent results.

Steve was only about a year older than me, but from a previous generation, when I was young, I used to do Sunday runs with Martin Hyman (ninth in Rome Olympic 10000m, fifth fastest time in the world for 10000m in 1959) and occasionally Bruce Tulloh (European Champion at 5000m).

Relationship was different, as being a kid I was obviously very respectful of them, but Martin Hyman would help runners of any ability and welcome them all to Tuesday interval sessions around his block. Well into his 80s in Edinburgh, where he had retired, he held Tuesday sessions for runners of all ages and abilities, with up 100 runners.

He was extremely modest, and I remember him giving me an example of even paced running using the San Silvestre New Year's Day Road Race in Brazil (then a major international event). He'd mentioned that he went out at an even pace and early was so far behind that he couldn't see the leader, but eventually he came through to win. What he didn't mention was that the person he beat was two-time Olympic Marathon winner Abebe Bikila and that he set a new course record...

Nick Symmonds - I raced him in one of his YouTube races in Eugene. He turned on his energetic influencer personality when he was on camera, but was more down-to-earth besides that. Nick did a warm-up mile with a few of us and he seemed like a normal guy.

Eilish McColgan and Michael Rimmer - I see them at my gym every year when they do an altitude camp in the US. Eilish gave a bunch of workout tips while we were next to each other on the treadmill for several miles. Michael is super nice and has talked about a variety of topics every time I see him, not just running.

Rai Benjamin - He was super appreciative of the fans at the US Track Championships and stuck around to take pictures with a lot of people long after the race ended

Matt Centrowitz - One of my friends used to live in the same apartment as him in Park City. My friend was new to running at the time and had no clue who Matt was besides that he was a "pro runner." They used to play Halo together and apparently he's a really cool guy.