Obnoxious WSJ article calling Breaking2 and Kipchoge a failure

Nikerton nike wrote:

Running, drama, and science in one.

That plus ignore all the rules is what happens every time an Alberto athlete steps to the line.

This thread is getting long, but I would like to bring up a couple points, hopefully you (Rojo or other LetsRun staff) return and take a look. You bring up emotional investment re: your tweet, a tweet which brought up your own emotional investment ("LetsRun is proven to be correct")--you want recognition for a prediction. Not to mention JK was way off in his prediction, and thus presumably so was the entire site.

But what I find more important has to do with the recent Jemima Sumgong article, which of course focused quite a bit on the recent probable doping revelation. Most of the article was fine, great access, some good insight, etc. But (pretty sure WeJo wrote the piece?) WeJo closes the article all in a huff because he feels personally betrayed. He doesn't speak for running journalism or journalists, or for rival athletes, or for the sport, he takes offense because people who invited him into their private and professional lives (presumably) lied to his face. That's understandable, but not very professional and certainly not a hallmark of passable journalism.

And now you're berating people for being emotional on Twitter...

Goals: 1) make money, 2) publicize shoes, 3) publicize company, 4) publicize marathons (hence, 1, 2, 3), 5) break 2, 6) crush world record, 7) show feasibility of breaking 2. The windscreen surely made the biggest part of the difference, so hard to see what was validated exactly, except the choice of Kipchoge. They got enormous publicity. And now the psychological barriers are gone and times will drop.

^^This^^

A guy goes out and defies expectation with his legs for two straight hours, redefining what is possible. Kipchoge was right, he proved that. He just shifted the entire running world, and the aftermath is people busy covering their asses about what they tweeted. A frustrating and somewhat comical statement about the extremes we see in the world today. Kipchoge on the one end and "admire my tweet" on the other.

24 hours later and I'm still loving that effort. So proud... and my mind is blown.

I wanted him to do it. I believed and still do.

I wish we had quotes from 10 of the best marathoners in the world I bet they are all still in shock.

This was a game changer. We are all just hobby joggers judging the elite.

Thanks Nike and the entire team for blowing my mind.

Bill Dillinger would be proud...

If he did the same course but on a bike, I bet he could have smashed the 2 hour mark. Smashed it! Now that would have been something. I mean who cares what aids he uses, the important part is how fast he goes 26.2 miles! Nike should make bikes.

Just think of it wrote:

If he did the same course but on a bike, I bet he could have smashed the 2 hour mark. Smashed it! Now that would have been something. I mean who cares what aids he uses, the important part is how fast he goes 26.2 miles! Nike should make bikes.

The worst part is, you think you're funny. You probably laughed out loud when you typed this.

gahuga wrote:

I guess if you already hated Nike, you might be unable to resist sneering at them..

That's pretty much my view. Did they buy Rodale or just pay them a lot of money to spew their BS about how "scientific" their shoe is when they just copied Hoka and put a sliver of carbon fiber in the sole?

What sport has individual time trials? Cycling. How does a time trial work? Hint: do they allow drafting? NO! This was NOT a time trial. This was NOT an individual effort. If you want to creat a team time trial marathon event, go ahead - butvit would be a TEAM effort, not an individual running a time.

This was a unique stunt that is not comparable to any normal race or TIME TRIAL. Idiot.

I've seen a number of people bring up/compare to cycling. One big thing you're missing here is that there are also "special" rules and equipment for time trials in cycling compared to mass start events. Cyclists can use aero bars and disc wheels in time trials that they can't use otherwise. The scientific innovations in cycling have been heavily debated over the last 20-30 years, and apparently running is now getting to that point as well.

And I'll also point out that a major "real" marathon almost always contains a fair bit of drafting (as does virtually every track race not run in individual lanes.

grass blade wrote:

MarathonMind wrote:

It was a stunt and it failed. No controversy there.

Agreed, it was a stunt. Essentially, a 2 hour Nike ad.

Yes, it failed at the primary goal. But in business, politics, and even sports, it's possible to fail at a primary goal and in the process still accomplish major other goals. To label such a thing as a failure is the pitfall of binary thinking. The m.o. of a simpleton who fails to appreciate what just happened.

Very well put. This Nike show proved that a man (men) against the clock is still more compelling than advertising, the human heart at the core more compelling than any marketing angle.

What h is why it transcended any marketing angle.

That phenomena proved what a Nike hating insecure baby Rojo is.

