RE: 'The Road to Beijing': 3 hour marathoner wants to make British Olympic Marathon team in 2008

Two or three times a month I enjoy running in Hyde park when I'm visiting from my native NYC. As a independent film producer of 40 years, I've seen successful productions come out of the blue and I've supported certain winners that have flopped; part of the reason why I run and follow running sites is to de-stress. I never expected to find an embryo for a project that is clearly worth documenting or at least following. As the letsrun.com demonstrates there are two groups the people, those who are pissed-off and those who are supportive, the ideal composition for a story on film.

Mr. Alex Vero, I don't suppose you will spend any more time reviewing this site less this flattering but feeble bickering amongst your fellow runners rots your training schedule. Fortune favours the bold! I look forward to meeting with you.

Best

Patrick

[quote]Over and Out wrote:

My high school XC coach said, "Better to aim for the stars and miss than to aim for the gutter and hit it."

nicked from Oscar Wilde's "We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

One area in which Alex is obviosuly far better than most of us is marketing, this post is already way longer than most on here and he is generating debate... eorth thinking about for those guys at the top end struggling for recognition, and no MR Thie that does not mena piggy backing on the back of somebody elses venture.

you are making an argument out of no argument...who on here said all it takes is hard work, on the contrary i think most people on here know how much talent it takes and while we may wish him well we don't think he has a shot in hell

Over and Out wrote:

When are some of you going to realize that all the hard work and dedication in the world cannot overcome your genetic limits? If world class times only required the ability to survive 120 mile training weeks, then most of us would be world class simply for putting the time in.

How do you know the guy doesn't have natural talent that he hasn't uncovered yet???? Stop being a baby and give the guy a break. Not everyone with natural talent discovers it the minute they start walking. Nobody will know if this guy has natural talent until he pushes his limits and sees how far he can go.

Making the British Olympic Marathon team is not the same as winning an Oscar..... not even close.

Haha. Of course not! BUT, the chances of my winning an Oscar are the same.

ok dude... what has he done to earn a break?besides i never said he didn't have talent but i would say talent is rare so the odds are against him, if this is truly his dream then odds shouldn't dissuade him at allmost as in almost everyone walking the street can't just decide to be in the olympic marathon... maybe he is the 1 in a millionprobably not, i think usually, but not always gifted athletes usually figure out they are gifted pretty earlyjim ryun, geb, people like that... i think usually it is pretty obvious pretty early on

go for it wrote:

How do you know the guy doesn't have natural talent that he hasn't uncovered yet???? Stop being a baby and give the guy a break. Not everyone with natural talent discovers it the minute they start walking. Nobody will know if this guy has natural talent until he pushes his limits and sees how far he can go.

so this guy was a 3.30 marathoner.

he's recently done a 75min 1/2m which points to a potential of 2.30

that's already a huge improvement - althoough most of us on here feel that the jump fomr 2.30 to 2.15 is probably even bigger

still, good luck to him

Alex, I do think you have some talent as a runner. I do not think you'll get to a 2:15 for 2008, but I do admire your tenacity and ambition. I would be interested in seeing your documentary. Best of luck!

Jasyn, Just to clarify, I wasn't making any value judgement on what your skills may be, just comparing with the more proven elite level experience of others ID'd in the team. One of the current GB marathon elite mentioned on this thread is coached by someone who had, prior to this fella's achievements, not coached to that level. And although the precise nature of your/Alex's link with the proven coaching guru and former elite runner (who had an unusual athlete pathway himself) isn't described in detail that structure in principle can be effective.

he want to go from a 75 to a 70 in 6 weeks for the half i dont think so

fairly fast guy wrote:

so this guy was a 3.30 marathoner.

he's recently done a 75min 1/2m which points to a potential of 2.30

The 75min half was a huge jump itself from his other races. I would be very impressed by a sub 70 min half given where he started from.

although actually - i should have said 75min half points towards 2.40-2.45 for amarathon

still going in the right direction though

this guys is at least showing that there are plenty of 'joggers' out there that are capabele of running respectable times if they are willing, and able, to put the effort in

so one guy seeking a 'dream' (that is so way out its untrue) is better subject for a film than the 10 or 20 guys who have a genuine shot at this and put years of their life into it, to maybe miss out by a few seconds?

yeah - because usually one person makes a better subject for a film than 10 or 20. You can only have so many lead characters.

Quite right wrote:

so one guy seeking a 'dream' (that is so way out its untrue) is better subject for a film than the 10 or 20 guys who have a genuine shot at this and put years of their life into it, to maybe miss out by a few seconds?

To my knowledge none of the other guys have put together a proposal/started work on a documentary. If they have they've not done it well enough to have had the coverage he has.

This guy has decided (realistically or otherwise) he wants to run in the Olympics and has gone out and done something about it.

He has decided (realistically or otherwise) he wants to make a documentary of that and has gone out and done something about it.

He has decided (realistically or otherwise) he wants to make some money out of it and has gone out and done something about it.

He may fail on all counts but he is not sat in the corner of a pub telling people he could have been an Olympic runner if he'd wanted to be. Nor is he sat in a club house bemoaning the lack of support available to him.

I'll say it again to those who keep on about the money. It's not a case of run X get £Y. Some UKA funding works on that principle but generally in life it doesn't. Sponsorship is given by a business as there is something in it for them (even if that 'something' is it makes business sense to look altruistic). Alex seems to have worked this out.

absolutely!

I understand that Alex is currently running well over 100 miles per week which includes long runs up to 30 miles.

This is hardly going to help his current race performances and will explain why his 5km times are staying in the mid 17's and 20M race was 2:03.

I don't know the details, but perhaps his 75min half was during a 120+ mile week whereas he plans to cut back and rest up for his next one, hence the target of 70 mins, although given recent performances, I think that setting off at 3:20 per km would be suicidal. Perhaps 73 - 74mins is possible though?

Best of luck with you goals, Alex.

Quite right wrote:

so one guy seeking a 'dream' (that is so way out its untrue) is better subject for a film than the 10 or 20 guys who have a genuine shot at this and put years of their life into it, to maybe miss out by a few seconds?

i agree that it will make a good film whether he makes it or not. the point i was trying raise was that it doesnt take 75k a year to become an olympic athlete, and also that it isnt just a case of hardwork.

also i was doing mile reps with dickie gardner (2:18 marathon) last night and told him about this, and he said good luck to the guy but its not gonna happen. This is a guy who has been running for 20 years plus and feels that someone saying that they can achieve 2:14+ off three years of training, basically says that its not as hard as it really is!

still im thinking about my own movie now called 'runner to olympian in 0.56seconds'

cheers james