Rojo: You do not need to post still yet another immature defense of your behavior last night.

Germano could have written "Top running blog Let's Run fails to understand event has to delete Tweet,"

Treole wrote:

Flounder wrote:

She is obviously not a Nike fan.

"It is the third time Mr. Kipchoge has fallen short when chasing a time goal, including at the Berlin Marathon in 2015 when the insoles of his Nike shoes fell apart and caused him to miss the world record by 63 seconds."

This was the quote that bothered me the most. A casual reader would interpret this as "Kipchoge is a choker who can't run a fast time."

If you want to slam Nike for some reason, go ahead, there's plenty to dislike about Nike.

But there's absolutely no need to take a cheap shot at Kipchoge.

Exactomundo!

Eliud won the world's heart last night.

In this scenario it turns out that "almost" counts when it comes to under 30 seconds over 26.2.

The the trancendent goal was to capture attention (spans), hearts and minds, which Nike did.

The event would have been cool with just the laser pace line, starting at night. The pacers and the high quality Nike ads / most expensive running films in Runner's home towns and bucolic running scenes ever -- made it a compelling celebration of running.

At first I thought the "scientists on bicycles," were lame, but as it became "more possible" Eliud would at least come close...the human effort and inspiring human effort transcended Nike.

Nike theorized, gambled and then learned...you can't buy that kind of PR.

Even in falling short of the goal, they won.

It was a bit like watching Evil Knieval jump the Snake Canyon. It had a bit of dare devil to it.

It gripped attention, engaged and inspired the human spirit.

gahuga wrote:

Just think of it wrote:

If he did the same course but on a bike, I bet he could have smashed the 2 hour mark. Smashed it! Now that would have been something. I mean who cares what aids he uses, the important part is how fast he goes 26.2 miles! Nike should make bikes.

The worst part is, you think you're funny. You probably laughed out loud when you typed this.

No. The worst part is how stupid you are. You really have to be a special kind of stupid to think hyperbole and derision is something to laugh out loud at. Mocking fools isn't meant to be comedy, fool.

cvxxvzc wrote:

This completely misses the point, which is that Kipchoge proved the feasibility of breaking 2.

You miss that point that said feasibility was never in question if one altered the rules as they did.

This whole thing echoes the "unbreakable" 4 minute mile, which was a lie. Nobody thought sub-4 was impossible after the record fell from 4:06 to 4:01 between the mid 30's and mid-40's. It was more like 10 years overdue by the time it happened. But the media hype got ahold of it, and now it's one of those bullshit stories even serious fans believe. Right up there with Hitler snubbing Jesse Owens.

The marathon was definitely a PR stunt. I hope whoever wins the next 5 majors is wearing those same exact shoes and doesn't break any records, so people come to their senses before this can become yet another enduring urban legend.

Could someone please copy paste the text of the article. This moral newspaper wants money to read it.

800ftw. wrote:

Weird Standards wrote:

So let me get this straight.

The goal was NOT to break 2 hours? It was just an attempt to prove that it was humanly possible?

Please show me a link where they said that prior to the race.

I remember that being said before the race

Yes.

In fact, much of the pre-event breaking2 video clips aren't about breaking 2 per se, so much as taking a hard swing at it, something nobody else has done.

Bad Wigins wrote:

cvxxvzc wrote:

This completely misses the point, which is that Kipchoge proved the feasibility of breaking 2.

You miss that point that said feasibility was never in question if one altered the rules as they did.

This whole thing echoes the "unbreakable" 4 minute mile, which was a lie. Nobody thought sub-4 was impossible after the record fell from 4:06 to 4:01 between the mid 30's and mid-40's. It was more like 10 years overdue by the time it happened. But the media hype got ahold of it, and now it's one of those bullshit stories even serious fans believe. Right up there with Hitler snubbing Jesse Owens.

The marathon was definitely a PR stunt. I hope whoever wins the next 5 majors is wearing those same exact shoes and doesn't break any records, so people come to their senses before this can become yet another enduring urban legend.

I'm just impressed a Nike shoe didn't fall apart (like Kipchoge in Berlin) or hurt the athlete (Berkeley in London) on the big stage.

And hey, Nike couldn't offer Bekele or Rupp enough money to skip Boston/London and get thrashed by Kipchoge? Losers.

They didn't take a hard swing you dolt.

They rented a private course with no snoopy drug testers and created their own set of rules to make it easier.

If they wanted a true test they would have made him run Berlin like everyone else.

AND, they have the same initials. Hmmm...